Whew---- It's Five years later

and.... no one cares? Only a few health educators started this discussion way (way) back in 1985, at the AAHPERD/AAHE National Convention in Atlanta. Was it too radical an idea? Are health educators just the middle majority or laggards and just follow the academic leadership?

What dod you get when your profession limps along for so many years, almost 25 years later?

- fewer jobs

- fewer academic departments

- less autonomy as a profession

- lower paying jobs

- no national grants for graduate level training (nurses get them all the time)

- diffusion of roles among other ill-prepared health "professional."

etc.

What are YOU going to do about it?

- Go to http://healthbehavior.com Join AHEA

- Yell and raise hell with SOPHE and AAHE to walk the walk!

- Get out of Health Education and become a nurse!

Michael

Health Education Profession Needs

The Health Education Profession has
1. CHES and NCHEC
2. Great Programs throughout the US
3. Great professional organizations

The Health Education Profession NEEDS:
1. Registration, in addition to, or as a result of, CHES
2. Better programs who FIGHT for their turf.
For example:
- Why are some Health Education Academic Programs allowing Home Ec to teach sexuality?
- Why do some Health Education Academic Programs allow PE to drive their program, when the PE professionals have little or no idea about the profession (ask them to define PRECEDE/PROCEED - the language of Health Ed-)!?
3. One unifying professional organization with the existing organization dropping their turf protection to protect the profession.
- For the "profession" to truly become a "profession," SOPHE, AAHE and other society's and groups must MERGE, or support the development of a mother ship, an"AMA of Health Education," with their own group/association becoming a sub part of the mother ship.
- What has to happen to make this happen: board members must truly believe and act on EMPOWERMENT, empowering the profession, and a unifying vision of the profession, as opposed to their TENURE aspirations, their myopic agendas, and/or their personal vision.

Michael