Health Education Specialists
Provide and manage health education programs that help individuals, families, and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. Use data to identify community needs prior to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. May link health systems, health providers, insurers, and patients to address individual and population health needs. May serve as resource to assist individuals, other health professionals, or the community, and may administer fiscal resources for health education programs.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
- Learning Strategies
- Active Learning
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Administrative
- Psychology
- Public Safety and Security
- Mathematics
- Sociology and Anthropology
What the work involves
- Document activities and record information, such as the numbers of applications completed, presentations conducted, and persons assisted.
- Develop and present health education and promotion programs, such as training workshops, conferences, and school or community presentations.
- Develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with agencies and organizations interested in public health care.
- Develop operational plans and policies necessary to achieve health education objectives and services.
- Collaborate with health specialists and civic groups to determine community health needs and the availability of services and to develop goals for meeting needs.
- Maintain databases, mailing lists, telephone networks, and other information to facilitate the functioning of health education programs.
- Supervise professional and technical staff in implementing health programs, objectives, and goals.
- Design and conduct evaluations and diagnostic studies to assess the quality and performance of health education programs.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (62.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (41.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (56.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Health Education Specialists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 79% of occupations compared | 76% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 69% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 75% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 54% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 85% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 65% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 75% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.69%
- Contact with others most of the time: 20.1%
- Constant contact with others: 76.21%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 12.96%
- Fairly important: 3.69%
- Important: 2.06%
- Very important: 41.65%
- Extremely important: 39.64%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 14.95%
- Important: 5.35%
- Very important: 18.51%
- Extremely important: 61.19%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0.81%
- Limited freedom: 3.83%
- Some freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 8.33%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.88%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 60.66%
- Every day: 14.14%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 20.93%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.94%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 52.26%
- Every day: 9.87%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 43.53%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.14%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.2%
- Every day: 11.13%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 26.73%
- Fairly serious: 27.33%
- Serious: 22.94%
- Very serious: 18.75%
- Extremely serious: 4.26%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 21-1091.00 · SOC 21-1091 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8