Highlighting Contributions of Behavioral and Social Sciences in Advancing Public Health: Where We've Come, Where We're Headed

CONTEXT

Social and behavioral sciences, a cross-disciplinary field that examines the interaction among behavioral, biological, environmental, and social factors, has contributed immensely to some public health achievements over the last century. Through collaboration with community organizations and partners, social and behavioral scientists have conducted numerous program interventions involving community engagement and advocacy efforts at the local, state, federal, and international levels.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

This article traces select historical underpinnings of the applications of social and behavioral sciences theories and evidence to public health and highlights 4 areas in which health education specialists have distinctly contributed to public health achievements by building on theory and evidence. Applied social and behavioral sciences have formed the basis of various health education interventions. These 4 areas include the following: (1) Theory, Model Development, and the Professionalization of Health Education; (2) Participation and Community Engagement; (3) Health Communication; and (4) Advocacy and Policy.

DISCUSSION

We present contemporary challenges and recommendations for strengthening the theory, research, and practice of health education within the context of social and behavioral sciences in addressing emerging public health issues.

Attributes used in hospital services' advertisements in a metropolitan newspaper's Sunday health section

Although newspaper print advertising has waned given the general decline in newspaper readership, hospitals are steady advertisers in metropolitan daily newspapers. Using a content analysis, this study identified, categorized, and accounted for frequencies of the attributes hospital marketers used in print advertisements promoting their services over a three-year period. We identified a typology of six attributes. Findings indicated that the most frequently used attribute in hospitals' print advertisements was patients, next health professionals; whereas technology and procedure were the least frequently used attributes. Branding was the most frequently used attribute when looking at the secondary impressions in the advertisements.

A Literature Review of Research on What Has Become of Accelerated Second-Degree Baccalaureate Nursing Graduates

BACKGROUND

Accelerated second-degree baccalaureate nursing (ASDBN) programs have become popular in the United States as a solution to meet the demand for BSN nurses. The research conducted on ASDBN graduates is limited and focuses on educational experience or early career outcomes, such as NCLEX-RN pass rates or first-year job performance.

AIM

This research is designed to provide a better understanding of the status of ASDBN graduates two years after completion of the BSN program.

METHOD

A literature review was conducted focusing on research into ASDBN graduates beyond their student experiences or early significant career events or outcomes.

RESULTS

Surprisingly, only two articles met the interest criteria used in this literature review.

CONCLUSION

There are clear and significant gaps in areas that examine ASDBN graduates beyond the immediate postgraduation period.

2007 SOPHE Presidential Address: Discovering a Philosophy of Health Education

While we have several hallmarks of a mature profession, does this include a well-articulated Philosophy of Health Education? High-order questions should be important to both practitioners and researchers in health education. This address outlines why it is important for us to have a philosophy of health education, an approach that we could take in such a project, and brief illustrations of how one's philosophy of health education impacts our work. Studying philosophy is a discipline unto itself. The suggestion is made for us to take a systematic look at fundamental questions about who we are, what areas of the human condition we choose to affect, why (and in what way) we do the things we do, and what difference we are making. If using a traditional philosophical framework of inquiry, three major and important areas of questioning would be examined, falling in the areas of epistemology, ethical and moral discourse, and governance and justice. Discovering a philosophy of health education understandably could be far a field from one's research agenda. However, if the profound statement that, of all the functions that a public health department provides, health education quite possibly could be the most essential service in a democratic society is true, then it is important for us, on balance, to get it right, thus giving a strong rationale for us to discover our own brand, as opposed to a borrowed, philosophy of health education.

Managing and Monitoring Student "Issues" in Higher Education: Introduction

RATIONALE

Organizations regulating educational programs uniformly require the publication of procedures that inform students on how to submit complaints, grievances, or address other issues. Many regulating bodies, including programmatic accreditors, require programs to apply uniform processes and objectivity in the review and disposition of student grievances.

PURPOSE

This article describes a formal system established by a large health professions college within a midsize urban university to manage and monitor trends with "student issues" (i.e., complaints, grievances, and appeals) and to teach students how to interpret academic policy and bring issues forward.

BEST PRACTICE

The system includes a) a philosophy for managing student issues; b) the designation of a single academic administrator, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, who works with students throughout the grievance process, including preparing documentation for the dean or provost for final disposition; c) clear, accessible policies describing student issues processes and procedures; and d) an annual summative report of all student issues.

RESULTS

This system and annual report informs academic administrators about possible changes needed to policies and procedures and encourages best practices in managing academic and student affairs. Seven years of data are presented. The tracking of grievances and complaints also makes data readily available for site evaluators during accreditation review of health professions programs in a university/college.

A brief on writing a successful abstract

The abstract for an article submitted to a clinical or academic journal often gets little attention in the manuscript preparation process. The abstract serves multiple purposes in scholarly work dissemination, including the one piece of information reviewers have to invite presenters to professional conferences. Therefore, the abstract can be the most important and should be the most powerful 150-250 words written by authors of scholarly work. This brief for healthcare practitioners, junior faculty, and students provides general comments, details, nuances and tips and explains the various uses of the abstract for publications and presentations in the healthcare field.

Using an experience documentation opportunity to certify advanced-level health education specialists

The worldwide burden of diseases, environmental threats, and injuries help establish the global context and need for credentialing in health education and promotion. To ensure effective practice by certified or credentialed individuals, it is critical that the global health education and promotion workforce identify, agree on, and establish core competencies grounded in knowledge, skills, and abilities to strengthen the global capacity to improve the practice of health education at the entry and advanced levels. Dialog regarding the development of Domains of Core Competency for global capacity in health promotion has occurred. One unique process for granting certification was how a U.S. certifying organization used an Experience Documentation Opportunity to validate advanced-level professional competency. In this article, a one-time, 6-month opportunity in certifying advanced-level health education specialists is documented, and the implications of these results on the Domains of Core Competency are discussed. The authors provide valuable insight for health education professionals worldwide on establishing a process for quality assurance and accountability and alignment with the current global competency discussion. The Experience Documentation Opportunity process also may be useful in international efforts to establish certification based on core competencies.

A summative report of applications submitted for the experience documentation opportunity for the master certified health education specialist credential

The purpose of this article is to provide a summative report of the applications submitted for the Experience Documentation Opportunity (EDO), implemented by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (NCHEC). The EDO was a one-time, 6-month opportunity for health education specialists holding the entry-level certification (Certified Health Education Specialist or CHES) for 5 or more continuous years, with active status, to submit documentation to verify practice at the advanced level to become a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), the new advanced certification. The EDO process was rigorous and effective in verifying a professional's level of practice. A total of 862 applications were submitted to NCHEC; 819 were approved, 36 denied, and 7 withdrew. Frequency distributions indicate which advanced-level subcompetencies were used the most and least for applications. Results of the EDO process provide valuable information regarding characteristics of the first cohort of MCHES, as well as a direct assessment of advanced-level practice in the field of health education.

A Process for Updating a Philosophy of Education Statement

Most health education specialists have been introduced to the idea of having a philosophy of education statement. Although some in the field have been writing about this career development exercise, little has been written about the process of developing one’s philosophy of education statement. This brief essay explains a sample process health education specialists can use to create or update their philosophy of education statement. The author gives a firsthand account of a systematic, disciplined, intellectually liberating, and reflective approach to articulating one’s philosophy of education statement, by considering the writings of select intellectual giants who have acted on human experience, thought, and practice in education. A philosophy of education statement should be useful to any health education specialist regardless of type of work, site, position in the organization, population served, or health topic. The resultant updated and precisely written statement serves to sharpen a health education specialist’s future role as a health educator, as well as contribute to his or her journey in lifelong learning.

Marketing Health Educators to Employers: Survey Findings, Interpretations, and Considerations for the Profession

In July 2007, a market research report was produced by Hezel Associates on behalf of five sponsoring health education profession member organizations and the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. The purpose of the survey was to learn about current or potential employers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward health educators and the health education profession and their future hiring practices. This article presents the background leading up to the production of this report, the major findings of the survey of employers, recommendations from the market research group regarding core messages, and implications for the profession having discovered for the first time information about employers’ understanding of professionally prepared health educators. The article discusses the umbrella and key messages that may be incorporated into a marketing plan and other recommendations by the firm that should assist health educators in marketing the profession. Furthermore, this article presents reactions by leaders in this field to these messages and recommendations and concludes with next steps in this project and a call for the overall need to market the profession of health education.

Books and Media Review: Collected Works Addressing Global Health

This article includes brief overviews of three books that have collected works on global health. They were selected given their scope of the issue, author expertise, committed editors, and sponsoring organizations, and each provides in some sense a different level (micro, midlevel, macro) of understanding of the needs to improve global health.

Framing a Transdisciplinary Research Agenda in Health Education to Address Health Disparities and Social Inequities: A Road Map for SOPHE Action

SOPHE leaders continue to challenge us to be true to the call for an “open society.” SOPHE has supported the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities through its Strategic Plan. SOPHE held an Inaugural Health Education Research Disparities Summit, Health Disparities and Social Inequities: Framing a Transdisciplinary Research Agenda in Health Education, August 8 and 9, 2005. This article explains the process used at the Summit where more than 80 researchers, academicians, practitioners, and students from across the country convened to ask fundamental questions about health disparity associated with race and ethnicity and how a health education research agenda could help in eliminating these disparities. From this Summit, about a dozen questions and/or recommendations have been developed to frame our future discussions about health disparities. Through its Research Agenda Committee, SOPHE has developed a process of translation and dissemination, including community participation, review, dialogue, and action