H1.01 - Deep Dive: Developing Tomorrow’s Public Health Advocates: Design and Evaluation of an Advocacy-focused Undergraduate Immersive Course

Brief Abstract Summary: While it has been recognized that public health leaders face many challenges in creating and influencing policy and public opinion, public health training has been limited in its preparation of practitioners who can advocate and communicate policy with the public. In that light, the following presentation will discuss the inclusion of a public health advocacy course as part of a public health degree program at a mid-sized midwestern university. Apart from reviewing the creation and design of the course, this presentation will evaluate the instructional methods employed through a review of student assessment and competency markers, including exams and writing assignments. Student evaluations of the content, immersive experiences, and assessments will be provided. Suggestions for tailoring the course to different instructional modalities and strategies will be discussed, with the goal of helping other instructors who wish to implement the course in their own programs.

Detailed abstract description: While it has been recognized that public health leaders face many challenges in creating and influencing policy and public opinion, public health training has been limited in its preparation of practitioners who can advocate and communicate policy with the public. Advocacy skills are crucial for addressing and eliminating health disparities through making changes to the structural policies, laws, and government systems associated with poor outcomes in disadvantaged communities. In their 2024 analysis of the syllabi of 98 different graduate courses submitted to the Council on Education for Public Health to meet the advocacy competency requirements of reaccreditation, Schneider et al. (2024) found that most advocacy instruction was delivered piecemeal as part broad public health survey courses, with very few prioritizing advocacy skill instruction as a primary topic. No courses in this analysis included content from all advocacy skill categories. Media advocacy was of the least commonly addressed topics.
Advocacy skill instruction is even more limited at the undergraduate level. In that light, the following presentation will discuss the inclusion of a public health advocacy course as part of a public health degree program at a mid-sized midwestern university. The curriculum of the course was designed to help students identify, develop, and practice legislative policy, advocacy, and intervention design skills and methods to promote health across diverse populations. Immersive experiences included course field trips, guest speaker lectures, and semester-long mentorships with real world policymakers. A number of scaffolded assignments helped students in the development of a final policy proposal, focused on a policy, structural, or systems change integral to improving health in their home community. The course aimed to provide students with the ability to develop and practice their competency in all advocacy skill categories, including analyzing the legislative, administrative and judicial intervention points for policymaking, identifying where to effectively target advocacy efforts, and creating collaborative working groups that are effective in the creation and delivery of policy interventions. A special focus was paid towards the development of communication and media skills that help students to translate and advocate for public health improvements to policymakers, the press, and the public.
Apart from reviewing the creation and design of the course, this presentation will evaluate the instructional methods employed through a review of student assessment and competency markers, including exams and writing assignments. Student evaluations of the content, immersive experiences, and assessments will be provided. Suggestions for tailoring the course to different instructional modalities and strategies will be discussed, with the goal of helping other instructors who wish to implement the course in their own programs.