Health promotion competencies for Australia 2001—5: trends and their implications

Abstract

This important research builds on past projects in Australia and internationally that have sought to define and clarify competencies required to work in health promotion. The paper briefly explains the process undertaken in 2005 to update the Australian health promotion competencies as a collaboration of several leading health promotion agencies. The article reports findings from research undertaken in 2001 and 2005 and compares trends in perceptions of health promotion competencies across time. This dialogue among researchers, health promotion academics and practitioners can help to further the impact of competencies research on professional practice in health promotion globally. This project placed a priority on methodology that engaged the health promotion workforce in Australia. A two-stage process was employed including expert consultation with 39 senior health promotion professionals, followed by a modified Delphi process to engage 400 practitioners. Space was allowed for comment on the competencies including suggested word changes, and respondents were also invited to add additional competencies. The research involved a modified Delphi study where participants were invited to rate each competency as "essential", "desirable" or "not relevant", and to suggest changes to wording, as well as additions to the list. Responses were received from 400 practitioners and the results were presented and compared with the 2001 survey results. Results indicate a substantial shift in perceptions about health promotion practice in Australia during the initial years of the 21(st) century.The overall significant changes in perceptions indicate that by 2005 the Australian health promotion workforce had substantially moved away from an individual behaviour-dominated perception of health promotion practice. Increasing recognition was given to competencies that reflect environmental, economic and policy influences on health, and increased recognition that these processes are legitimate and essential components of the health promotion process.

Toward International Collaboration on Credentialing in Health Promotion and Health Education: The Galway Consensus Conference

“…The competencies were subsequently revised by the Australian Health Promotion Association and the National Health Promotion Workforce Development Task Group, a committee of the National Public Health Partnership Group. They were further updated in 2005 by the Australian Health Promotion Association, the Public Health Association of Australia Health Promotion Special Interest Group, and the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) South Western Pacific Regional Committee (Shilton et al, 2008). Similar efforts to develop competencies for health promotion have been launched and are unfolding in nearby New Zealand (McCraken & Rance, 2000).…”

Status of undergraduate community-based and public health physiotherapy education South Africa

“…These are general competencies to prepare students for the challenges of the work environment, such as being able to work in teams and to be able to communicate -important themes in current curriculum frameworks (Shilton et al 2008;Therapy Project 2008;Barry et al 2009;Lin et al 2009;Verma et al 2009; National Physiotherapy Advice Committee 2010; Grace and Trede 2011; Basu and Roberts 2012;Pellegrino and Hilton 2012;Voogt and Roblin 2012). Although the professional physio the rapy specific competencies cannot be overemphasised, the study shows that physiotherapy educators have embraced the notion of educating well rounded reflective professionals.…”

Core health promotion competencies in Australia: are they compatible with climate change action?

“…6 Their development has been informed by national and international health promotion scholarship on this topic. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] An opportunity exists to update these competencies to account for changes in contemporary health promotion practice and to expand these in relation to specialised areas of practice, such as social marketing and research and evaluation. 6 As such, we take this opportunity to (a) consider how the existing competencies can support climate change actions; and (b) identify additional competencies that would further enhance and support climate change actions.…”