The goal of health educators is to work to encourage healthy lifestyles and wellness.  They attempt to educate individuals and communities about behaviors that promote healthy living, which in turn, prevents diseases and other health problems.

Health-related topics include:

• Proper nutrition
• The importance of exercise
• How to avoid sexually transmitted diseases
• The habits and behaviors necessary to avoid illness

Health educators:

• Assess the needs of their audience
• They determine which topics to cover and how best to present information
• They must plan programs consistent with goals and objectives of their employers.

After needs assessments, the health educator will decide how to put programs together to best meet those needs.  They may:

• Organize a lecture
• Hold a class
• Present a demonstration
• Provide a health screening
• They may create a video, pamphlet or brochure

They often work with other people in a team or on a committee within the organization that employs them.
If funding is required to make programs available to the public, the health educator might:

• Apply for grants
• Write curriculums for classes
• Create written materials
 
Programs may require the health educator to find speakers or locations for the event.

After programs are presented, the health educator evaluates its success.  This might include:

• Tracking the absentee rate of employees from work and students from school
• Surveying participants on their opinions about the program
• Other methods of collecting evidence that suggests whether or not the programs were effective

Through evaluation, the health educator can improve plans for the future and:

• Learn from mistakes
• Capitalize on strengths of the program

Programming is a large part of the job of a health educator; however, they also serve as a resource on health topics.  Tasks may include:

• Locating services
• Locating reference material and other resources that may be useful to the community they serve
• Referring individuals or groups to organizations or medical professionals

Most health educators work in:

• Medical care settings
• Colleges and universities
• Schools
• Public health departments
• Nonprofit organizations
• Private business

Health educators working in medical care facilities tend to:

• Work one-on-o

ne with patients and their families to educate about individual diagnoses and how the diagnoses may change or affect lifestyle
• Explain the necessary procedures or surgeries and how patients may need to change their lifestyles in order to manage the illness or return to full health
• Direct patients to outside resources that may be useful, such as support groups, home health agencies or social services
• Work closely with physicians, nurses and other staff to create educational programs or brochures, web sites, and classes
• Train hospital staff about how to better interact with patients

Health educators working in colleges and universities work mostly with the student population creating programs on topics such as:

• Sexual activity
• Smoking
• Nutrition
• Alcohol and substance abuse

To accomplish their goals in colleges and universities, the health educator might:

• Show popular movies followed by a discussion
• Hold programs in dormitories or cafeterias
• Teach courses for credit
• Give lectures on health-related topics
• Train students as peer educators, who then lead their own programs

Health educators in schools work typically in secondary schools and teach health class.  They may also:

• Develop lesson plans that are relevant and age appropriate to their students
• Need to cover sensitive topics like sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol and drugs
• Be required to teach another subject such as science or physical education
• Develop the health education curriculum for the school or the entire school district

Health educators in public health are usually employed by State and local departments of public health and administer State-mandated programs.  They also:

• May serve as members of statewide councils or national committees on topics like aging
• May inform other professionals in changes to health policy
• May work closely with nonprofit organizations to help them get the resources they need  such as grants to continue serving the community

Continued in part 2

For more information about health educators, contact:
American Association for Health Education, 1900 Association Drive, Reston, VA

Source:  Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Health Educators, on the Internet

Written by:  Connie Limon  For more career description information visit http://smalldogs2.com/CareerDescriptions  For a variety of FREE reprint articles and special topic articles rarely found elsewhere visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.