I routinely get that expression… You know, the one where someone furrows their brow and looks at you like “that makes no sense whatsoever”… The confused, “so what do I say now” look?
Although sometimes it is when I am just trying to explain the intricacies between Odds Ratio and Relative Risk, it usually comes after this part of a conversation.
THEM: So Mr Watson, what do you do?
ME: I teach public health up at the college.
THEM: That sounds interesting… So you have a doctorate in Health?
ME: No, actually I am almost done with my Doctorate in Political Science.
Now, because this happens so frequently I know what they are thinking… {so how does political science have anything to do with health}.
Unfortunately, I think most of us that have worked in public health and dealt with the political process have no clue how political science has to do with health, except that we get frustrated when politicians don’t listen to us. (and maybe a foggy memory of our senior year government class “how an idea becomes law”)
Perhaps it is because we are not trained very well in the policy process. Here is what I mean.
We regularly hear that policy making is one of the best ways to address the root causes of disease and poor health (smoking laws, school based physical education, trans fat, etc, etc) (also see Cottrell or McKenzie texts). We also hear that community organizing is a great way to change the community’s health (again see McKenzie).
Most of us have heard this through our schooling, and many of us teach it, but we stop there. Shouldn’t we teach more about the policy process?
When was the last time you heard the names of theorists in a classroom? For many of us, it was yesterday! We teach about Bandura, Prochaska, Skinner… Green, Kreuter, Neiger… MATCH, APEX-PH, etc, etc. But what about these… Kingdon, Sabatier, Jenkins-Smith, Stone, Simon, Buchanan.
The latter are policy theorists. As common as the behaviorists are to Health Education, these policy folks are known to political scientists.
Would we ever dream of sending out students to engage in behavior change without a good understanding of the transtheoretical model? So why do we ask our new professionals to go change the policy landscape without teaching them the theories that explain the policy process (more than to emphasize epidemiology and persuasive reasoning)?
Just some thoughts….
From the heart of the Rockies
TDUB
Kelly House
rodneybbowden
donchaney
bethchaney
billcissell
karllarson
Jody Early
Joan Cowdery
I'll chalk one up for teaching the political process and theories. My knowledge as a student in these processes was limited as I entered the professional world. As I now work more closely with the political process and it becomes more relevant to my life I have started to learn more. I have been fortunate to have a Health Officer who is very knowledgeable and involved in the process that took the time to educate his staff on the inner workings of the political world. Even basics give a professional something to start from.
As Bill has so aptly stated, there are few individuals who have gone through a baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral program, all in helath education. In fact, in most undergraduate programs, health education is a "discovery" major. That is, individuals from other fields may take a health education course to complete their general studies requirement and the instruction they receive and the excitement they see in the course they take, convinces them to switch their major to health education. We should never forget that we are an applied discipline that draws upon the principles of Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Education, Law, and the basic biological sciences (medicine).
Have a wonderful 2009
Larry
Thank you for the comments… My purpose of this post was not the diversity of degrees… I get it. My purpose is to point out that a significant strategy in public health (policy process) is not well covered in teaching the (as Dr Olsen says) applied discipline. Should we not be teaching the policy process the same way we teach behavior change?
Tyler,
Health educators are far from unique in having one or more degrees in a discipline that is different than the one in which they are employed. In the field of library science, the master of library science (MLS) is the key degree. Few who get the MLS have a bachelor degree in librarianship. My wife holds an MLS, and her bachelor degree is in German language.
Most who have a doctorate of juris prudence (JD) have both bachelor and master degrees in other fields. My daughter had a bachelor of science in biology and a master of science in microbiology prior to entering law school.
It is common for the engineer to get a master in business degree or one in another discipline. My son-in-law, who is an engineer, plans to complete an MBA. Most of his former classmates already have MBA degrees.
The largest cadre of students completing the Ph.D. degree in Health Studies (health education) at Texas Woman's University have at least one degree in nursing. Most of these have both bachelor and master degrees in nursing. Another cadre have master in healthcare administration degrees.
Tyler,
I would argue that public policy process has always been a major theme in public health curricula. Community organization, community participation, and community development have always required analysis of the political processes. Public health administration courses commonly address public policies and legal issues, as well. In my baccalaureate preparation, I had faculty members with MPH degrees teaching the community health courses. In the UCLA School of Public Health, my master program included a course in healthcare administration and several that addressed community organization, community participation and community development. All of these required development of an understanding of policy processes.
Tyler,
In the back of my head, there is a quotation rattling about which goes something like: "Public health is the body politic." I believe this may have been the title of a speech by the first, or a early, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina. I will have to do some research to verify this.
Tyler,
I congradulate you on getting reactions to you blogs. This is what I was expecting, but my blogs have drawn very few reactions. I thought several folks would weigh in on topics like: Geneaology of the Health Education Profession, Health Education Hall of Fame, and Thick Skinned Versus Thin Skinned Posters. They seem to me to be provacative. Disappointingly, these have not drawn nearly as many reactions as I had expected.
A google search on health and the body politic produced two worthwhile references One is a slide show at the URL: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/disparities/book/Heal…
It is about a seminar on health disparities and the body politic hosted by the Harvard University School of Public Health.
The other is a review of the book: Beauchamp, D. F. (1996). Health care reform and the missing body politic. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. This was done be Lawrence D. Brown. i suspect that Beauchamp references Dr. McGavern, who I believe is the author of Public Health is (or and) the Body Politic. I have not scanned Beauchamp's book or found my reference to the document by McGavern..
Tyler,
I thought our post was timely and on point. I'm always surprised when I hear some of my students express their disdain for politics or advocacy at the onset of my Global Health or Community Health course/s. How in the world do they not see the connection? (I'll never forget one of my former professors used to remind us, "One good piece of legislation will save more lives than 1000 smoking cessation workshops." Light bulb moment! That thought has haunted me and I've never forgotten just how important it is to align the political process with public health and health education. This is something I focus on in my own teaching now, hoping that many will have their own "light bulb" moments sometime during the semester.
It amazes me how many students (and American citizens) still don't know how a bill becomes a law (let's bring back, "School House Rock!"). I don't think people really realize how much power they have as individual citizens or how much we can accomplish as professional organizations. What can we do to sell this to them? I'd love to keep this discussion going and share whether what specific programs are doing across the country to prepare health educators to be advocates for health (beyond what was offered above). Let me also put in a plug for the AAHE/SOPHE Advocacy summit: This is a valuable experience for our students (and for us!).
Oops…please ignore the spelling error in the first line. I meant "your" post not "our" post. Speaking like the Collectivist that I am…..
I agree that is has always been a part of the profession and the principles have been taught in the curricula… However, we fail to teach the underlying theories…. Mostly because we are not trained well in them.
You can include yourself with me anytime…….
My experience has been different. The faculty members who taught the courses I took seemed well versed in the theories underlying the process of changing public policies. They served on boards of organizations concerned with policy development and implementation. Some were consultants to legislators.
Health educators gave testimony before the President's Committee on Health Education between 1971 and 1974, as well as to other legislative committeees at national and state levels. The establishment of the U. S. Office of Health Information and Promotion in 1978 is a classic example of using the political process to get legislation passed in the U. S. Congress. Also, it took knowledge of the political process to get the Department of Labor to establish standard occupation classification (SOC) for health educators.
Great resources, Bill! Thanks for adding these!