MAUREEN ABUACHI
I.D# A00480381
INSTRUCTOR: DR. AMY THOMPSON
DATE: APRIL 25, 2015

The modification of health behaviors is facilitated by health education specialists. The World Health Organization (1998, P.4) defined health education as “comprising consciously constructed opportunities for learning involving some form of communication designed to improve health literacy, including improving knowledge, and developing life skills which are conducive to individual and community health.”. Most simply, health education helps to inform the public about behaviors that are healthy and unhealthy. Many individuals that are concerned about their health and the health of their families usually adjust their behavior in accordance with any new information (Schneider, 2011). For example, the surgeon general’s report of 1964 which stated that smoking caused cancer and other life threatening diseases, had significant impact on the prevalence of smoking in the United States. The health education specialists role in the United States today has evolved over time based on the need to enhance health and provide educational intervention. The earliest signs of the roles and responsibilities of the health education specialist started in the mid 1800s with education in school hygiene, which was closely associated with physical activity. But by the early 1900s the need for health education began to spread to the public, but it was the social workers, journalists, visiting nurses and caregivers that were doing the educating not the health educators as we know them today. But as more knowledge was gained about how health, disease and health behavior related to each other, it became very obvious that these social workers, visiting nurses, caregivers and journalists could not provide the health education that was needed. The lack of training and the needed education at all prevention levels, helped create a need for health education specialists. As the health education specialists role kept increasing over the years, those in the discipline saw the need to clearly define their roles so that individuals who are inside and outside the profession would have a better knowledge of what the public health educator did. Once this was established, the framework which comprised of the seven major areas of responsibility was also established to define different competencies and scope of practice. In 1992, the profession worked to define the role of advance level practitioner. By 1997, the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) endorsed three additional responsibilities for the advanced level health educator which revolved around research and administration. The profession in 1998 launched a six year multi- phase research study that was known as the National Health Educator Competencies Update Project (CUP) carried out by the public health education profession in order for the role of the entry level educator to be re verified and to distinguish it from advanced level health educator’s role (Airhihenbuwa et al., 2005). The seven areas of responsibilities for health educators in the CUP model include individual and community assessment needs for health education, health education strategy planning, interventions and programs. Conducting evaluations and research that is related to health education, administering strategies for health education interventions, and programs serving as health education resource person, advocating for health education and communicating. Certification is a process by which an individual who has met qualifications specified by an association is recognized . Being certified in the public health education field benefits the public health educators as well as the public because it attests to the skills and knowledge of an individual, it helps employers identify practitioners that are qualified. It fosters a person’s sense of pride and accomplishment, and it also promotes the continuation of professional development. Individual certification opportunities available in the field of public health education are the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) which does require a bachelor’s degree in any major that is related to health education, and the Master’s Certificate Health Educator Specialist (MCHES) certification which requires a master’s degree or a five year minimum of CHES certification.. In as much as obtaining a certification in public health education has its benefits, there are also potential barriers to obtaining a certification, some of which are presenting an official transcript that shows 2.5 semester hours, or 37 quarter hours of area of responsibility and competency for health educators (Cottrell et al., 2012, Pg.181). The public health education setting I selected is the health education/promotion in health care setting. In health care settings, health educators usually work one-on-one with patients and their families. The usually explain a patient’s diagnosis or any related tests, surgeries or any procedure a patient might need. They teach the patient about changes in life style that are necessary for disease management and recovery. For example they might show a diabetic patient how to test their blood sugar and how to take insulin or medications. Health educators in the health care setting may sometimes locate services such as home health care to assist patients in managing their illness. Health care educators in the health care setting in addition to working with patients, develop educational programs for the community with topics such as first aid, self examination for disease or instructions in CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resusitation) which often requires their working together with doctors, nurses and other staff. Within a health care facility, health educators help in developing educational materials for other departments in the facility which may require participation in a committee to develop patient education resources such as web sites, classes or brochures. In some cases, health care educators in the health care setting can also be asked to help other hospital staff in patient interaction.

References
Airhihenbuwa, C.O., Cottrell. R.R., Adeyanju, M., Auld, M.E., Lysby, L., Smith, B.J. (2005).The National Health Educator Competencies Update Project. Celebrating a milestone and recommending next steps for the profession. American Journal of Health Education, 36(6), 361-370.
Cottrell, R.R., Girvan, J.T., & McKenzie, J.F.(2012). Principles and foundations of health promotion and education (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson/Benjamin Cummings.

Gilmore, g.d., Olsen, L.K., Taub, A, & Connell, D. (2005). Overview of the National Health Educator Competencies Update Project, 1998-2004. Health Education and Behavior, 32, 725-737.
McKenzie, J.F., Pinger, R.R., &Kotecki, J.E. (2012). An introduction to community health (7th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (2008). Become a CHES. Retrieved from http://www.nchec.org/becomeches/eligibilty.asp.

World Health Organization. (1986). Ottawa charter for health promotion, 1986. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.