Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis II 2020: Processes and Outcomes.

The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis II 2020 (HESPA II 2020) described the contemporary practice of health education specialists across work settings at entry and advanced levels. The purpose of the HESPA II 2020 manuscript was to report the research process and resulting data associated with the HESPA II 2020 and to provide recommendations for future practice analyses in health education. Two data collection instruments were developed with the assistance of a 17-member Health Education Practice Panel to survey practicing health education specialists on the knowledge and skills needed in their ongoing roles.

Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis 2015 (HESPA 2015): Process and Outcomes.

The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis 2015 (HESPA 2015) was conducted to update and validate the Areas of Responsibilities, Competencies, and Sub-competencies for Entry- and Advanced-Level Health Education Specialists. Two data collection instruments were developed-one was focused on Sub-competencies and the other on knowledge items related to the practice of health education. Instruments were administered to health education specialists (N = 3,152) using online survey methods.

Using an experience documentation opportunity to certify advanced-level health education specialists.

The worldwide burden of diseases, environmental threats, and injuries help establish the global context and need for credentialing in health education and promotion. To ensure effective practice by certified or credentialed individuals, it is critical that the global health education and promotion workforce identify, agree on, and establish core competencies grounded in knowledge, skills, and abilities to strengthen the global capacity to improve the practice of health education at the entry and advanced levels. Dialog regarding the development of Domains of Core Competency for global capacity in health promotion has occurred.

The National Health Educator Job Analysis 2010: process and outcomes.

The National Health Educator Job Analysis 2010 was conducted to update the competencies model for entry- and advanced-level health educators. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Structured interviews, focus groups, and a modified Delphi technique were implemented to engage 59 health educators from diverse work settings and experience levels in a seven-step instrument development process.

A summative report of applications submitted for the experience documentation opportunity for the master certified health education specialist credential.

The purpose of this article is to provide a summative report of the applications submitted for the Experience Documentation Opportunity (EDO), implemented by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (NCHEC). The EDO was a one-time, 6-month opportunity for health education specialists holding the entry-level certification (Certified Health Education Specialist or CHES) for 5 or more continuous years, with active status, to submit documentation to verify practice at the advanced level to become a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), the new advanced certification.

Crosswalking public health and health education competencies: implications for professional preparation and practice.

This article highlights similarities and differences between the public health competencies recently developed by the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) and one public health specialty, health education (HE), which has used competencies in its quality assurance systems for more than 20 years. Based on a crosswalk methodology developed for this analysis, some 50 percent to 61 percent of the HE and ASPH competencies had similarities of varying degrees; 18 percent were deemed matches due to sameness in skill or content. Most similarities were found between the ASPH social and behavioral sciences competencies and the HE competencies.

Marketing health educators to employers: survey findings, interpretations, and considerations for the profession.

In July 2007, a market research report was produced by Hezel Associates on behalf of five sponsoring health education profession member organizations and the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. The purpose of the survey was to learn about current or potential employers' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward health educators and the health education profession and their future hiring practices. This article presents the background leading up to the production of this report, the major findings of the survey of employers, recommendations from the market research group regarding core messages, and implications for the profession having discovered for the first time information about employers' understanding of professionally prepared health educators.

Development and utilization of professional standards in health education and promotion: US and UK experiences.

This article defines standards, discusses the components of standards development, and provides an overview of the use of standards in the credentialing processes of health promotion and education specialists. Credentialing or registering agencies related to health promotion and education in the US and UK are identified and their role in credentialing processes is discussed. Examples outlining the development and application of professional standards in both the UK and US are presented.

A review of the international literature on health promotion competencies: identifying frameworks and core competencies.

Building a competent health promotion workforce with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop, implement and evaluate health promotion policies and practice is fundamental to mainstreaming and sustaining health promotion action. This paper reviews the international literature on competencies in health promotion, examines the competencies developed to date, identifies the methods used in their development and considers what can be learned from the experience of others when establishing international core competencies. The paper considers the advantages and disadvantages of employing a competency approach and the extent to which the competencies identified to date can enhance the quality of practice and update the skill set required to work within changing social, cultural and political contexts.

Current developments in accreditation and certification for health promotion and health education: a perspective on systems of quality assurance in the United States.

The health education profession in the United States employs parallel, and overlapping, systems of voluntary credentialing to ensure quality in professional preparation. The U.S.

Strengthening quality assurance in health education: recent milestones and future directions.

The health education profession has a lengthy history of efforts to assure the quality of health education professional preparation and practice. These initiatives to improve the value and accountability of health education are not only beneficial to current practitioners and faculty but also to consumers, students, employers, other professional colleagues, and numerous other stakeholders. This article describes the movement during the last decade to further strengthen quality assurance in health education, including current credentialing mechanisms for individuals and academic programs, the efforts of three national accreditation task forces, and the 2006 Third National Congress for Institutions Preparing Health Educators (Dallas II).