Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

300 Philosophical Foundations of Health Education
Public health leadership entails an understanding of the political nature of the
field. Since the field is focused on the health of the population, the translation of new
research findings into public policy must often take place through the political process.
Leaders in the field have an obligation to be advocates and to lead in efforts to
assure that the health of the public is protected and improved. Although doctoral
students are well prepared in their scientific roles to conduct sound research and
contribute to the development of new knowledge, they are often less well prepared
to assume advocacy roles in translating this knowledge into practice. This article
contends that not only is professional preparation for advocacy a necessity, but also
that it requires the participation of the students, the faculty, and of the politicians
themselves.
The following article describes a program designed to provide exposure to, and
practice in, the presentation of a scientific position in a political arena. The forum
used was that of a mock legislative committee hearing. This hearing was conducted
as part of a course that is required for all doctoral students. A model was developed
that would ensure that the students had sound academic and practical preparation for
legislative advocacy. The model included four components: (1) issues preparation,
(2) communication skills, (3) political environment exposure, and (4) application (the
mock hearing).
This article will describe the conceptual and skill - based issues included in each
part of the model. It is intended to provide guidance to those public health educators or
educators in other applied fields who wish to enhance the leadership skills of their
students.
ISSUE PREPARATION
The selection of issues and topics to be argued before the mock legislative hearing was
based on a series of learning objectives that were perceived to be critical to the political
process. Students worked collaboratively, in groups of three to four students, on a
presentation that could be of two types: (1) an argument for or against legislation currently
being considered by the state legislature or (2) initiation of new legislation to be
presented to the legislative committee.
The learning objectives that were part of issue selection were to be able to select
issues that have a public health population impact, defend policy and practice recommendations
using actual data, articulate the values underlying political positions, and
identify and work with constituency groups.
Public Health Impact
In their initial selection of topics, the student groups were encouraged to identify topics
in which they had an interest and were also of significant public health concern.
They were encouraged to select issues from a population - based perspective. That is,
what would the effect of this legislation be on the broad population? Within these