Health Education Job Analysis Projects
The health education profession has a long history of scientifically validating the Competencies that have become the basis of the professional credential(s), professional preparation, and professional development. NCHEC's leadership has made a commitment to maintaining credentialing standards by conducting a job/practice analysis periodically.
Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis (HESPA II 2020)
The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc., (NCHEC) and the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) co-sponsored the most recent health education specialist practice analysis. This study, known as Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis II (HESPA II 2020) was completed to re-verify the entry and advanced-level Responsibilities, Competencies, and Sub-competencies that undergird the professional preparation and development of all health education specialists, as well as to provide the basis for the health education profession’s certification system.
The practice analysis will serve as the basis for the certification examinations that NCHEC uses for Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) and Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES®) certification. Additionally, the practice analysis is used to guide curriculum used in health education professional preparation programs at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels as well as by continuing education providers.
HESPA II 2020 oversight was provided by a 17-member volunteer Task Analysis Panel, chaired by Randy Cottrell, D.Ed., MCHES®, and co-chaired by Adam Knowlden, MBA, PhD, CHES®. The project encompassed an in-depth analysis of the contemporary and future competencies needed by health education specialists over the next five years. The panel drafted a detailed content outline of the major areas of Responsibility, Competencies and Sub-competencies, and the associated knowledge as well as recommendations regarding the use of these Competencies for all health education specialists and for further advancing the health education profession.
Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis (HESPA) 2015
The past research study was held in 2013-2014 and was known as the Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis- 2015 (HESPA 2015). The purpose of this study was to validate the current practice of entry- and advanced-level health education specialists to determine any changes in health education practice since the last major job analysis study, HEJA 2010, and to inform certification, professional preparation, and continuing education initiatives.
Health Educator Job Analysis Project
NCHEC partnered with the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), and the American Association for Health Education (AAHE), to conduct the Health Educator Job Analysis 2010 (HEJA-2010). The 18-month research project confirmed a hierarchical model of entry- and advanced-level Competencies.
Competencies Update Project
The national health educator Competencies Update Project (CUP) was initiated in March 1998 by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (NCHEC) as a follow-up to the 1978-1981 Role Delineation Project. NCHEC assumed the responsibility as the fiscal and administrative organization for the research. The initial purpose of the CUP was to determine the current role of entry-level health educators by assessing what they do in practice.
Role Delineation Project
Beginning in the mid-1970s, the health education profession began the process of developing the steps necessary to establish the credentialing of health educators. The landmark Role Delineation Project (United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1978) was officially funded in 1978. Through a series of conferences, workshops, and a national survey of health educators, the responsibilities, functions, skills, and knowledge expected of entry-level health educators were delineated. The concept of a “generic role” common to all health educators, regardless of work setting, emerged and formed the basis for the credentialing process for health education specialists.