Weber State University   

HPHP - Health Promotion

Results of Assessment

2001-2002 (submitted 09/19/02)

Overview

The data are presented under the individual responsibilities (I-VII) of the entry-level health educator.  These are primarily focused courses.  Comprehensive evaluation data for all seven competencies follow.  These data include information gathered from capstone experiences including internships, senior seminar, and the results from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) exam, and cover the time period 1998-2002.

Responsibility I. Assessing Needs

Results and Discussion

The Health 3000 Foundations of Health Promotion course provides an overview of all seven competencies.  The Health 4150 course (4 hours) covers all of the various needs assessment techniques.  In addition, the Health 4013 Assessment course covers techniques used in needs assessment such as survey techniques.  Students complete some type of needs assessment project.  The faculty judge that the competencies are covered, but pedagogy could be improved.  Some but not all students have some experience with needs assessment during their internships.  The responsibility is covered extensively in the curriculum.

Recommendations

1.     The faculty should determine articulation between Health 4150 and Health 4013 regarding which needs assessment methods to teach to avoid duplication and support.

2.     The faculty should evaluate all of the sub-competencies in Responsibility I. and design the 4150 project so that it reflects all of these competencies.

Responsibility II. Planning Programs

Results and Discussion

The Health 3000 Foundations of Health Promotion course provides an overview of all seven competencies.  The Health 4150 course (4 hours) covers the planning programs area in great detail.  The steps used are in complete correlation to grant writing.  Students complete some type of program plan project.  The faculty judge that the competency is covered.  The Health 3200 course, a methods course, includes micro levels of planning including the development of units complete with a sequence of lesson plans.  Some but not all students have some experience with program planning and/or grant-writing during their internships. The responsibility is covered extensively in the curriculum.

Recommendations

1.     The faculty will evaluate whether the 4150 course should be divided into two courses: needs assessment and program planning.  This model (two separate courses) was used prior to 1997.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach.

Responsibility III. Implementing Health Education Programs

Results and Discussion

The Health 3000 Foundations of Health Promotion course provides an overview of all seven competencies.  The Health 3200 Methods course provides the students with experiential learning approaches.  Based on student capstone Health 4990 evaluations this course is seen as most relevant and useful for professional preparation.  In the past 10 years the course has emphasized presentation skills.  In reality, this course represents the activity that most students select the major for, that is, directly educating people about health and wellness.  However, the sub-competencies call for skills related to much broader application, such as social marketing, coalition building, etc.  Most students spend extensive time using methods during their internships.

 Recommendations

1.     The faculty should review the sub-competencies of this responsibility and make curriculum revisions as necessary.

2.     The faculty should insure that the course is more comprehensive and not delimited to presentation skills.

Responsibility IV. Evaluating Effectiveness of Health Education Programs

Results and Discussion

The Health 3000 Foundations of Health Promotion course provides an overview of all seven competencies.  Based on the lack of a specific course we developed Health 4013 Assessment of Health Education Programs.  This course was included in the major as a required course.  The course has greatly enhanced students’ abilities to conduct evaluation.  Students are responsible for actually conducting a descriptive research project.  There are several issues that the faculty need to address (recommendations).

Recommendations

1.     The faculty should review the sub-competencies of this responsibility and make curriculum revisions as necessary.

2.     The faculty should articulate coverage of data collection methods between this course and Health 4150.  It is possible that this course could include needs assessment approaches.

3.     The faculty should determine the balance between descriptive research and experimental research.  To evaluate programs students need to have expertise in research design approaches used in experimental research.

Responsibility V. Coordinating Provisions of Health Education Services

Results and Discussion

“Healthy People 2010 Objectives for the Nation” stresses that the ability to achieve will be directly dependent upon how communities can coordinate and collaborate their collective resources and efforts.  Therefore this is a competency that should be provided top priority.  No one course is dedicated to this competency.  However, the need to coordinate is evident to some degree in all activities carried out by health educators. Therefore the faculty try to incorporate “coordination” efforts into several different courses.  Foremost is the Health 4150 Program Planning course where students are professional members of a community where they act as teams or groups in carrying out needs assessment and program planning.  In Health 3200 we spend some class time on coalition building, legislative advocacy, and ways to facilitate meetings.  The Health 4860 Internship has been the main means to teach and provide experience in this competency. Without question the main pedagogical approach must be experiential.

Recommendations

1. Based upon the recommended means to achieve the goals of “Healthy People 2010” the faculty should increase emphasis on developing competencies in coordination and collaboration.
   

2. The faculty should explore relevant assignments in our academic courses that allow for some type of coordination and collaboration.  We must insure that students role play being members of active coalitions.
   
3. The faculty should strive to insure interns are provided “coordination and collaborative experiences” within the agency they serve.  This implies greater coordination between faculty and agency.
   
4. The faculty should have some type of release time to realistically coordinate and supervise internships.

Responsibility VI. Acting as a Resource Person

Results and Discussion

Being a resource person involves the ability to rapidly locate health related information and resources.  It also implies having referral skills to community health agencies.  The skill of becoming a resource person is addressed in two courses.  In Health 3000 students have an internet/resource assignment where each student must locate both web sites and community resources for a selected health topic.  They report their results to the class.  In our Health 3150 course students study community health agencies, their mission, and their resources.  Numerous guest speakers from agencies speak on their services.  The Health 2700 Consumer Health course has numerous field trips and guest speakers from agencies and health services that consumers would use.  Health 4013 Research involves how to differentiate good from bad health information via Internet searches, databases, peer reviewed journals and various printed material.  We depend upon the internship experience to give students needed practical experience in finding resources.

Recommendations

None

Responsibility VII. Communicating Health and Health Education Needs, Concerns, and Resources.

Results and Discussion

This competency is one that can only be developed fully over time.  In our 4990 capstone course students are asked to write their “Philosophy of Health Education” and to defend it. The competency is developed over the sequence of courses students take.  For example in the initial Health 3000 courses students are asked to defend health education using a debate or “Health Education on Trial” format.  In the Health 4150 course students orally present their program plan to the class (playing the role of decision-makers).  In this endeavor they must defend the purpose and mission, their objectives, their plan for implementation and evaluation, the budget, etc.  The faculty feel we provide ample opportunity to meet this competency.

Recommendations

None

Miscellaneous Outcomes Not CHES Specified

The National Center for Health Education Credentialing is currently undergoing a validation and revision of the standard seven competencies of the entry-level health educator.  Based upon the recently revised graduate competencies we anticipate an addition of “ethical studies” to be competencies.  Another vital area that may be included is an emphasis on understanding and working with “diverse” populations.  The other area of concern is that we are so skill-oriented that most of our students are deficient in health content knowledge.  We have an extensive offering of courses but all are electives within the major.

Results and Discussion

The health education program faculty recognizes the need for the study of ethics as they directly apply to health education practice.  We spend about a week on ethics in our Health 3000 Foundations course.  We try to incorporate ethical principals and case studies throughout our curriculum.  Our Health 3000 Foundations course includes an extensive diversity project where students research, conduct interviews of diverse people, and present to the class.  Again, we try to integrate principles of diversity in all of our courses.  Content-based expertise on the part of our students is lacking.

Recommendations

1. Ethics is an important part of professional practice in any academic area. The faculty should further assess the degree to which we incorporated ethics into our curriculum.
   
2. Diversity is absolutely critical to the health advancement of the American people. Health People 2010 has one of the major goals as “decreasing the disparity of health status between diverse populations”.  The faculty should find more opportunity to study diverse populations in professional preparation courses.
   
3. The health promotion major has many courses in the required area (both health education and health services education).  It is possible that some of these courses could be combined and even moved to the elective area to provide more opportunity for students to take health content courses (stress management, substance abuse prevention, women’s health issues, human sexuality, etc.).

Collective Outcomes of All Seven Areas of Responsibility

Capstone Experience - Internship

Results and Discussion

Students complete a 6-credit 360-hour internship at the end of their program.  Students have primarily served in local health agencies or health departments.  As a result of their experiences many students have found employment.  In addition to contracts, reports, personal evaluations by supervisors the faculty have developed two specific instruments related to the CHES competencies.  One form is filled out by the supervisor and rates the intern on a scale of 1 to 5 (best) for each of the seven competencies.  The second instrument is one where the intern rates the agency on the contribution made to each of the seven competencies.  Because these forms were generated last year as a part of assessment our data are very limited.

Evaluation of WSU Interns on CHES Competencies (n+3).  Two WSU interns were rated a 5 (highest) for all seven competencies.  One student’s average 4.5 on the scale.  According to agency supervisors, interns from WSU are doing an outstanding job and performing well in all aspects.

Evaluation of Agency by WSU Interns (3).  Two students rated their agency between 4-5 on all seven competencies, and one rated the agency from 3 (average) to 5.  These data are most useful to the faculty for working with agencies, recommending agencies, and improving relationships.

Recommendations

1.     The faculty should encourage more internship with large companies or large health departments in other states where more jobs are available.

2.     The faculty should compile a larger data base to more accurately measure student performance.

3.     The internship is such a critical experience that one or more faculty need release-time for coordination, agency visits, etc.

Capstone Experience - Senior Seminar

Results and Discussion

We have three significant experiences related to outcomes assessment and determining the degree to which students have the seven competencies of the entry-level health educator.  The first is the requirement for a comprehensive portfolio that includes all significant assignments completed in the respective professional preparation courses.  The second is an exit interview where we solicit input from students, and the third is taking a practice “CHES” exam followed by extensive critique.

Portfolio. In the approximately five years we have taught senior seminar we have required extensive accountability regarding professional goals, resume, bibliography, and all major copies of completed assignments.

Exit Interviews. Extensive data are on file.  These generalizations apply to two years of health promotion majors taking senior seminar.  CHES Competencies - about half (n=20) students reported that they did not feel competent enough or prepared to take the exam. However, others stated that they felt specifically prepared about needs assessment, planning, implementing, and evaluating.  Some students said that the courses were very specific to preparing entry-level health educators.  Strengths and weaknesses of the program - the major strength of the program was the perceived enthusiasm and helpfulness of the instructors.  Some students felt the advising was excellent.  There was very little consistent input regarding weaknesses.  Some students disliked certain professors or classes while other students liked them.  Some students were concerned that professors didn’t emphasize the CHES competencies enough.  A few felt that they needed more content, while others praised the flexibility in the elective area for selecting many other courses.  Some of the students questioned certain courses regarding relevance to health promotion, such as HAS 3260 and HLTH 2700.  Some suggested that the non-CHES courses should be optional.  Several students said a grant-writing course is needed.  One student strongly commended the teaching of program planning and all of its dimensions, but stated emphatically that not having enough health knowledge was very delimiting.

Recommendations

1. The faculty should insure CHES competencies covered in every class.  Instructors need to relate class assignment and exams to specific CHES competencies.  Furthermore, students need more exam items that would be on the national CHES exam, with adequate feedback.
   

2. The faculty should consider putting more content courses in the curriculum.  At the same time students seem to want non-CHES courses out of the curriculum such as HAS 3260 and Hlth 2700 (Consumer Health), which is a very heavy content course.
   

3. The faculty should revaluate the advising program.  Although most students felt the advising was adequate others felt the opposite.  The whole paradigm for advising should be reevaluated.
   

4. The portfolio should be better delineated and covered throughout the curriculum.  The Physical Education program model may serve useful for review and revision.
   

5. Many students would like a separate seminar or class for preparation for the CHES exam. The senior seminar format only allows for a one-session review.  The faculty should consider such an opportunity.  This seems to be a reasonable request considering practice scores and how most of our graduates study intently for the exam.

National “Certified Health Education Specialist” Exam Results

The National Center for Health Education Credentialing sends us an annual report on students from WSU who have taken the CHES exam.  The overall results are presented.  Data are available regarding scores on each of the seven competency areas.

Results and Discussion

Recommendations

1. Conduct test reviews for students taking the exam.

Mission Statement / Student Learning Outcomes / Curriculum Grid / Assessment Plan / Contact Person