Maternal and Child Health

Types of Degrees Maternal and Child Health Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many maternal and child health graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Graduate Certificate	145
Master’s Degree	96
Bachelor’s Degree	18
Basic Certificate	10
Doctor’s Degree	6

What Maternal and Child Health Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to maternal and child health were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Maternal and Child Health Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

Skills for Maternal and Child Health Majors

When studying maternal and child health, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Maternal and Child Health Majors

As you progress with your maternal and child health degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Maternal and Child Health Major?

People with a maternal and child health degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Community Health Workers	17.9%	$39,540
Health Educators	14.6%	$54,220

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Maternal and Child Health?

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of maternal and child health majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	5
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	11
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Maternal and Child Health

Some careers associated with maternal and child health require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for maternal and child health careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	5.4%
Some College Courses	1.5%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	40.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	42.9%
Master’s Degree	10.1%
Doctoral Degree	0.4%

Online Maternal and Child Health Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	15	2
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	9	4
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	4	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Maternal and Child Health

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to maternal and child health.

Major	Number of Grads
General Public Health	25,558
Public Health Education and Promotion	4,112
Other Public Health	3,157
Health Services Administration	3,047
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	2,042
International Public Health/International Health	1,696
Environmental Health	1,439
Behavioral Aspects of Health	633
Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene	261
Health/Medical Physics	244
Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality	87

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Article 25 Flickr under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.