Health Promot Pract. 2014 Nov;15(6):785-9. doi: 10.1177/1524839914541279. Epub 2014 Jul 11.
Health promotion practice
Heather Honoré Goltz, Matthew Lee Smith
PMID: 25015568 DOI: 10.1177/1524839914541279
Health education and promotion specialists and professional organizations have worked hard to successfully establish and maintain the status of health education/promotion (HE/P) as a unique and essential profession and to solidify practitioners' sense of professional identity. A professional identity is critical to a person's sense of self: It is about connecting with roles, responsibilities, values, and ethical standards unique to a specific profession. Professional identity is a complex issue in the HE/P profession; the distinction between personal and professional identities has been debated repeatedly over the years (e.g., should HE/P professionals be role models for clients?). The purpose of this Tool is to explain the concept of professional identity; provide new, emerging, and experienced HE/P with a greater understanding of what it means to have a professional identity; present processes and benchmarks of professional identity development; and offer specific tips and strategies for developing and enhancing an HE/P professional identity.
© 2014 Society for Public Health Education.
Keywords: career development/professional preparation; health education; health promotion; workforce development