191066 What Employers Are Saying about Health Educators

Monday, October 27, 2008: 12:50 PM

Stephen Gambescia, PhD, MBA, CHES , Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
     
A survey of the knowledge, attitudes and hiring practices of employers of health educators was commissioned in 2007 by five members of the Coalition of National Health Education Organizations (CNHEO) and the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc (NCHEC). The online survey (N=612), conducted by Hezel Associates (an independent market research firm), revealed that the majority of employers believe health education specialists contribute valuable knowledge and skills to ensuring the health of the public. Employers also view organizational productivity and providing access to key decision makers as top benefits of hiring health educators as part of their workforce. This presentation will present survey findings, and key messages and concepts that resonate with employers.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to: 1) Explain at least 3 findings of the survey of employers of health educators; 2) Articulate key messages and concepts about professionally trained health educators that resonate with employers;

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: is assistant dean of academic and student affairs and associate professor in the Health and Society Programs of the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Drexel University. .Dr. Gambescia has held a number of educational leadership roles eventually serving as a vice president in a metro and multi-state division for two of the largest national voluntary health agencies (American Cancer Society and American Heart Association). He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of health promotion/disease prevention. His research interests have been in tobacco control, chronic disease risk awareness/prevention, and broadly in health communications. His research interests in higher education include continuing professional education program development, evaluation, credentialing, and in distributed learning. He has co-authored a recently published book on Managing a Public Speaker Bureau for Health and Human Services Organizations. Dr. Gambescia has held several academic administrative positions. He was an assistant dean in the Goodwin College of Professional Studies at Drexel; a dean of graduate and professional studies (Cabrini College); executive director of adult and continuing professional studies, assistant V.P. academic affairs and assistant to the president at Neumann College. Dr. Gambescia received his first degree from Saint Joseph’s University (sociology); a professional degree in journalism/public relations from Charles Morris Price; M.Ed. from the School of Education at The Pennsylvania State University; M.B.A. from Regis University; and Ph.D. in health care policy at Temple University.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Marketing the Health Education Profession to Employers
See more of: Public Health Education and Health Promotion