Toward international collaboration on credentialing in health promotion and health education: the Galway Consensus Conference.
The interest in competencies, standards, and quality assurance in the professional preparation of public health professionals whose work involves health promotion and health education dates back several decades. In Australia, Europe, and North America, where the interest in credentialing has gained momentum, there have been rapidly evolving efforts to codify competencies and standards of practice as well as the processes by which quality and accountability can be ensured in academic professional preparation programs. The Galway Consensus Conference was conceived as a first step in an effort to explore the development of an international consensus regarding the core competencies of health education specialists and professionals in health promotion and the commonalities and differences in establishing uniform standards for the accreditation of academic professional preparation programs around the world. This article describes the purposes, objectives, and process of the Galway Consensus Conference and the background to the meeting that was convened.
Allegrante
John P
JP
Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, and Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA. jpa1@columbia.edu.
Barry
Margaret M
MM
Auld
M Elaine
ME
Lamarre
Marie-Claude
MC
Taub
Alyson
A
D003226:Congresses as Topic; D003406:Credentialing / Q000592:standards*; D006266:Health Education; D006293:Health Promotion; D007391:International Cooperation; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards