The health promotion internship: a sponsor's perspective

Health promotion internships are an essential link between the university classroom and the corporate or public service environment. A well structured internship experience will provide the future health promotion professional with an opportunity to transfer learned theory into practical application within a controlled and supervised environment. The success of the internship experience is contingent upon the mutual effort of the student, academic institution, and sponsoring organization working together to develop a model that will reflect the goals and objectives of each group with primary long-term benefit accruing to the future health promotion professional. The purpose of this article is to explore the components of a successful health promotion internship model developed from the perspective of a sponsoring organization.