Promoting, supporting, and facilitating healthier lifestyles and communities
Mission
To assist the public with building infrastructures that facilitate educational, behavioral, environmental and societal changes, which support, promote and improve health at the individual, group and community levels through the use of accepted, theory-based processes.
The Office of Public Health Education has been a recognized professional discipline within the SCDHEC for twenty-three years. Health Education is an important component in assuring the public’s health. Public health education specialists function at the regional and central office level. They serve as practitioners in both clinic and community as well as in program consultant roles in central office.
Role
The Office of Public Health Education’s primary role is to support and develop quality health education practice delivered by staff to our customers. Major activities include organizing health education specialists:
- to establish standards of practice, monitor performance, and take actions to assure quality,
- to assess staff development and training needs and assuring plans for meeting those needs,
- to provide consultation and technical assistance to regions, programs, agency decision makers regarding discipline personnel and strategic and operational planning,
- and to collaborate with professional discipline and public health organizations at the state and national level to advance public health education.
Senior level health education specialists provide staff support to the following three discipline standing committees:
- Quality Assurance and Practice
- Staff Development
- Marketing, Recruitment and Retention
What Is Health Education All About?
Achieving the nation’s health objectives, Healthy People 2010 will depend on a strong system of assessment and surveillance of public health problems, building capacity and infrastructure for public health, and the delivery of well developed health promotion and disease prevention interventions. Lifestyle and behavior changes are key factors for addressing many of the health problems facing the citizens of South Carolina. Interventions should be uniquely tailored to address the circumstances of a given population, person, and situation. Prevention makes good economic sense, paying returns in improved health and reduced health care costs.
Health education is a social science that draws from the psychological, biological, environmental, physical and medical sciences to promote health and prevent disease, disability and premature death through education driven voluntary behavior change activities. Health education is a dynamic process. Health education not only addresses individual behavior, but also community and institutional changes that are necessary to support healthy behaviors. Developing, implementing and evaluating risk behavior interventions based on sound epidemiological and behavioral science research is the focus of health promotion and education practitioners.
Health educators are facilitators of individual, group, institutional, community, and systemic strategies to improve health knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behavior among the population at large. Special competencies are required to deliver quality health education interventions. The Office utilizes professional preparation standards for each health education classification level. Following are the seven basic areas of responsibility as outlined by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc and the Office of Public Health Education:
- Assessing individual and community need for health education;
- Planning effective health education programs;
- Implementing health education programs;
- Evaluating the effectiveness of health education programs;
- Coordinating the provision of health education services;
- Acting as a resource person in health education; and
- Communicating health and health education needs, concerns and resources.