healthy people 2020 - Society for Public Health Education

✯ Conference Abstracts ✯
friday | november 5
Outcomes of the National Health Educator Job Analysis:
Implications for Healthy People.
Eva Doyle, PhD, MSEd, CHES, Baylor University; Linda Lysoby, MS, CHES,
CAE, National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc; Melissa
Rehrig, MPH, CHES, National Commission for Health Education
Credentialing, Inc
background: Since the initial role delineation of health educators in
1988, the health education profession has continued to evolve. Over the
course of the years in addition to the development of the responsibilities
and competencies for the entry-level health education specialist, a
certification process has been put in place, advanced-level responsibilities
and competencies have been developed, and two competency update
projects has been completed.
theoretical basis: The theory-based competencies that frame the
preparation, professional development, and work of health education
specialists can contribute to the achievement of the Healthy People 2010
objectives 1-7, 23-8, and 23-9 through health professional training.
Competencies are an essential component of outcomes-based education
for many health-related professions and are critical in credentialing.
Health education was the first population-based profession to develop
competencies, which have been used in measuring quality assurance
systems for more than 20 years. Yet, competencies for any profession
must not be fixed, but rather re-verified in contemporary practice and
updated over time.
methods: To meet recommendations from the National Organization for
Competency Assurance (NOCA), the Health Educator Job Analysis Study
(HEJA) was completed to validate the contemporary practice of entry- and
advanced-level health education specialist. A systematic model of practice
was utilized to develop and empirically validate the knowledge base
required of health education specialists. A stratified random sample of
approximately 4500 health education specialist from various professional
work settings were surveyed online in the spring of 2009.
interventions/partnerships: Experts from the Professional Examination
Services (PES) conducted the analysis, with input from the
American Association for Health Education (AAHE), National Commission
for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC), and Society
for Public Health Education (SOPHE). Sixty-two (62) volunteer health
educators were selected by a steering committee to serve in various
capacities throughout the project. The volunteers represented an array of
work-settings, educational and demographic backgrounds, and varying
levels of experience. Implications of research results for enhanced practice
– This presentation will highlight findings and recommendations
from the HEJA related to the updated competencies and sub-competencies
of both the entry – and advanced-level health education specialists.
Also, presenters will discuss the implications to professional preparation
programs that prepare the future health profession workforce and details
of the advance-level certification, MCHES. The relevance and application
of HEJA outcomes to Healthy People initiatives and goal achievement
will be discussed.
Exam Item Writing for the Health Education Specialist:
“Yes This Will be on the Test.”
Jacquie Rainey, DrPH, Professor and Associate Dean, College of Health and
Behavioral Sciences University of Central Arkansas; Sharon Thompson,
MPH, PhD, CHES, University of Texas at El Paso; David Brown, EdD,
CHES, Jackson State University; Linda Lysoby, MS, CHES, CAE,
National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.
Learning to write valid and reliable exam questions is a vital skill for the
health education specialist practicing in any setting (academic, community,
worksite, school, and medical). Test items assist the health educator
to evaluate and research health-related knowledge. The National Commission
for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) was established
to administer a credentialing system, including certification of health
education specialists as a mechanism for individual quality assurance.
The completion of the National Health Educator Job Analysis (HEJA)
has necessitated the development of a new Certified Health Education
Specialist (CHES) examination based on the resultant responsibilities,
competencies, and sub-competencies. Directors on NCHEC’s Division
Board for Certification of Health Education Specialists (DBCHES) who
are currently developing exam items for the revised CHES and newly
created MCHES examinations will provide an intensive test item writing
session to assist participants develop these important skills. The purpose
of this presentation it to increase the skills of the participants in test item
development, construction, and evaluation grounded in sound learning
theory. Participants will learn the guidelines used to write exam questions
and what constitutes a “good” question. Specific information will
be provided concerning the process by which test items are validated and
placed into the appropriate responsibility and competency for the CHES
and MCHES. The exam blueprint containing the new rubric and percentage
of each responsibility and competency will be explained. These
newly acquired skills can be generalized to a variety of health education
programming to enhance the rigor of research and evaluation.
Parallels between the Professionalization of Health Education
and the Medical Profession’s Historic Quest for Licensure.
Kathy DeBarr, MS, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health,
University of Illinois at Springfield
This presentation chronicles the history of physicians’ struggles to
professionalize the field of medicine and draws parallels between this
history and efforts put forth by health educators to gain the populace’s
recognition of health education as a profession. Health education is in
many ways a nascent profession, much like the practice of medicine
prior to medical licensure. From the Colonial period through the 1850’s
medicine in the United States was practiced by lay persons, planters,
clergy persons, apprentice trained physicians, barber surgeons, apothecaries,
and “regular” or university trained physicians (Starr, 1982). In
other words, almost anyone could practice medicine. Similarly, today
virtually anyone can proclaim himself/herself to be a health educator.
This phenomenon occurs despite establishment of the Certified Health
Education Specialist (CHES) credential and the forthcoming 2011
advanced level credential Master Certified Health Education Specialist
(MCHES). Twenty years after establishing the CHES, Arkansas (Arkansas
Health Educator Practice Act) and New Jersey (N.J. Dept. Health and
Senior Services) require the credential to practice as a health educator.
Perhaps the time has come, as it did for the medical profession, to
consider licensure as a viable alternative. What better way can there be
to achieve the Mile High Expectations and educational goals of Healthy
People 2020 and beyond?
sophe conference ✯ november 4-6, 2010 23