title: Strengthening quality assurance in health education: recent milestones and future directions.
abstract: The health education profession has a lengthy history of efforts to assure the quality of health education professional preparation and practice. These initiatives to improve the value and accountability of health education are not only beneficial to current practitioners and faculty but also to consumers, students, employers, other professional colleagues, and numerous other stakeholders. This article describes the movement during the last decade to further strengthen quality assurance in health education, including current credentialing mechanisms for individuals and academic programs, the efforts of three national accreditation task forces, and the 2006 Third National Congress for Institutions Preparing Health Educators (Dallas II). Post-Dallas II activities related to program accreditation and approval and individual certification are presented as well as future directions for the health education workforce.
authors.affiliation: Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Alyson
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taub
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Birch
authors.forename: M Elaine
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Auld
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lysoby
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rasar King
mesh_terms: D003406:Credentialing / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D040381:Education, Public Health Professional / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D005178:Faculty / Q000592:standards; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans