Assignment: Profession of Public Health Education

For decades, public health organizations have worked to define the roles and responsibilities of public health educators. These efforts have led to certification of public health educators and, in turn, the increased recognition of public health education as a profession. In this Assignment, you will examine how the roles and responsibilities of public health educators have changed over time, as well as how they may evolve in the future. In addition, you will explain how individual certification is significant to quality assurance and the promotion of the public health education profession.

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Read about the development of responsibilities and competencies of health educators as presented in Chapter 6 of the Cottrell, Girvan, and McKenzie course text, and the “Health Education Credentialing: Health Educator Job Analysis Projects” reading found in this week’s Learning Resources.
• Review the resources on certifications
• Consider how individual certification relates to quality assurance within a profession.
• Explore the various settings of public health education as presented in Chapter 7 of the Cottrell et al. course text and consider how the seven areas of responsibility are applied to these settings.

To complete this Assignment, write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:

• Summarize how the responsibilities and competencies of health educators have evolved over time and how the Competencies Update Project (CUP) of 2010 has helped to shape current professional standards in the field.
• Describe and compare and contrast individual certification opportunities available in the field of public health education (CPH, CHES & MCHES).
• Explain the significance of individual certification and program accreditation in the field of public health education. Include in your explanation potential barriers to obtaining both individual certification and program accreditation.
• Select any public health education setting from Chapter 7 of the Cottrell et al. course text and provide specific examples of how a public health educator working in that setting would fulfill all seven responsibilities.

Your written assignments must follow APA guidelines. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate.