CPHN Exam Content Outline: The 7 Domains and Their Weights
The CPHN exam is organized around seven competency domains. Knowing how much weight each carries tells you where to spend your study time.
The domains and their relative weights come from the content outline the NBPHE developed through its 2025 Job Task Analysis of public health nursing practice. The weights below are approximate and reflect how much of the exam each domain is expected to represent. Together they show a clear message: assessment, communication, and foundational systems knowledge form the core of the exam.
The largest domain. Collecting and interpreting population health data, conducting community health assessments, identifying health problems and their determinants, and drawing sound conclusions from evidence.
Communicating health information clearly to diverse audiences, working respectfully across cultures, addressing health literacy, and building trust with the communities a public health nurse serves.
The bedrock concepts of public health and nursing science: how health systems work, core public health functions and services, epidemiology basics, and the principles underpinning population-based practice.
Designing and carrying out public health programs and interventions: setting goals, selecting evidence-based strategies, and putting plans into action at the individual, family, and community levels.
Leading teams and initiatives, managing resources, building capacity, and guiding collaborative decision-making within organizations and communities.
Understanding how policy shapes health, advocating for healthy public policy, and building the partnerships and coalitions that make population-level change possible.
Measuring whether programs work: evaluating outcomes, using continuous quality improvement, and applying findings to strengthen future practice.
Study every domain in the right proportion
CPHNPrep organizes practice by these seven domains so your time matches the exam's weighting. Join the waitlist for early access.
Join the waitlistCPHNPrep is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE). Domain names and weights are based on publicly available information about the content outline and may be refined by the NBPHE before the exam launches. Always confirm current details with the NBPHE.