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SPECIAL REPORT
Critical Competencies in Children’s Environmental Health
Michelle Del Rio, MPH, PhD School of Public Health, Indiana University–Bloomington Patricia Lasley, MPH School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago Lindsay Tallon, MSPH, PhD, CPH School of Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Jean-Marie Kauth, MPH, PhD
College of Liberal Arts, Benedictine University Gina Bare, RN National Environmental Health Association Leyla Erk McCurdy, MPhil
+:;9*,; Competency in children’s environmental health allows for the development of interventions that can prevent the long-term and irreversible health outcomes that result from early environmental toxic exposures. Health eects that are thought to be at least partially influenced by early exposures include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), lower IQ, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the value of children’s environmental health, there are still gaps in workforce training for those interested in children’s environmental health. These gaps in knowledge and training highlight the need for improved ways to build the capacity of children’s environmental health professionals. Our work focused on creating a set of competencies for public health professionals interested in children’s environmental health careers as a way to meet the demand for children’s environmental health specialists. We identified 12 competencies that individuals can adopt to build their capacity as children’s environmental health professionals.
professionals, competencies in children’s environmental health serve to: 1. Provide students and public health profes- sionals interested in careers in children’s environmental health with a listing of what they should be able to do when they complete their training. 2. Help potential employers know what they can expect of a person who is trained in children’s environmental health. 3. Guide faculty and degree programs that choose to prepare students for careers in children’s environmental health with opportunities that incorporate structured learning experiences. The children’s environmental health com- petencies were developed by the Children’s Environmental Health Curriculum work group, which is composed of members from the Children’s Environmental Health Com- mittee of the Environment Section within the American Public Health Association. The professionals on this committee are health sci- entists, faculty members in schools of public health, pediatricians, and health advocates, each of whom have 7 to >25 years of expe- rience in children’s environmental health. We chose to incorporate the experience of Children’s Environmental Health Committee, Environment Section, American Public Health Association Ruth A. Etzel, MD, PhD Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University
Introduction Although many children’s health problems are associated with environmental exposures (American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health, 2019; Landrigan, 2016), many public health professionals do not have the expertise to recognize and pre- vent these health problems (Landrigan & Etzel, 2014). Students who train in maternal and child health learn about the health prob- lems of children but not much about the envi- ronmental determinants associated with these problems (Kirby & Verbiest, 2022). Mean- while, students who are studying environmen- tal health learn about water, sanitation, and air pollution but often not enough about the spe- cial vulnerability of children. This article aims to define critical competencies in children’s
environmental health for students and profes- sionals working in public health. Methods for the Development of Children’s Environmental Health Competencies A competency is an observable ability integrating multiple components such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes (Frank et al., 2010). Competencies are needed to successfully perform a role or responsibility as a public health profes- sional and serve as metrics for training and evaluating development and performance. The training to meet competencies can derive from experiences in structural learn- ing environments inside or outside of the workplace. For public health students and
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