-: Hi everyone and welcome back to another lecture
here in module one of Public Health Advocacy.
Today, we are recapping some highlights
from the required reading from the textbook.
And this lecture is all about chapter two,
which is planning goals, strategies and tactics.
By the end of this course,
you're definitely going to think
I sound like a broken record,
but I wanna highlight again
the four steps to creating an advocacy plan
and making a change.
I wanna highlight that these steps can be done out of order
on the exception of one,
which is defining the problem.
This is going to be the highlight of today's lecture.
So the first is to define the problem and make a plan.
That's where we're starting.
And the rest of the steps,
they happen as they come.
That is to gather facts, build support
and communicate a clear and compelling story
of what is wrong and why we should intervene.
As I mentioned on the last slide,
the first step in developing any advocacy campaign
or campaign for policy change
is defining the problem.
This is absolutely the most important step to advocacy work.
And you may be asking why,
and that's because it sets the stage
for the entire movement.
Without identifying the problem,
how can we identify solutions
or ways in which we can make a change?
Defining the problem is not cut and dry,
and oftentimes, it's going to feel
like a very large undertaking,
and that is because it is incredibly important
to identify the true root cause of a problem.
For example, there may be different layers
or societal constructs
that seem to be the root cause of a problem,
but not necessarily the true, true cause.
So it is important that you take a broad approach
and garner opinions and participation
from the population you are trying to advocate for.
And that's important
because when you're trying to define a problem,
you are essentially making an executive decision
that this is the problem and this is what we need to solve.
It's important to consider that there's many determinants,
and this is where health equity comes into play.
We must consider health equity inequities and disparities
when we try to identify the true problem,
public health problem.
A great way to use that is data.
This is a great example of why public health advocacy
is both a qualitative and quantitative field.
It's because, yes, we are doing communication,
but we also need that quantitative factor.
We must use data and research
to support identification of a problem
and justify that that is the true cause.
And the course text had a really great quote
that I just felt compelled to share in the lecture,
and that is public health advocacy
is taking public health knowledge
and applying to policy and law to ensure prevention,
improve health and advance health equity.
Yes, it might seem small to identify a problem,
but this is taking on so much more.
It's allowing us to identify disparity,
especially in a population
that we are interested in working with,
and using our knowledge as public health professionals
to truly make a change
and to truly create an equitable place
for individuals to live out their lives
with the best possible health outcomes for them.
And when we're defining what the problem is
in a public health campaign or an advocacy movement,
it's really important that we use a public health framework
to frame what we're saying
in the context of community level initiatives.
And what I mean by that
is that our advocacy work
is often going to be a community level change
and not an individual level change.
I know that this class has both medical students,
pre-med students,
and oftentimes other healthcare professionals,
and we often are seeing patients on an individual level.
I want you to think of advocacy work
as the patient
being your community or audience for your initiative.
We're really looking at the bigger picture
and the environmental constructs that influence the problem.
Think big picture,
that's the best way to describe it.
Think of the big picture and all of those players.
Another great public health framework,
if you're not familiar with this,
if you're not in the MPH program,
would be the socioecological model,
which is a required reading this week.
The (indistinct) health equity framework
we discussed in lecture one,
as well as systems thinking,
which is going to be a big discussion in module three.
This is just a quick pause and reflect moment.
This is not going to be on your quiz
and this is not something we're discussing,
but I want you to pay close attention in the reading
to box 2.2,
and review some of those websites in the text.
Can you think of how we can connect that
to combat problems
such as inequitable access to food, healthy food,
and how this can cause obesity
in low income urban neighborhoods?
It's a great exercise just to get your mind thinking
and start connecting resources
to applied public health initiatives.
Next, when we're making a plan
after we've defined the problem,
there is four steps
that the text highlights are absolutely essential.
The first is we must have a clearly defined problem
and we must use a public health framework
to define that problem.
We also need to have a clearly defined solution
and an interim goal towards achieving that solution.
We have to have an assessment of resources available
to accomplish the goals,
as well as a clear strategy
focusing on the appropriate decision makers
to reach that goal.
For solution and goals,
this is again a great intersection
of qualitative and quantitative public health
coming together for the common good.
So use data and existing research.
How can we use the research out there
to build on it and have it support our campaign?
We must remember that it's not always necessary
to reinvent the wheel and collect our own data and research.
Use existing literature and data to support your claims.
Just ensure that it is scholarly,
relevant and peer reviewed.
Another great way to develop solutions and interim goals
is to adopt a multidisciplinary approach.
As we know in public health,
it is not just public health professionals
working to promote health and prevent disease.
We must consider many other perspectives
and different specialties
from economics, business, healthcare providers,
agricultural, legislative.
It's all important to garner ideas
from perspectives from different stakeholders
to have a robust plan
and a solution that truly will work
for the community you are trying to help.
Lastly, develop short-term, interim and long-term goals.
For example, look at the Healthy People 2030 initiative,
their website, which is a required reading this week,
and go through the different initiatives
for the social determinants of health.
You can see that they have different measures
for efficacy, building support,
as well as outline
their short-term, interim and long-term goals.
An assessment of resources available to goals.
This is another component of making your plan.
It's very important to have a credible campaign
and ensure that your information is reliable,
trustworthy and coming from a reputable source.
The team dynamic of your campaign for an advocacy movement
can either be your championship to make a change
or it can be your downfall.
It's a very, very, very delicate process.
Ensure that you have a skilled campaign team
and advocacy team
that has qualified data persons,
people who are effective at communicating,
expert like economic experts,
lawyers and even trained media experts.
Everyone will have different skills
that will be invaluable to your campaign,
and ensuring that what you're advocating for
does get resolved.
Lastly, use what's in the community.
I can't highlight enough
how much a community can play a positive role
in an advocacy campaign,
so continue to outreach.
It's something we're gonna go over a lot
in module two, three and four.
Lastly, take an assessment
of the resources available to you.
This can include looking for grants,
private donations or fundraising.
Deciding the forum.
This is important
because as you start to develop your campaign resources
and develop a coalition
or have stakeholders to provide insight on your goals,
it's important to look at who you are talking to,
how you are going to make the changes
and identify the problems at the start of your campaign.
When you're making your audience,
please look at a strategy guide
and look at who can help you
and how you can use people and your stakeholders
to outline supporters, opponents,
and determine where to concentrate your efforts.
I'm gonna quickly pause my screen
so we can go over figure 2.1 together.
When you're considering stakeholders,
you wanna look at this strategy guide
and consider how can the stakeholder
strengthen your campaign,
how hard they'll work against your campaign,
how they can weaken your campaign
and how hard they will work for the campaign.
When we're looking at this,
we do want somewhere along the lines
of having someone who can strengthen your campaign,
work hard for your campaign.
So we're looking at this quadrant right here.
When we're considering all of our stakeholders,
we wanna be honest with ourselves
because why would we want to have stakeholders
who do not have a vested interest in our campaign?
Though it is, to be fair,
in a coalition building,
it is important to have all perspectives,
and therefore we should consider all stakeholders,
despite where they fall on the strategy guide.
Lastly, and here is a reference to our course text,
this was just a quick highlight.
There's a lot more material in our course text,
as well as a required reading.
I just wanted to go over a few highlights
and really, really drive home
that defining the problem is the absolute cornerstone
in any public health campaign.
We do have a quiz this week,
as well as an engaging yellow dig and discussion question.
I am available as always for any questions and concerns,
and I really appreciate you taking the time
to watch this lecture, thank you.