Advocating for the incorporation of genomic competencies into public health education: Nation-wide evidence

As the completion of the Human Genome Project holds enormous promise for improving public health, the CDC recommends seven genomic competencies for health educators. Despite such emphasis, little is known regarding public health educators' perspectives regarding these genomic competencies. We conducted the first study to examine public health educators' likelihood to adopt genomic competencies into health promotion by surveying public health educators from major health education organizations. A total of 1,924 public health educators completed our survey and 1,607 responses were utilized in the final analysis. Participants were predominantly white (76.8 %), female (83.9 %), and with CHES certification (81.1 %); their average age was 40.1 years ±12.0 with approximately 11.2 years of practice in health education/promotion. In general, public health educators' likelihood to adopt genomic competencies into their practice was low (only 14.6% said they were likely to adopt the genomic competencies). The lowest likelihood (11.6%) was found for the competency: “To translate complex genomic information for use in community-based health education programs.” Conversely, integrating genomic components into community-based genomic education programs had the highest likelihood (17.4%).As public health educators seem reluctant to incorporate the CDC genomic competencies into practice, increasing health educators' awareness of their roles in public health genetics/genomics becomes a critical and urgent issue. Researchers and the government should advocate for health educators' understanding of their responsibilities in the intersection of genomics and health behavior/promotion. Additionally, relevant training should also be developed and advocated.