Competencies for the Health Communication Specialist of the 21st Century

Abstract

This article reports the results of an expert working group convened to define competencies required to function effectively as a health communication specialist. Participants were surveyed before the working group meeting on a range of issues related to training master's-level public health communication specialists. Survey responses were used to initiate the discussion at a subsequent two-day working group meeting. Survey and working group results clearly indicated that competence in this arena includes aspects of theory and practice. A pedagogical framework emerged, in which types of theories and practice-oriented skills were specified at both the individual and societal levels of analysis. This framework can be used to guide the development of graduate-level curricula in health communication.