On Becoming a Chief Health Strategist

Abstract

The vision for Public Health 3.0 includes a call to embrace the concept of health departments becoming chief health strategists. This term refers to public health organizations that possess the capacity and competency to take a leadership role in improving the health of communities. Although the practices of a chief health strategist have been defined, research is silent on “how” health departments can become proficient chief health strategists. The purpose of this study is to determine how local health departments can assimilate the role of chief health strategists within their communities. A qualitative multiple case study was designed to research this question. Eighteen local health directors from Wisconsin were selected and functioned as key informants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and participants completed a chief health strategist competency self-assessment survey and provided organizational documents. The key informant interview guide created for this study was developed using the five domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Key findings of the study found four major themes that impact an organization’s ability to provide population health services and function as a proficient chief health strategist. The identification of facilitators and barriers to change and recommendations for change from the key informants served as the basis for the development of a plan for change. The plan for change was guided by John Kotter’s eight-step process of creating change model.