CERTIFIED HEALTH EDUCATION
SPECIALIST EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS (VERIFIED AND UPDATED)
Health Education - ANS - ''Any planned combination of learning experiences designed to
predispose, enable, and reinforce voluntary behavior conducive to health in individuals, groups,
and communities''
Health Promotion - ANS - ''Any planned combination of educational, political, regulatory, or
organizational supports for actions and conditions of living conducive to the health of
individuals, groups, and communities'' (Green & Kreuter, 2005, p. G-4).
Health Educator - ANS ...- ''A professionally prepared individual who serves in a variety of
roles and is specifically trained to use appropriate educational strategies and methods to
facilitate the development of policies, procedures, interventions, and systems conducive to the
health of individuals, groups, and communities'' (Joint Committee, 2001, p. 100).
Health Education Specialist - ANS ...• ''An individual who has met, at a minimum,
baccalaureate-level required health education academic preparation qualifications, who serves
in a variety of settings, and is able to use appropriate educational strategies and methods to
facilitate the development of policies, procedures, interventions, and systems conducive to the
health of individuals, groups, and communities'' (Joint Committee, 2012).
health disparities - ANS preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or
opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged racial,
ethnic and other populations
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
,Health equity - ANS when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her health
potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or
social determined circumstances
(Life spans, quality of life, rates of disease, disability, severity of disease)
Social Determinants of Health SDOH - ANS the conditions in the environments where people
are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning,
and quality-of-life outcomes and risks
Primary Prevention - ANS Preventive measures that forestall the onset of illness or injury
during the prepathogenesis period.
Secondary Prevention - ANS Preventive measures that lead to early diagnosis and prompt
treatment of disease, illness or injury
Tertiary Prevention - ANS Preventive measures aimed at rehabilitation following significant
pathogenesis.
Primary Data - ANS Data gathered by the Health Education Specialist directly from or about
the population of interest.
Secondary Data - ANS Data gathered by others that may or may not be directly collected
from the individual or population of being assessed.
Health Behavior - ANS Behavior that impacts a person's health.
Needs Assessment - ANS is a systematic, planned collection of information about the health
knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, motivation, and practices of individuals or groups and the
quality of their environment.
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
,Goals of a needs assessment - ANS a.) identifying and prioritizing health problems
b.) prioritizing the strategies and methods that will be ideal for identifying and addressing
health problems through existing and available resources
c.) identifying additional resources that will support addressing the identified health problem
Key Steps of the Need Assessment - ANS 1. Determine the purpose of the needs assessment
and priority population(s)
2. Identify available data to assess the health problem
3. Decide on the data collection approach and gather data
4. Analyze and interpret data
5. Identify factors linked to the health problem(s)
6. Identify the focus of the program and begin the planning process
Capacity - ANS is defined as both individual and collective resources that can be used for
health enhancement
Capacity assessment - ANS includes examining potential assets and strengths at the
individual, group and community levels
Three factors that should be identified in a needs assessment - ANS 1. Predisposing factors
2. Enabling factors
3. Reinforcing factors
Predisposing factors - ANS represent cognitive, emotional, social and demographic factors
that contribute to one's health behavior.
{Knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and demographic}
Enabling factors - ANS represent internal and external conditions directly related to the issue
that help people adopt and maintain healthy or unhealthy behaviors
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
, (informational, financial, and social support / environmental factors, resources, services,
supportive policies and facilitators)
(increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring)
Reinforcing factors - ANS represent those factors that help remind, provide feedback and on
going support to ensure that health behaviors are maintained or terminated.
(daily reminders, peer support groups, daily affirmations, rewards, praise or symptom relief)
Rapid Model - ANS A tool for conducting needs assessments when there is limited time or an
impending crisis to collect information quickly (i.e. pandemic, flood etc.)
(RARE & RAR)
Public Health Model - ANS Focuses on quantifying health problems through existing and
epidemiological data.
(focuses on specific population and is valuable when you have limited resources)
Epidemiological Model - ANS Objectively measure problems that pose the greatest threat to
health and quality of life by examining the distribution and determinants of health problems or
events in terms of the population.
Social Model - ANS Focuses on identifying pertinent social, economic and political issues that
influence health.
(emphasizes the role of societal trends in the needs assessment)
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
SPECIALIST EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS (VERIFIED AND UPDATED)
Health Education - ANS - ''Any planned combination of learning experiences designed to
predispose, enable, and reinforce voluntary behavior conducive to health in individuals, groups,
and communities''
Health Promotion - ANS - ''Any planned combination of educational, political, regulatory, or
organizational supports for actions and conditions of living conducive to the health of
individuals, groups, and communities'' (Green & Kreuter, 2005, p. G-4).
Health Educator - ANS ...- ''A professionally prepared individual who serves in a variety of
roles and is specifically trained to use appropriate educational strategies and methods to
facilitate the development of policies, procedures, interventions, and systems conducive to the
health of individuals, groups, and communities'' (Joint Committee, 2001, p. 100).
Health Education Specialist - ANS ...• ''An individual who has met, at a minimum,
baccalaureate-level required health education academic preparation qualifications, who serves
in a variety of settings, and is able to use appropriate educational strategies and methods to
facilitate the development of policies, procedures, interventions, and systems conducive to the
health of individuals, groups, and communities'' (Joint Committee, 2012).
health disparities - ANS preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or
opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged racial,
ethnic and other populations
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
,Health equity - ANS when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her health
potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or
social determined circumstances
(Life spans, quality of life, rates of disease, disability, severity of disease)
Social Determinants of Health SDOH - ANS the conditions in the environments where people
are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning,
and quality-of-life outcomes and risks
Primary Prevention - ANS Preventive measures that forestall the onset of illness or injury
during the prepathogenesis period.
Secondary Prevention - ANS Preventive measures that lead to early diagnosis and prompt
treatment of disease, illness or injury
Tertiary Prevention - ANS Preventive measures aimed at rehabilitation following significant
pathogenesis.
Primary Data - ANS Data gathered by the Health Education Specialist directly from or about
the population of interest.
Secondary Data - ANS Data gathered by others that may or may not be directly collected
from the individual or population of being assessed.
Health Behavior - ANS Behavior that impacts a person's health.
Needs Assessment - ANS is a systematic, planned collection of information about the health
knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, motivation, and practices of individuals or groups and the
quality of their environment.
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
,Goals of a needs assessment - ANS a.) identifying and prioritizing health problems
b.) prioritizing the strategies and methods that will be ideal for identifying and addressing
health problems through existing and available resources
c.) identifying additional resources that will support addressing the identified health problem
Key Steps of the Need Assessment - ANS 1. Determine the purpose of the needs assessment
and priority population(s)
2. Identify available data to assess the health problem
3. Decide on the data collection approach and gather data
4. Analyze and interpret data
5. Identify factors linked to the health problem(s)
6. Identify the focus of the program and begin the planning process
Capacity - ANS is defined as both individual and collective resources that can be used for
health enhancement
Capacity assessment - ANS includes examining potential assets and strengths at the
individual, group and community levels
Three factors that should be identified in a needs assessment - ANS 1. Predisposing factors
2. Enabling factors
3. Reinforcing factors
Predisposing factors - ANS represent cognitive, emotional, social and demographic factors
that contribute to one's health behavior.
{Knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and demographic}
Enabling factors - ANS represent internal and external conditions directly related to the issue
that help people adopt and maintain healthy or unhealthy behaviors
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
, (informational, financial, and social support / environmental factors, resources, services,
supportive policies and facilitators)
(increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring)
Reinforcing factors - ANS represent those factors that help remind, provide feedback and on
going support to ensure that health behaviors are maintained or terminated.
(daily reminders, peer support groups, daily affirmations, rewards, praise or symptom relief)
Rapid Model - ANS A tool for conducting needs assessments when there is limited time or an
impending crisis to collect information quickly (i.e. pandemic, flood etc.)
(RARE & RAR)
Public Health Model - ANS Focuses on quantifying health problems through existing and
epidemiological data.
(focuses on specific population and is valuable when you have limited resources)
Epidemiological Model - ANS Objectively measure problems that pose the greatest threat to
health and quality of life by examining the distribution and determinants of health problems or
events in terms of the population.
Social Model - ANS Focuses on identifying pertinent social, economic and political issues that
influence health.
(emphasizes the role of societal trends in the needs assessment)
@2026/2027 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
