Role of Health Education Links to Resources Links to Organizations

The Role of Health Education in Public Health   Since early in the 20th century, health educators have played an important role in addressing challenges to our health. In the past, when the biggest killers in this country were infectious diseases such as smallpox, science and medicine helped bring these killers more under control. In those efforts the role of the health educator was paramount. Then and now health educators provided expertise in shaping messages, sharing information about different infectious diseases, designing health programs and campaigns, and helping consumers understand disease risks and appropriate ways for improving health status. Now, the greatest threats to our health are chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, AIDS, obesity, injuries, as well as biological agents. In addressing these threats, the job of health educators involves a knowledge-base and skill set aimed at improving and maintaining the health of individuals, families, and communities. The official Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) definition of a health educator is one who: “promotes, maintains, and improves individual and community health by assisting individuals and communities to adopt healthy behaviors.  They collect and analyze data to identify community needs prior to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating  programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. May also serve as a resource to assist individuals, other professionals, or the community, and may administer fiscal resources for health education programs." Health education is a social science that draws from the biological, environmental, psychological, physical, and medical sciences to promote health and prevent disease, disability, and premature death through theory-based voluntary behavior change activities, programs, campaigns, and research.  Health education is an essential public health service that has people practicing each of the core functions of public health: assessment, policy development, and quality assurance.  By focusing on prevention, health education reduces the financial and human costs that individuals, employers, medical facilities, insurance companies, and the nation would spend on medical treatment.     Among the many skills health educators have are: Assessing individual and community needs Planning health education programs Developing health education programs Coordinating health education programs Implementing health education programs Managing health education programs and personnel Coalition building Identifying resources Making referrals Developing social marketing and mass media campaigns You can expect a trained health educator to be able to: Organize / mobilize communities Handle controversial health issues / content Advocate for health-related issues Encourage healthy behavior Use a variety of educational / training methods Develop audio, visual, print and electronic resource materials Conduct research Write scholarly articles The Health Education Workforce The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are more than 46,000 health educators in the U.S. Many health educators specialize in health education or community health (trained and/or certified health education specialists). They practice in schools, colleges, workplaces, medical care settings, public health settings, community-based agencies and organizations and other settings. Others perform selected health education functions as part of what they consider their primary responsibility (medical treatment, nursing, social work, substance abuse/HIV counselors, oral hygiene, etc.). Lay workers may also learn on the job to do specific, limited educational tasks to encourage healthy behavior.   Being a health educator requires specialized study.  While para-professionals and health professionals from other disciplines may offer health education services, they may not be familiar with the specialized body of health education and behavior change knowledge, skills, theories, and research, nor is it their primary interest or professional development focus.  Over 250 colleges and universities in the U.S. offer professional preparation programs in health education with degrees varying from baccalaureate to doctorate.   Health education in practice has an ecological approach in creating healthy communities. Health educators work at the individual, group, institutional, community and systemic levels to improve health knowledge, attitudes, and skills for the purpose of changing or encouraging behaviors that relate to optimal health status.  The field provides a scientific backdrop that has established strong theories for converting poor health habits to health enhancing behaviors. This rich information is shared in theory-based journals that are renowned in the public health field for the latest research and best practice. (The information on this page has been excerpted and adapted from "What is Health Education?" by the Society for Public Health Education, and "What is Health Education?" by the Coalition of National Heatlh Education Organizations.) Council of Accredited MPH Programs c/o SOPHE 750 First Street, NE Suite 910 Washington, DC 20002 P: (202) 408-9804     F: (202) 408-9815 info@mphprograms.org