Question: Week Three Journal - Competencies

Each week of this course, you will be reviewing and reflecting upon the national competencies for health education specialists. There are seven areas of responsibility that you will review in depth each week through your reflective journal entry.

Visit the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) website and download a copy of the Areas of Responsibility for Health Education Specialists . This document is considered "The Bible" for health educators as it shows the competencies that are firmly established as the national standards for the field. All total, there are 258 sub-competencies organized into 36 competencies within seven major areas of responsibility.

For Week Three, you will focus on Area 4: Conduct Evaluation and Research Related to Health Education/Promotion and Area 5: Administer and Manage Health Education Promotion. Area 4 contains seven competencies and multiple sub-competencies, which are listed in the PDF document (from 4.1 to 4.7.5). Area 5 contains six competencies and several sub-competencies (5.1 to 5.6.14). As an entry-level health educator, you will not likely be part of these areas; however, as you grow in the field, these two areas represent advanced competencies and give you more knowledge in advancing in your career. In your journal this week, review the Area 4 and Area 5 competency/sub-competency lists and address the following:

• Area 4: Take a look at Competency Area 4.4 - Collect and Manage Data. Imagine you are running a childhood obesity program in your community that includes physical fitness activities and healthy eating. What types of data would you want to collect on your participants in order to learn the effectiveness of your program? How would you go about getting that information?

• Area 5: Look at Competency Area 5.2 - Manage Technology Resources. Using the same childhood obesity program mentioned above, what types of technology and/or instruments do you think you would want to use to collect, monitor and manage that information?

• Consider these technologies and address what you believe needs to be done to assure proper ethical and legal principles are upheld during collection, monitoring, and analysis?

Your journal entry may be a PowerPoint presentation, video, screencast, or a typed document. You will submit your work through Waypoint. No APA formatting is necessary. All presentations must be at least 5 minutes in length; written journal entries. If you use a video or screencast, please make sure you copy the link onto a Word document and then upload the document. This is reflection work and the goal is to critically look at the competencies as well as your insights and beliefs into how they fit into the health educator's daily routine. There are no right or wrong answers; this is pure personal reflection.