A role delineation study of health educators in the United States: methodological innovations.

This paper focuses on methodological innovations used in the National Health Educator Competencies Update Project (CUP) in the United States. The CUP was a six-year research study designed to delineate the role of the health educator in the USA. Individuals who self-identified as health educators were included in the study. To provide context, the background for the research is presented, followed by a brief overview of the research process. Some of the key methodological innovations discussed are: selecting a representative sample when the total population of those working as health educators was not easily identified or readily accessible; assessing response methodology preferences through pilot studies; enhancing the response rate through accurate, up-to-date mailing lists and incentives; and exploring new approaches to large-scale data analyses. Insights gained are included for other researchers who may wish to undertake similar studies or draw from the CUP dataset for secondary analyses.