Scoping review of existing guidance on digital competencies for public health practice

Abstract Digital public health represents the convergence of traditional public health goals with digital health technologies such as electronic health records, telemedicine, mobile applications, wearable sensors, data analytics, and artificial intelligence to prevent disease, promote well-being, and achieve universal health coverage. While there is increased interest in integrating relevant digital competencies in medical and public health education, there is no widely accepted competency framework for digital skills in general public health. To build on the recent publication of the ASPHER Core Curriculum for Public Health and inform future curriculum development, we updated a recent review of curricular guidance with material published in 2023 and 2024 and referenced in Medline, Embase, Web of Science and ERIC. From an initial 1234 records, three independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full texts, ultimately including 14 documents that define relevant competencies for digital public health professionals. Although existing competency frameworks predominantly focus on clinical providers, our review confirms and extends the prior review of guidance by articulating digital competencies across public health-specific domains: foundational digital literacy; health data governance and advanced analytics competencies; digital communication competencies; ethical, legal and regulatory competencies; and competencies in risk mitigation, including the risk posed by artificial intelligence. These findings provide a first step for redesigning undergraduate and graduate public health curricula in Europe, ensuring that future professionals are equipped to lead and sustain digital transformations in service of population health.