Planning and the professional preparation of health educators: implications for teaching, research, and practice.

Planning skills are one of the seven essential responsibilities of health educators, according to the National Commission of Health Education Credentialing program; yet little information is available about who provides training in planning, what type of training is offered, and what planning models are taught. A survey of 253 accredited graduate and undergraduate health education programs (response rate = 56%) was undertaken to gather information about planning and the professional preparation of health educators. Results revealed that planning instructors were primarily full-time, experienced, and about one half were CHES certified.

Using community-based participatory research methods to reach women with health messages: results from the North Carolina BEAUTY and Health Pilot Project.

This pilot study used a community-based participatory research approach to recruit and train five licensed cosmetologists from two beauty salons to deliver health promotion messages to their customers. Stylists attended a 4-hr workshop to develop skills for delivering targeted health messages. Educational displays in the salons reinforced these messages.

Observational study in ten beauty salons: results informing development of the North Carolina BEAUTY and Health Project.

Researchers from the North Carolina BEAUTY and Health Project conducted an observational study in 10 North Carolina beauty salons to gain insight into naturally occurring conversations between cosmetologists and customers, and to assess features of the salon environment that might be used to inform the development of salon-based health promotion interventions. Results revealed that the social environment of a salon is a place where cosmetologists and customers talk openly about many subjects, including health. Information, advice, appraisal, humor, and empathy are typically shared in these health conversations.