Page 263 - Cultural Competence in Health Education

Cultural Competence and Health Education 241

As stated in Chapter Nine , professional preparation programs must include aware-
ness - based, knowledge - based, and skills - based objectives in their required courses
to prepare students to become culturally competent professionals.

■ Professional health educators must participate in continuing education designed to
enhance their ability to become culturally and linguistically competent and to update
the skills they learned in classroom training and in their work experience. In order to

promote continued professional development among certified health educator spe-
cialists (CHESs), the NCHEC should set a minimum number of continuing educa-
tion contact hours (CECHs) in the area of cultural and linguistic competence as part

of the seventy-five CECHs needed over the five - year certifi cation period.

Health Education Programs Designed
for Cultural and Linguistic Competence
■ Health educators must conduct needs assessments that collect racial, ethnic, or
cultural group – specific demographic characteristics, including age, gender, social

class, education and literacy, religion and spirituality, and language preferences,
among others, in order to properly assess the needs for health education programs
and then to incorporate the local meaning and understanding of the health - illness
continuum as well as the differences of symptom expression in the prevention
messages that they deliver.
■ Health educators must use culturally and linguistically appropriate tools to collect
data that will help them understand the attitudes and beliefs and also the educa-
tional, social, and economic conditions in the community and incorporate this
information when developing, implementing, and evaluating health education and
prevention programs.

■ Health educators must work with members of their target communities and make
them integral members of the program team during the development, implementa-
tion, and evaluation of health education and prevention programs.
■ Health educators must use the targeted racial, ethnic, or cultural group ’ s preferred
language during the development, implementation, and evaluation of a health
education and prevention program. Health educators should not use health educa-
tion and prevention messages that are simply translated literally from the English
language, as they may not convey the intended message in the group ’ s preferred
language.
■ Health educators must make it a priority to empower racial, ethnic, and cultural
communities to ensure that health education and prevention programs are long -
lasting and self - sustaining.
■ Health educators must ensure that health education and prevention programs are
accessible, appropriate, and equitable to all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups in
the community.

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