Advocating for public health policy

        Week 4 – Assignment       

Advocating for Public Health Policy

Imagine that you have been chosen to represent a public health  advocacy group as they begin a campaign to get legislation related to a  health issue passed in your state legislature. You have been tasked with  the role of presenting a proposed policy to the legislature and  advocating that the legislature vote for the policy. You have been told  that you will have 10 minutes to present to the legislature. Your  presentation should be informative, but also persuasive. The legislature  will need to make a decision about whether or not to vote for the  policy based on your presentation. Your presentation should be  structured exactly as if you were “live” in front of the legislature  advocating for them to adopt the policy you are proposing. 

For your assignment, you will need to select a public health topic of  interest to you (you are encouraged to choose one related to your  academic major or intended field of work) and a public health policy  related to addressing the topic. You may select an actual proposed  policy or create one that you think would effectively address the topic.  Your presentation should provide enough information about the topic and  the proposed policy that a reasonably educated legislator should be  able to make an informed decision. Be sure to consider the various  questions that a legislator might have about the issue and proposed  policy, such as long-term costs and benefits, potential effects on  business and industry (especially those that support politicians’  campaigns), and how the policy will support the health and productivity  of state residents.

For this assignment, you should create an approximately 10 minute presentation* that addresses each of the following points:

• Discuss the public health issue that your proposed policy is intended to address. Questions to consider:
  • Who does this health issue affect?
  • What is the impact of this health issue on the community?
  • Why does this health issue need to be addressed?
• Explain the proposed public health policy. Questions to consider:
  • Who will be affected by this policy?
  • How will this policy address the health issue?
  • What will change by enacting this policy?
• Evaluate the impacts of the proposed policy. Questions to consider:
  • What are the costs and benefits of the policy?
  • What are the risks of enacting or not enacting the policy?
  • How will the lives of people who are affected by the health issue change if this policy is enacted?
• Create an influential presentation that affects voting behaviors of legislators. Questions to consider:
  • What information about this policy would potentially affect the  voting behavior of legislators from across the political spectrum (eg.  conservative, moderate, liberal, progressive; particularly those who  might not support the policy based on political orientation)?
  • What are the most important messages that legislators need to hear about this policy?
  • How would the constituents of the legislators voting for this policy feel about this policy and a legislator who votes for it?
  • What information would a legislator need to “sell” the policy to  consitutents who were perhaps not in favor of adopting the policy?

*Note: Your presentation can be created using screencast software on  your computer, the camera and microphone on your computer or handheld  device, or the voice recording functions within a presentation program  (like PowerPoint). Please see the announcement posted in Week 2 for more  information on how to create effective presentations using one of these  methods.

The Advocating for Public Health Policy assignment

• Must be an approximately 10 minute long formal presentation recorded  as a video, screencast, or using the voice recording functions in a  presentation program.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must use at least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• If the assignment is submitted as a video or screencast, your  submission (via Waypoint) should be a document with the title page, a  page that lists the URL of the presentation, and a page with your  references. If the assignment is submitted as a voice recording within a  presentation program, you should upload the slides from your  presentation, and ensure that the first slide includes the information  with the title page (as listed above) and a last slide that includes the  references.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.