Professional Characteristics of Health Promotion: A Scoping Review of the German and International Literature

Abstract

Objective: This scoping review investigates current developments in the professional characteristics of health promotion (HP) with a focus on the German speaking part of Europe. The conceptualization of HP is a prerequisite for progressing HP professionalization and clarifying the interconnectedness between HP and Public Health.Methods: The search strategy was informed by sociological professionalization theories. Original publications were included in a content-based analysis.Results: Ninety publications (37 original publications) were identified in the review. The results are summarized in categories based on professional characteristics: 1) profession, 2) ethics, 3) education/training 4) competencies, and 5) quality. The professionalization of HP regarding the professional characteristics is less developed in the German compared to the international literature.Conclusion: The mixed findings emphasize the relevance of a common HP conceptualization. The HP core competencies, which have been developed by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education must be further promoted. A strong HP workforce within Public Health strengthens the HP status in policy contexts and society and its contribution to promoting health and tackling social inequalities in health.

The First Undergraduate Program in Health Promotion and Prevention in Switzerland: Context, Concept, and Challenges

“…The professional profile of HP is hard to capture for students of undergraduate programs (McKay and Dunn 2015;Zocher 2013). Core elements like the holistic perspective on health, focus on populations instead of individuals, intersectorality and strategies like advocating, mediating or enabling make it a very complex professional profile as recognized in literature (Biehl et al 2021;Keshavarz Mohammadi 2019;McQueen et al 2007;Tremblay and Richard 2014). This complex nature of HP is underlined by the fields of action proposed by the Ottawa Charta (WHO 1986).…”

“…While societal interest in HP is growing, its significance and recognition as a professional field has yet to be consolidated. Referring to the German speaking part of Europe, to date there has been no clarification of roles, competencies or professional training and ethics in HP -in other words no clarity about the profession of HP practitioners (Bals and Wulfhorst 2008;Biehl et al 2021;Göpel 2006;Streckeisen 2013;Walter This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published Springer in Akerman, M., Germani, A.C.C.G. (eds) International Handbook of Teaching and Learning in Health Promotion on 23 June 2022, available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96005-6_3 2 2015).…”

Professional Identity Formation in Health Promotion Practitioners: Students’ Perspectives during an Undergraduate Program in Switzerland

“…More established professions investigate the PI formation of their workforce, such as medicine [42][43][44], physiotherapists [45,46] or social work [47][48][49][50]. To the authors' knowledge, literature on the PI of the HP workforce is scarce, especially there is a lack of empirical studies [51][52][53]. So far, studies on professionalization mainly focus on PH or health sciences [27,29,54,55].…”