Chapter 10: Additional Careers in Allied Health
Karen Piette
Health Educators draw on various sciences (physical, medical, psychological, environmental and biological) to promote health and prevent disease and disability. Health Educators often focus on health program planning and education-driven activities that promote behavior change and disease prevention.
Health educators work in a variety of settings and assist in the development and management of health education programming. They have the opportunity to work in schools, colleges and university campuses, individual organizations, community organizations, and healthcare settings.
Health educators may have many roles within the community. For example, in schools a health educator’s focus may be on the implementation of health programs by writing funding proposals, developing health program materials, and coordination, promotion and evaluation of their developed programs. At the college/university level, health educators may address issues relating to disease prevention, sexual health, and substance use prevention. Health educators may also work in healthcare settings educating patients on self care and behavior change (ie. smoking cessation and diabetes programs). Behavior change can be challenging for patients. Health educators help to implement and maintain the desired change to stop smoking or lose weight, for example.
In various settings, health educators often conduct a community health assessment (CHA), in order to identify the needs within the target community. A CHA is an assessment of a specific community or population. This assessment identifies specific health needs through data collection and exhaustive analysis. Following a CHA, health educators can plan, implement and evaluate health programs within communities.
It is important to point out that health educators may work with statistics when conducting CHA’s, writing proposals or working within college settings. This is where a four-year degree may be beneficial.
A similar career to the Health Educator is the Community Health Worker. community health workers (CHW) are public health workers who are trusted members or have a good understanding of the community served. These individuals act as a liaison between the community and both health and social services. They facilitate access to services with a goal of improvement in quality and cultural competence of delivery.
Health Educator Academic Requirements and Qualifications
Health educators can work in the field with an associates degree. The associate’s degree is usually in a health-related field such as health science, healthcare administration, healthcare management or health and human services.
Often though, health educators have bachelor or masters degrees. Attaining these higher level degrees in the health sciences ensure the required knowledge base for the health education] career.
While licensure is not required, employers may ask for a national board certification such as the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) offered by the National Commission of Health Education Credentialing. This certification does require graduating from a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral program and requires continuing education credits to maintain the credential.
While a higher level degree may be required for some positions, an associates degree may be appropriate for a position in the field, especially in rural areas. Coursework in the health sciences is often required in this field.
Bachelor programs that are excellent for a career as a health educator include Public Health, Health Sciences, Healthcare Administration or Healthcare Management. These degrees are offered throughout the country at some community colleges and four-year colleges and universities.
Health Educator Career Pathway
The pathway into health education can occur in a variety of ways. Some health educators start as practitioners. A registered nurse may start his or her career in the hospital setting performing clinical duties and then transition into the health educator role. This may take additional education or it may not depending on qualifications.
Health educators generally have an associates degree in the health sciences, and some may add a Bachelor’s level degree in order to make themselves more marketable. Just because health educators work to inform patients on healthy lifestyle, does not mean it is required to have worked in health or human services or even in the healthcare field prior. It is acceptable to go to school and attain a degree(s) in a related field, and then later choose to work in the health education field without a specific degree in health education. Some examples would be individuals with degrees in public or community health ending up in the profession.
A social science that promotes health and prevents disease, disability and premature death through education-driven voluntary behavior change.
Abbreviated as CHA. The process of determining the health and health care needs of a given population in an given area.
Abbreviated as CHW. Frontline public health workers who facilitate access to health-related services and improve the quality of service delivery.