Course Number and Title: HSC4876 Internship in Health Education
Internship Coordinator: Dr. Holly Moses
Internship Semesters: Fall, Spring, and Summer C
Syllabus: For more information about the HEB Internship, please review the HSC4876 syllabus.
Credit Hours: The internship credit hours are determined by the student’s specialization.
- Community Health Promotion
- HEB majors enrolled in the Community Health Promotion specialization must complete a full-time internship. The full-time internship is 12-credits.
- Health Studies
- HEB majors enrolled in the Health Studies specialization may choose to complete a full-time or part-time internship. The full-time internship is 12-credits, and the part-time internship is 6-credits.
Internship Hours Requirement:
- The full-time internship requires students to earn 40 hours per week during the 12-week internship period (480 hours total).
- The part-time internship requires students to earn 20 hours per week during the 12-week internship period (240 hours total).
HEB Internship Purpose
HSC4876, Internship in Health Education, is a practical experience in which the intern maintains a professional workload of a Health Education Specialist in a community/public health, worksite health promotion, or clinical/wellness setting. This capstone experience is the culminating requirement for the Bachelor of Science in Health Education (BSHE) degree program. The internship is meant to be a time of service and innovation to the supervising agency as well as a significant learning opportunity for the intern. Only through a practical experience such as this can the efficient application of knowledge, ideas, and skills in a realistic work setting occur. Both the intern and agency should benefit immeasurably.
The major objectives for the internship experience should enable the intern to:
- Complete tasks required of a professional in the health education field.
- Apply knowledge and skills attained during course studies to practical community health, patient health, worksite health promotion, and/or wellness issues.
- Develop skills and enhance knowledge in areas of interest within health education.
- Contribute significantly to the activities and projects of the internship agency.
- Prepare for future employment or advanced education in health education or related fields.
HEB Internship Duties
The internship goals and assigned duties will be communicated to the HEB Internship Coordinator via the Internship Application (due the semester prior to internship in HSC4800). Evaluation of the internship goals and assigned duties will be accomplished through bi‐weekly reports, and the midterm and final evaluations. The agency supervisor and intern will receive all necessary forms and instructions from the HEB Internship Coordinator prior to the start of the internship semester. HSC4876 is housed in Canvas e‐Learning (lss.at.ufl.edu/).
The student-centered internship goals and duties are determined by the student and agency supervisor and will be based on the strengths, needs, and interests of the student and the agency. The intern’s duties and 85% of an intern’s hours must align with the Areas of Responsibility for Health Education Specialists (NCHEC, 2020). The Eight Areas of Responsibility include a comprehensive set of competencies defining the role of the health education specialist. These responsibilities serve as the basis of the CHES® exam and the HEB undergraduate curriculum. Interns must meet a minimum of four Areas of Responsibility during their internship work and are encouraged to meet all eight. It is also highly encouraged that each intern completes a major project, start to finish, during the internship experience.
The internship experience includes, but is not limited to, those agencies which employ health education specialists in community/public health, worksite health promotion, or clinical/wellness setting. Common internship settings include public health departments, nonprofit health agencies, voluntary health agencies, hospitals and clinics, wellness centers, fitness centers, and corporate wellness programs (employee wellness programs).
The Department of Health Education and Behavior currently has internship agreements with more than 200 internship sites. These internships are largely in Florida, and many are within the University of Florida and UF Health. To view a current list of approved HEB Internship Sites, click here. Students are not required to select an internship from the approved list. If an HEB major would like to explore the possibility of interning with a different agency, they must schedule a meeting with the HEB Internship Coordinator, Dr. Holly T. Moses. This meeting should happen at the start of the semester in which the student is enrolled in HSC4800.
If an agency is interested in learning more about the HEB Internship Program and requires information regarding the internship site review process, please contact the HEB Internship Coordinator, Dr. Holly T. Moses (hmoses@hhp.ufl.edu).