The 2012 Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) Annual Meeting was held in San Francisco, CA on October 25-27. The conference focused on how public health professionals can employ the trends, technologies, and research available to further advance public health education and health promotion. Attendees explored five distinct themes: “social ecological approaches to improve individual and community health, the role of research in establishing best practices, innovations in health communications & technology, the future of health education and health promotion practice, and policy to achieve health equity.”1
TRAIN, the premier learning management system for public health professionals, presented alongside the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council on Linkages) on “The TRAIN Learning Management System & Competency-Based Training – the Future of Public Health Education and Promotion?” The presentation, in line with conference themes on innovations in health communications and technology and the future of public health education and health promotion practice, encouraged attendees to utilize competency-based resources across jurisdictional lines through TRAIN. Attendees learned how they could join over 600,000 public health professionals currently registered on TRAIN (over 33,000 of whom indicate that part of their current job role includes health education) and, as public health educators, promote professional education through the 28,000 courses available from 4,000 providers. Furthermore, the Council on Linkages described the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies), which are integrated into TRAIN, allowing providers of training to assign specific competencies to their trainings. Developed by the Council on Linkages, the Core Competencies detail skills that may be desirable for the broad practice of public health and are available for professionals at multiple career stages. By ensuring that training made available through TRAIN can be assigned Core Competencies, TRAIN supports the efforts of public health professionals who focus on health education and health promotion in making high-quality, competency-based public health education openly available as a model for the future.
TRAIN provides not only professionals who specialize in health education and health promotion with tools for public health training, but individual learners as well. Any learner can register on TRAIN to complete public health training at their own pace and of their own interest. Learners can search through a variety of subject areas, ranging from Chronic Diseases to Terrorism / Emergency Readiness, and 58 others in between. To explore public health topics, simply create your free account and begin learning!
1. Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). 2012 Annual Meeting. http://www.sophe.org/annualmeeting.cfm. Accessed November 26, 2012.