Foundational Courses in Health Education

Abstract

Community colleges educate a substantial proportion of future health professionals. In particular, they provide an important incubator for health education specialists who may pursue their foundational courses in a 2-year degree setting, with an opportunity to articulate to a 4-year degree program in health education. Community colleges also have strong connections to the communities they serve, a foundational element shared with health education, and enroll many students from underserved communities who could enhance the diversity of the future health education workforce. This article describes the development of three foundational courses in health education by the Society for Public Health Education, Inc. (SOPHE), working as part of The Framing the Future: The Second 100 Years of Public Health Task Force under the aegis of the Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health and the League for Innovation in Community College in the United States. Using the latest available competencies for the health education profession, three prototype curricular outlines were created in 2014, including an introduction to health education, accessing and analyzing health information, and advocacy and leadership in public health (a service-learning course). The course content outlines are presented herein, and their relationship to the 2010 health education competencies. We outline next steps in linking SOPHE health education faculty and practitioners with community college representatives to develop quality associate degree course offerings that articulate to baccalaureate degree programs in health education.