title: What are the attributes of a good health educator?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine the attributes that students and educators believe are important to being a good health educator in a non-clinical setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey of first-year health science students and educators involved with a Health Science course in Melbourne, Australia was performed. A convenience sampling approach was implemented, with participants were required to rate the importance of teaching attributes on a previously developed 15-item written questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were generated, with Pearson's chi-square statistics used to examine differences between groups. In total 94/147 (63.9%) of students and 15/15 (100%) of educators participated in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 15 attributes, only 'scholarly activity' was not deemed to be not as an important attribute to define a good educator. Knowledge base (50% vs. 13.3%) and feedback skills (22.3% vs. 0%) were rated as important attributes by students in comparison to educators. Professionalism (20% vs. 5.3%), scholarly activity (20% vs. 3.2%) and role modelling (26.7% vs. 3.2%) were rated as the most important attributes by educators in comparison to students.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No single attribute makes a good health educator; rather health educators are required to have a rounded approach to teaching. Students have greater focus on the educator providing a transfer of knowledge. Educators are additionally focused on professionalism attributes, which may not be valued by students. Students and educators must enter into a clearer understanding of expectations, from both parties, to obtain optimal education outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Research and Quality Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Australia.
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ilic
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Research and Quality Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Australia.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Research and Quality Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Australia.
authors.forename: Christie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Allan
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Research and Quality Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Australia.
authors.forename: Basia
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Diug
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D040441:Health Educators / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D011361:Professional Competence; D024382:Professional Role; D000068616:Professionalism; D012586:Science / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: health educator; medical education; standards