What if two competencies seem to describe the same skill?

Several of the 22 CEPH foundational competencies sit close together. Communication, planning, and evaluation skills in particular blur at the edges, because real public health work uses them together. The overlap is in the framework, not a sign you misunderstand it.

Find the core of each competency

Read each competency slowly and pull out two things:

• The action verb, such as select, design, advocate, communicate, or evaluate
• The object or context, such as a specific audience, a policy process, or a population

Two competencies that share a topic usually differ on one of these. One might be about choosing the right method, the other about explaining results to a particular audience. Competency language as a foreign tongue walks through translating the wording into plain terms.

Assign by primary emphasis

When an activity could fit either one, ask what the activity mainly required of you. If most of your effort went into designing the analysis, it belongs with the analysis competency. If most of it went into tailoring the message for a community board, it belongs with communication.

Avoid counting the same evidence twice

Your program may let one project support more than one competency, but each claim needs its own angle. The problem is not overlap, it is identical evidence doing double duty. If your two narratives would read almost the same, pick the stronger fit and find different evidence for the other.

Get a second opinion when stuck

If you cannot tell which competency a piece of work belongs to, ask your faculty advisor. Their view on how your program interprets each competency should carry the most weight, since they understand how your evidence will be evaluated. If your advisor and preceptor disagree, choose the fit where your evidence is strongest and note the reasoning in your records.