Continuing professional development for public health: An andragogical approach

Abstract

The UK professional body for public health, the Faculty of Public Health (FPH), has a well-established approach towards continuing professional development (CPD) for its members and fellows. The FPH approach, initially designed for public health physicians, has evolved to meet CPD requirements of a workforce beyond that of public health medicine to what is now a multiprofessional public health workforce. Despite over 20 years of CPD activity in the field of public health, limited literature examines the underlying theoretical principles, or proposes the most effective approach to adopt. Public health CPD is a mandatory requirement for ongoing practice in many professional groups; it is therefore timely to examine theoretical principles and to propose the adoption of an andragogical approach to underpin CPD for all disciplines in public health. This paper concludes that adopting an andragogical approach to public health CPD, supported with critical reflective practice and undertaken in an ethical and moral framework, will equip practitioners to be ready to question practice, implement innovation and progress, and meet the challenges of a multiprofessional public health service.