Consistencies in the Preparation and Work of Public Health Educators

Comparison of Duties and Responsibilities of Public Health Educators, 1957 and 1969

“…Are there duties and responsibilities currently discharged by public health educators that were not reported in the previous study? 5. Are there duties and responsibilities reported in the previous study that currently are not discharged by public health educators?…”

“…Reports of health education activities performed by public health personnel, job specifications for health education personnel, and the professional preparation of public health educators do not appear in the literature before 1949. An extensive review of early studies of the duties and functions of public health workers was reported in a 1957 study by Bowman (5). Use of job analyses and time studies, long accepted as a means of determining the efficient and economical use of personnel in industry and government, became well established and accepted as a methodology for studies of public health personnel through this early research.…”

“…Beginning in the 1950's, this methodology has been applied to studies of public health educators. Four time studies of health education activities have been reported by Milne and associates (6), Anderson (7), the California State Department of Public Health's Bureau of Health Education (8), and Bowman (9).…”

“…Several studies that included job analyses of public health educators were found in the literature. Those by Rash (10), Derderian (11), and Galiher and Wright (12), as well as the four time studies of health education activities, have been summarized by Bowman (5).…”

Creativity and the Public Health Educator

“…Although there have been some studies of the functions and preparation of health educators (Anderson, 1954, Bowman, 1958 and of personality, vocational interests, and intelligence as they relate to academic success (Barthol and Kirk, 1956), there is very little information related to the personality of the health educator and successful job performance. Nyswander (1953) indicated the need for studies in personality assessment and fitness to do specific tasks in health education and Griffiths (1957) specifically has pointed out the need for health educators to be more imaginative.…”