Abstract
The importance of career development in professional organizations has been noted in the literature. Personal and professional benefits of membership regardless of discipline can be found across the career spectrum from student to executive. The benefits of professional membership with respect to career development in local chapter organizations have seldom been studied. Local chapter participation may offer significant career development opportunities for the practitioner, faculty member, and student. The purpose of this study was to explore the importance of local chapter involvement to the career development of health education practitioners. An 18-item questionnaire was disseminated to the membership of three local SOPHE (Society for Public Health Education) chapters that explored the level of local chapter involvement and the impact of how specific professional development activities impacted career development. The results of the survey highlighted the importance of continuing education programs, networking, and leadership experience in developing one’s career that are offered by local SOPHE chapter involvement. Making a positive impact in the community and earning the respect of one’s peers were most often reported as indicators of career success. These factors can directly impact local chapter participation. Career development can certainly be enhanced by active participation in the local chapter of a professional association.
Career development is deeply rooted in professional organizations as it affords members the opportunity to communicate with others who share similar beliefs and interests, where membership allows them to trade and distribute ideas. Professional organizations may energize members who have grown discontented and burdened by their career hassles. Members have the ability to communicate with others in their field about professional and career issues, gain a new perspective, and regain interest in their profession. Friendships are often built through professional membership organizations that are nurturing throughout one’s career. Thus, these organizations play an important role in establishing and maintaining a “professional family” and in developing one’s career.
Membership in national professional associations and participation in professional meetings have both been promoted as important to career development in health education (Cottrell, Girvan, & McKenzie, 2012; Mata, Latham, & Ransome, 2010). Health education is not unique in its promotion of professional association membership. There are numerous articles from various professions extolling the virtues of professional membership (Cherwin, 2012; Golden, 2008; Kaiser & Gahtan, 2006; Sullivan & Stevenson, 2009; Weerasekera, 2007).
Little, however, has been written about involvement in local chapters of professional associations. Local chapters, as used in this column, include city, state, or regional chapters that are affiliated with a national professional association. In health education, The American Public Health Association (APHA) has state level chapters (APHA, 2012), as does the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE, 2012). The American College Health Association (ACHA) has regional chapters (ACHA, 2012). Belonging to and participating in a local chapter might be the only or preferred professional association choice for many local-level health education practitioners. Individuals may not have the support or funding to travel to these meetings and may not have the interest to be involved in national-level committees or leadership positions. Furthermore, there may be unique benefits to local-level participation that cannot be obtained through national-level participation. The issues and topics discussed at the local chapter, in addition to the local networking, may be more pertinent to the membership than the issues and networking at a national meeting. The purpose of this article is to explore and discuss the advantages of local-level professional association participation for career development and to present the results of a survey of local chapter members to determine their perspectives on the career development they have received through participation in their local SOPHE chapter. Involvement with local chapters can provide career development for a wide range of health educators, including certified health education specialists and other practitioners, academic faculty, and students.
Sample Local Chapter Initiatives
Involvement in local chapters contributes to professional development through enhanced opportunities for service, networking, skill building, mentoring, and collaboration, all of which in turn may promote increased capacity for advocacy and improved health education program development (Mata et al., 2010). Through a variety of events including annual conferences, continuing education seminars, and webinars, and resource sharing, local chapters facilitate professional development among members and community stakeholders. For example, among the chapters participating in this survey, several recent activities exemplify the range and reach of career development opportunities available to local chapter members. Paso del Norte SOPHE partnered with the Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center (HHDRC)—a National Institutes of Health P20 Center of Excellence—to offer a full-day seminar titled “Policy Advocacy to Build Health Equity: It’s Up to Us!” (HHDRC, 2012). The purpose of the seminar was to build community capacity to address health disparities, and more than 50 health education specialists, faculty members, students, and community advocates attended the seminar. CHES and MCHES credits were offered, and presenters included national public policy experts and local faculty and practitioners.
Texas SOPHE members wrote and received a grant last year to develop and hosted their first webinar, “Demystifying True Advocacy: A Roadmap for Improving Health by Navigating the Policy Process,” which helped establish new partnerships with local universities and led to increased student membership. Texas SOPHE members are currently developing a series of webinars to help candidates for the CHES exam study effectively and are expanding their webinar offerings to other chapters as well. The Ohio SOPHE chapter implemented or collaborated with institutional partners to offer 13 continuing education events that offered CHES/MCHES credits, resulting in approximately 85 CHES or MCHES contact hours awarded in 2012. The annual “Health Educators’ Institute” conference hosted by Ohio SOPHE brings in both state and national leaders and provides a peer-reviewed presentation opportunity for students and professionals.
In each of these examples, chapter members and leaders had opportunities to enhance their own careers through skill development (e.g., grant writing, seminar development, advocacy trainings, presentations, etc.), networking with established and new partners, and mentoring of and by fellow health education professionals in diverse roles.
Local Chapter Survey
In an effort to document the importance of local chapter involvement to the career development of health education practitioners, a survey was conducted of the membership of three local SOPHE chapters: Ohio, Texas, and Paso del Norte. These chapters were selected as the authors had personal involvement with them and knew contacts that could assist with sending the email survey to chapter members; thus, it was a convenience sample. An 18-item questionnaire was developed that included questions on the level of local chapter involvement and the impact of how specific professional development activities impacted career development. A third section on professional identity was also included based on research conducted by Dobrow and Higgins (2005) in the functionality of mentor-based networks. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the OhioHealth Research and Innovation Institute.
Prior to dissemination of the electronic questionnaire via SurveyMonkey, content validity was assessed by a panel of health education specialists and active local chapter members of Ohio SOPHE. A total of 46 respondents completed the questionnaire over a 3-week period that included two follow-up e-mails. The response rate of members who completed the questionnaire differed significantly among the three chapters: Ohio (24%), Paso del Norte (14%), and Texas (4%). The average age of the respondents was 39 years, and the average number of years working in health education/public health was 12. The mean number of years involved in a local chapter was 7.6, and the range was from 1 to 37 years. Thirty-six of the 46 respondents (78.3%) were certified health educators. Twenty-eight (59.6%) were CHES, and 8 (17%) were MCHES. Eighty-three percent of the respondents were female, and 30% were students.
Almost all of the respondents (93.5%) indicated that their local SOPHE chapter was an important part of helping develop a health educator’s career, and almost one third (32.6%) of respondents indicated that the local SOPHE chapter was “very” or “extremely” important in their own personal career development. When asked to rate how important various local chapter professional development activities were to individual career development, the activity most often viewed as “extremely important” was continuing education programs (47.8%), followed by networking opportunities (45.7%) and leadership opportunities (31.1%). The activity most often viewed as “not at all” important to career development was recognition through SOPHE Chapter awards and/or scholarships (43.5%), followed by serving as a mentor (28.3%).
In addition to asking questions related to specific local chapter activities, chapter members were asked how they defined career success in the context that career development should lead toward career success. Most of the respondents (80.9%) answered an open-ended question about how success is personally defined with respect to career. Of those who responded, more than one third (36.8%) defined success in one’s career as making a difference in the world, most often with respect to healthy behaviors. One respondent noted, “I define success as being able to make a difference in the lives of others. If I can look on my career and know that I have made a difference, I feel I have been successful.” Respect or recognition by peers was cited by eight respondents (21.0%), and salary or pay rate was only mentioned by six respondents (15.8%). The average age of those referring to salary was 34 years, and the majority of respondents were just starting out in their professional career. Opportunities for personal or career growth were cited by six respondents, with one participant defining success as “consistently learning and growing.” Achieving one’s goals was mentioned only three times (7.9%). One respondent stated, “Success is doing what you like to do for a living. Career success is being able to reach the goals you have set in relation to your career.”
Contrary to the widely held notion that career success is most often defined in terms of salary and/or promotion, it is interesting to note that only a small percentage of local chapter respondents mentioned financial incentives as part of their definition (Heslin, 2005). Rather, making a positive impact in the lives of others and respect or recognition by one’s peers were most often self-reported as factors indicative of career success. Given that the subjective indicators of career success were strongly identified with external factors associated with one’s colleagues and the communities being served, involvement with a local SOPHE chapter can play a vital role in the career development of a health education professional. Chapter involvement is important for enhancing health education skills and for creating an environment in which community connections can be made and ideas shared. Limitations of the survey response data include the low response rate and the limited number of chapters surveyed. Additional research including a larger number of chapters is warranted to increase understanding of the relationship between local chapter involvement (and types of involvement) and career development with respect to various demographic and career indicators.
Benefits for Practitioners
In terms of career development, local-level practitioners who do not have the ability to travel to national meetings may have the most to gain from local chapter participation. Regardless of whether one is a newcomer to the profession or an established health education professional, many benefits of local chapter involvement have universal appeal and cross boundaries of experience and work settings. Some chapters offer periodic continuing education (CE) opportunities that can help practitioners maintain and enhance their skills. These CE opportunities may also provide CHES and MCHES continuing education credits that are required to meet the CE requirements of the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. Local chapter involvement can provide networking opportunities with other health educators in the state or region. Through these networking opportunities, friendships are formed, and thoughts and ideas shared. Health related issues common to the state or region can be discussed and solutions brainstormed. State or regional funding opportunities may be identified, and individual members, groups of members or a local chapter may apply for funds. Through the local network, members may recruit new employees for their organization, connect with university faculty to establish internship programs, or discover new job opportunities. Local chapter involvement may keep one abreast of important health issues in a given state or region, and the local chapter may develop advocacy initiatives to influence public policy and ultimately improve health. Leadership skills developed through local chapter involvement can have carry over to one’s professional position. Participants can serve on committees, lead committees, and accept leadership positions (president, vice president, secretary, etc.). These leadership positions may enhance one’s reputation in the state as well as the reputation of the organization or agency that hires these individuals. Finally, local chapter involvement may allow local practitioners to be introduced to national-level leaders by representing their local chapter as a chapter delegate at national meetings and eventually by accepting positions on national-level committees or taking national leadership positions. Although career development can occur from membership and local meeting attendance, to maximize career development, one must fully participate in the organization by accepting leadership roles and seeking out networking opportunities (Cottrell et al., 2012).
Academic Faculty
College and university faculty members also stand to benefit by participating in a local professional association chapter. Many local chapter members will probably have graduated from university programs that faculty represent. Faculty involved in local chapters can maintain contact with their past graduates who also belong to the local chapter. By observing these past graduates in their professional positions and leadership roles in the local chapter, faculty can obtain informal, unobtrusive feedback as to the effectiveness of their academic professional preparation programs. Faculty can also use contacts with local chapter members to recruit potential new students into their graduate programs. Through interacting with members at local chapter meetings, faculty may learn about new programs, initiatives, strategies, and/or advocacy efforts at the local level that could serve as valuable examples in the classroom and possibly as sites for class projects, thereby improving faculty teaching and enhancing career development. Faculty may wish to take their students to local chapter meetings to introduce the students to professional association membership. New internship or practicum sites can be obtained through local chapter members and their respective organizations or agencies. Often those health education practitioners who are involved in the local chapter make outstanding internship supervisors and serve as excellent role models for students. As local chapter members become familiar with the faculty member and the faculty member becomes familiar with chapter members, opportunities for community-based research or evaluation projects may become available. Paid consulting opportunities at the local level are another possibility as faculty members get to know local practitioners. By participating in local chapters, the reputation of faculty members and their respective university programs may be enhanced and extended throughout the state or region, thus opening doors for more and better career development opportunities.
Students
Numerous opportunities for professional development exist for students involved in local chapters. Perhaps of utmost importance is the ability to network with health education professionals working in the local area who may be sources of employment in the future. Prospective internship sites may be identified as one learns about the organizations and agencies represented at the local chapter. For graduate students, local chapter involvement may help identify sites and potential projects where their thesis or dissertation research can occur. Local chapters may provide the opportunity for students to present research posters, attend local chapter meetings and conferences, and participate in their committee structure. Some local chapters may offer scholarships to outstanding students. For students who travel to local chapter meetings with faculty, these can be times where it is possible to really get to know faculty on a deeper and more personal level. Additionally, the formal or informal mentoring and role modeling that takes place in local chapters are important for student development. These are all excellent career development opportunities for students that should be fostered and encouraged.
Overall, this work strongly suggests that local chapter involvement promotes career development for a wide range of health education specialists and practitioners working in diverse settings, and that chapter involvement provides numerous opportunities for leadership, networking, mentoring, and continuing education. Practitioners, faculty, and students all stand to benefit from participation in a local chapter. Furthermore, career success can be supported and enhanced through local chapter involvement.