title: The credentialing of a population-based health profession: lessons learned from health education certification.
abstract: This article summarizes research and issues related to health education certification. Health education's experience with certification provides valuable insight for other public health professions because of the credential's population-based emphasis, its recent development, and its broadly defined cross-cutting skill set. Although data are still emerging on the outcomes of health education certification, most studies indicate that it has had a positive impact across multiple dimensions. Critical to this success has been providing profession-wide opportunities for input, communicating with key stakeholders, establishing an independent credentialing agency, and basing the credential on scientifically and legally defensible competencies that are linked to job responsibilities.
authors: East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, USA.
authors: W C
authors: WC
authors: Livingood
authors: M E
authors: ME
authors: Auld
mesh_terms: D002568:Certification; D003142:Communication; D003406:Credentialing; D004496:Education, Continuing; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D011361:Professional Competence; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000592:standards*; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000592:standards; D013192:Staff Development / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States; D014488:United States Health Resources and Services Administration; D000078329:Workforce