7. HEALTH
EDUCATION/PROMOTION SPECIALIST
JOB DESCRIPTION
Overview
Health educators plan and facilitate
educational programs designed to improve the health of children, adults, and
communities. Issues addressed by health educators
include disease prevention, adolescent sexuality, pregnancy and childbirth,
smoking cessation, substance abuse, child safety, and environmental
hazards. Health educators strive to
promote healthy lifestyles, developing activities designed to encourage healthy
eating, exercise, or stress management.
Health educators work in public schools, colleges and universities,
public health departments, hospitals and managed care settings, non-profit
community organizations, and business/industry.
Typical Job Duties
• planning health education
curricula for secondary school students
• teaching a sex education class
• providing workshops to college
students on substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, or sexual
victimization in dating
• tracking the spread of an
infectious disease within a community
• organizing a health fair at a city
shopping mall, a community walking program, or a road race for charity
fundraising event
• evaluating the effectiveness of a program
to decrease the incidence of a sexually transmitted disease
• researching new methods of
encouraging child safety seat use
• educating international travelers
about health and sanitation issues in other countries
Job Outlook
The Occupational Outlook Handbook
does not provide information about the health education profession. A related category, “instructors and coaches,
sports and physical training” was ranked 28th on the BLS list of the 30 fastest
growing occupations. Public health was
in the near balance/supply equals demand category of the MSU study.
Potential Earnings
Starting salaries are estimated to
range from $25,000-$34,000. No
information on median salaries could be located.
TRAINING
Professional Degree Required
A master’s degree in health
education is necessary for certification as a Certified Health Education
Specialist. Note that
the names of graduate degree programs in this area vary, e.g., health
education, health promotion, public health, community health, and health
behavior. Programs tend to require approximately two full years of
study.
How to Find Programs
Health education programs are
accredited by the American Association for Health Education (AAHE), which
maintains a graduate directory of all approved master’s programs (address
below). This list is also provided in
the September/October (1997) issue of the Journal of Health Education.
When looking in a university
catalogue for a health education program, remember that not only do the specific
names of degree programs vary, but also the departments or college
divisions that offer them. Try
departments of health or health sciences, public health, or education.
Entrance Requirements/Admissions
A variety of undergraduate social science
or science majors (including psychology) are acceptable. Prerequisites differ across programs, but may
include anatomy and physiology, chemistry, or courses in the behavioral
sciences. Volunteer or work experience
in the health education field is a plus.
Programs range in their
competitiveness. Public health programs
tend to describe more stringent criteria than health education programs, but
requirements do vary greatly. Programs
with minimum GPAs of 2.75 and “satisfactory” GREs are not uncommon, just as
programs whose entering students have combined GRE averages of 1200 are
represented.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Print Materials/Organizations
American
Association for Health Education (AAHE),
Journal of
Health Education (1997). September/October issue has listing of
health education programs.
Internet Resources
AAHE home page:
http://www.aahperd.org/aahe/aahe-main.html