Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis 2015 (HESPA 2015)

Abstract

The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis 2015 (HESPA 2015) was conducted to update and validate the Areas of Responsibilities, Competencies, and Sub-competencies for Entry- and Advanced-Level Health Education Specialists. Two data collection instruments were developed—one was focused on Sub-competencies and the other on knowledge items related to the practice of health education. Instruments were administered to health education specialists (N = 3,152) using online survey methods. A total of 2,508 survey participants used 4-point ordinal scales to rank Sub-competencies by frequency of use and importance. The other 644 participants used the same 4-point frequency scale to rank related knowledge items. Composite scores for Sub-competencies were calculated and subgroup comparisons were conducted that resulted in the validation of 7 Areas of Responsibilities, 36 Competencies, and 258 Sub-competencies. Of the Sub-competencies, 141 were identified as Entry-level, 76 Advanced 1–level, and 41 Advanced 2–level. In addition, 131 knowledge items were verified. The HESPA 2015 findings are compared with the results of the Health Education Job Analysis 2010 and will be useful to those involved in professional preparation, continuing education, and employment of health education specialists.

Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis II 2020: Processes and Outcomes

“…The HESPA II 2020 study was guided by the principle that “health education is a single profession, with common roles and responsibilities” (Allegrante et al, 2004, p. 676). The processes followed in HESPA II 2020 were built on previous practice analyses: (1) the Role Delineation Project (Cleary, 1995), (2) Competencies Update Project (CUP; Gilmore et al, 2005), (3) Health Education Job Analysis (HEJA) 2010 (Doyle et al, 2012), and (4) HESPA I 2015 (McKenzie et al, 2016).…”

Looking Back and Moving Forward: SOPHE’s 70 Years of Contributions to Health Education

“…In addition, SOPHE has led the field by working with the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc., & Society for Public Health Education, Inc., 2020) to support the National Health Educator Competencies Update Project (Gilmore et al, 2005), the National Health Educator Job Analysis (Doyle et al, 2012), and the Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis I and II (Knowlden et al, 2020; McKenzie et al, 2016). With the International Union for Health Promotion and Education, SOPHE cosponsored the Galway Consensus Conference on international collaboration of credentialing in health education (Allegrante, Barry, Airhihenbuwa, et al, 2009; Allegrante, Barry, Auld, et al, 2009; Allegrante et al, 2012; Howze et al, 2009; Taub, Allegrante, et al, 2009), and with the Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health and the League for Innovation in Community Colleges helped advance public health and health education curricula in community college settings (Lohrmann et al, 2016; Riegelman & Wilson, 2016).…”

Applied Contributions and Insights From Health Education Role Delineation Research (1978-2015) in Advancing the Health Education Profession in the United States

“…The additional Sub-competencies included in the HEJA and HESPA Frameworks (NCHEC et al, 2010;NCHEC & SOPHE, 2015) stemmed largely from two sources. They were (a) increased specificity of terminology (e.g., replacement of "develop valid and reliability of evaluation instruments" with "develop valid evaluation instruments" and "Develop reliable evaluation instruments") and (b) use of a detailed item preparation and selection process (McKenzie et al, 2016;NCHEC et al, 2010) that yielded more current skills necessary for the HES. There are other examples of changes in terminology over time.…”

“…The first empirical report of the hierarchical (vs. linear) model occurred with the CUP researchers using preliminary and confirmatory factor analysis complemented with national advisory committee review as part of their inductive methodology (Gilmore et al, 2005;Gilmore, Olsen, & Taub 2006). Subsequent research by the HEJA and HESPA investigators verified the hierarchical model using a deductive process (Doyle et al, 2012;McKenzie et al, 2016). The CUP hierarchical model served as a starting point, followed by modification and verification procedures in the two subsequent studies in terms of Sub-competency alignment with entry, A1, and A2 levels in the model.…”

“…6-19) to propose advanced competencies and sub-competencies aligned with the RDP seven Areas of Responsibility, as well as three new areas of graduate responsibilities. These foundational studies were followed by the National Health Educator Competencies Update Project (CUP) from 1998 to 2004 (Gilmore, Olsen, Taub, & Connell, 2005;NCHEC, SOPHE, & AAHE, 2006), the National Health Educator Job Analysis (HEJA) from 2008 to 2009 (Doyle et al, 2012;NCHEC et al, 2010), and the National Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis (HESPA) from 2013 to 2014 (McKenzie et al, 2016;NCHEC & SOPHE, 2015). The national certification system administered by the NCHEC draws from these studies.…”