Advocacy Skill Development in Public Health Education Curriculum: A Pilot Study

The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) released updated Responsibilities and Competencies for Health Education Specialists based on the 2020 HESPA II. For the first time, advocacy is a standalone area of responsibility (Area V: Advocacy) for health education specialists. Although this is exciting for the field of health education, there is limited consensus on how to effectively teach advocacy or what content and skills to include. Furthermore, while the HESPA II was updated, the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) criteria for advocacy have not been. This pilot study examined how CEPH-accredited programs in the United States are addressing the profession-wide advocacy competency in their health education curricula. A cross-sectional research design with single-point data collection was used to assess how CEPH-accredited university programs (including Standalone Baccalaureate Programs, Public Health Programs, and Schools of Public Health) are preparing health education students to meet the national advocacy responsibility. The survey included items from the Advocacy Area of Responsibility and potential barriers for faculty teaching advocacy. Results indicate that most programs are teaching something about advocacy, but there is no program teaching all listed sub-competencies. Barriers to including all components of the advocacy responsibility were largely related to faculty motivation, knowledge, and time. With a full responsibility area devoted to advocacy, it is reasonable to expect that programs will adjust with the profession. However, program administrators must be catalysts for these changes in their individual programs.