Digital competencies for public health education in Germany: a Delphi study

Abstract Despite its growing relevance, digital public health (DiPH) remains underrepresented in many academic public health curricula. Internationally, there is an urgent need to define a core set of competencies to guide the integration of DiPH into public health education and prepare the future public health workforce for the markets. This presentation will present the results of a study that addressed that gap by identifying expert consensus on key DiPH competencies, thereby informing curriculum development nationally and offering transferable insights for European and global contexts. A multi-stage online Delphi study was conducted among academic and practice-based public health experts in Germany. Of 41 experts recruited, 27 completed the survey, which involved rating and refining proposed DiPH competencies based on their perceived importance to a core curriculum. The process is built on our prior work and the ASPHER Core Curriculum for Public Health. Experts identified 90 essential competencies clustered into 11 interdisciplinary domains, including health economics, epidemiology, IT & technology, ethics, health promotion, methods in healthcare research, and digital intervention application. The included competencies reflect the breadth of DiPH: From digital health literacy and regulatory awareness to technical skills like data analysis and the application of digital tools for population health. The results reinforce that DiPH spans the full spectrum of public health disciplines and must be integrated accordingly. Our findings support the development of internationally relevant, future-oriented curricula that equip students for evolving digital landscapes. Embedding these competencies into academic training is an innovative public health action with significant potential to enhance workforce readiness, reduce the digital divide, and promote health equity in the digital age.