Health Educators & Community Health Workers
Health Educators & Community Health Workers
Career Overview
Health educators and community health workers help people make informed decisions about their health, prevent illness, and connect with healthcare and community resources. They may develop health programs, teach individuals and groups, lead wellness initiatives, provide outreach, and help people navigate healthcare services. Modern professionals in this field also use digital health platforms, social media, data, telehealth, and other technology to reach and educate communities. *You may also see these careers called health education specialist, health promotion specialist, public health educator, community health worker, community health advocate, or community health outreach worker, depending on the role and location.
Education
*There are two different pathways: Health Educator / Health Education Specialist: Usually requires a bachelor's degree in health education, public health, health science, or a related field. Some positions may require graduate education or professional experience. Community Health Worker: Entry requirements can be much shorter. A high school diploma may be enough for some positions, followed by on-the-job training. Other employers may prefer a 1-year certificate or 2-year college/associate degree in community health, public health, social services, or a related area.
Future Outlook
Health education and community-based healthcare are becoming increasingly important as healthcare systems focus on prevention, health equity, and reaching people where they live and work. Community health workers are particularly important in helping underserved communities connect with healthcare and other essential services. The World Health Organization continues to support expanding and strengthening community-based health-worker programs as part of primary healthcare worldwide.
Work Environment
You could work in hospitals, public health organizations, schools, community health centres, government agencies, nonprofits, universities, and other community organizations. The work can involve offices and clinics, but also community events, schools, homes, and outreach programs. Digital communication, telehealth, health apps, social media, and data tools are increasingly part of the job.
Recommended High School Courses
- Biology
- Psychology
- Computer Science
- Communication
- Nutrition
- Social science
- Health & Wellness
- Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operations Analysis - Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Provide educational materials to community members.
- Develop working relationships with others to facilitate program activities.
- Maintain social services program records.
- Plan programs to address community health issues.
- Present social services program information to the public.
- Develop tools to diagnose or assess needs.
- Assess individual or community needs for educational or social services.
- Collect information about community health needs.
- Supervise workers providing client or patient services.
- Develop educational policies.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of counseling or educational programs.
- Advise others on social or educational issues.
- Develop educational programs.
- Train staff members in social services skills.
Schools
Alaska Pacific University
American University
Angelo State University
Arizona State University
Arizona Western College
Auburn University
Ball State University
Bethel University
Boston University
California State Universi...
California State Universi...
Canisius College
Central Arizona College
Central New Mexico Commun...
Cincinnati State Technica...
Cleveland University- Kan...
Colorado Technical Univer...
Columbia University - Ny...
Excelsior College
Framingham State Universi...
Georgia Southwestern Stat...
Grantham University
Interior Alaska Campus
Lansing Community College
Lock Haven University
Mansfield University Of P...
Minneapolis Community And...
Portland State University
Sacramento City College
Salisbury University
South Suburban College
Suny At Cortland
Suny At Potsdam
Suny Erie Community Colle...
Suny Schenectady County C...
University Of Alaska Fair...
University Of California-...
University Of Illinois- S...
University Of Louisville
University Of Maryland- H...
University Of North Carol...
University Of Wisconsin-...
Walden University
Weber State University- F...
Canadian College Of He...
Canadian Institute Of...
Cape Breton Business C...
Cdi College- Edmonton...
Herzing College- Onlin...
Herzing College- Ottaw...
Herzing College- Toron...
Lakehead University- O...
Seneca College- King C...
Sprott Shaw Community...
Trillium College- King...
Trillium College- Osha...
Trillium College- St....
Wilfred Laurier Univer...
Vancouver Island Univer...
Vancouver Island Univer...
Approx Salary Expectation
Low End:
$39,000.00 /yr
Avg/Med:
$64,000.00 /yr
High End:
$118,000.00 /yr
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.