Activities	Health educators teach people about behaviors that promote wellness. They develop programs and materials to encourage people to make healthy decisions.
Outlook	Faster-than-average-job growth
Median Income	$45,830 in May 2010
Work Context & Conditions	Usually work indoors. The job requires a lot of sitting and being in contact with others, e.g., face-to-face, telephone, or e-mail. They must be very exact and highly accurate.
Minimum Education Requirements	Master's Degree
Skills	Active Listening, Writing, Active Learning, Judgment and Decision Making, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking
Abilities	Oral Expression, Written Comprehension, Speech Clarity
Interviews	Frank GrayShield

Job Category		Community & Social Services
Job Description		Health educators work to encourage healthy lifestyles and wellness through educating individuals and communities about behaviors that can prevent diseases, injuries, and other health problems and attempt to prevent illnesses by informing and educating individuals and communities about health-related topics, such as proper nutrition, the importance of exercise, how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, and the habits and behaviors necessary to avoid illness. They begin by assessing the needs of their audience, which includes determining the appropriate topics to cover. They may hold programs on self-examination for breast cancer to women or may teach classes on the effects of binge drinking to college students. Health educators must take the cultural norms of their audience into account. For example, programs targeted at the elderly need to be different from those aimed at a college-aged population. Within medical care facilities, health educators tend to work one-on-one with patients and their families. In this setting, a health educator’s goal is to educate individual patients on their diagnosis and how that may change or affect their lifestyle. To this end, they may explain the necessary procedures or surgeries as well as how patients will need to alter their lifestyles to manage their illness or return to full health. They may also direct patients to outside resources, such as support groups, home health agencies, or social services. Often, health educators work closely with physicians, nurses, and other staff to create educational programs or materials, such as brochures, Web sites, and classes. In some cases, health educators train hospital staff about how to better interact with patients. Health educators in schools are typically employed in secondary schools, where they may teach health class. They develop lesson plans that are relevant and age appropriate to their students. Educators may need to cover sensitive topics, such as sexually transmitted diseases or alcohol and drug abuse and may also teach another subject concurrently, such as science or physical education. Sometimes, they may develop the health education curriculum for the school or for the entire school district. Heath educators in public health are employed primarily by State and local departments of public health and administer State-mandated programs. They also develop educational materials for use by other public health officials. During an emergency, health educators may be responsible for disseminating information to both the media and the public. They work closely with nonprofit organizations to help them get the resources they need, such as funding. Educators often serve as members of statewide councils or national committees on topics such as aging. As part of this work, they inform other professionals in changes to health policy.
Working Conditions		Health educators usually work indoors. Their jobs require a lot of sitting and being in contact with others, e.g., face-to-face, telephone, or e-mail. They must be very exact and highly accurate.
Salary Range		The median annual wage of health educators was $45,830 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $26,730, and the top 10 percent earned more than $81,430.

Education Required		Entry level health educator positions generally require a bachelor’s degree in health education. These programs teach students theories and methods of health education and help students gain the knowledge and skills to develop health education materials and programs. Most programs include an internship Some positions, such as those in the federal government or in state public health agencies, require a master’s degree. Graduate programs are commonly called community health education, school health education, public health education, or  health promotion. Entering a master’s degree program requires a bachelor’s degree, but a variety of undergraduate majors are acceptable.
Recommended High School Courses		Computers and Electronics, Biology, Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Communications, Health
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Psychology, Administration and Management, Therapy and Counseling, Communications and Media, Sales and Marketing, Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry, Education and Training, English Language
Certification and Licensing		Some employers hire only health educators who are Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES). CHES is a certification offered by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. Certification is awarded after the candidate passes a test on the basic responsibilities of health educators. The exam is aimed at entry-level health educators who have completed a bachelor’s degree or are within 3 months of completion. To maintain their certification, health educators must complete 75 hours of continuing education every 5 years.

Interest Area		Social Involves working and communicating with, helping, and teaching people.
Work Values		Achievement Get a feeling of accomplishment. Social Service Do things for other people. Working Conditions Good working conditions.
Skills		Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Judgment and Decision Making Be able to weigh the relative costs and benefits of a potential action. Coordination Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Written Comprehension Able to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Speech Clarity Able to speak clearly so listeners understand.

Related Jobs		Nurse, Registered
Job Outlook		Employment of health educators is expected to grow by 37 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations. Growth will be driven by efforts to reduce healthcare costs by teaching people about healthy habits and behaviors.Health educators held about 63,400 jobs in 2010. As healthcare costs continue to rise, insurance companies, employers, and governments are trying to find ways to curb costs. One way is to employ health educators, who teach people how to live healthy lives and avoid costly diseases. Lifestyle changes can reduce the likelihood of contracting a number of illnesses, such as lung cancer, HIV, heart disease, and skin cancer. Health educators help people understand how what they do affects their health. For many illnesses, such as breast cancer and testicular cancer, finding the disease early greatly increases the likelihood that treatment will be successful. Therefore, it is important for people to know how to find possible problems on their own. The need to provide the public with this kind of information is expected to result in an increased demand for health educators.
More Information		American Association for Health Education
References		Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition, Health Educators, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/health-educators.htm O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/21-1091.00