BACKGROUND: The recruitment and retention of public health professionals are critical to the effective functioning of public health systems and the promotion of population health, especially in the face of pandemic threats. This study aims to examine how job embeddedness, job satisfaction, work-related factors, and COVID-19-related factors affect the intention to stay of public health professionals, and explore the potential mediating roles of job embeddedness in explaining these effects. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 912 public health professionals from January to March, 2022. Hierarchical multiple regressions were performed to explore the relationships between factors and intention to stay. We used path analysis to examine how job embeddedness affected these relationships. RESULTS: Public health professionals with high job embeddedness had high levels of intention to stay in their jobs. Job satisfaction, perceptions of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) work, and COVID-19 influence were directly related to intention to stay. In addition, job satisfaction, perceptions of CDC work, family factors, and COVID-19 influence indirectly affected intention to stay via organization-embeddedness
job satisfaction and family factors indirectly affected intention to stay via community-embeddedness. CONCLUSIONS: Highly embedded public health professionals who are satisfied with their current jobs and have gained family support have high levels of intention to stay. Highly job embeddedness and a sound work-life balance can inspire staff to stay in their current jobs and actively engage in public health tasks in the face of high turnover rates and pressure.