Persuasion is one important aspect of public health practice leadership: creating a public health mandate to address a problem, convincing people that the issues and problems are of importance, generating action to address those problems, and then institutionalizing the solutions in order to advance enduring social change. This session examines the process. Deborah Prothrow-Stith is former Commissioner of Public Health for Massachusetts and is a leading advocate for addressing violence and violence prevention as a public health issue. She is now Director of the Division of Public Health Practice at the Harvard School of Public Health. Leonard Marcus, also on faculty at the Harvard Division, directs the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the School. Together they teach a course on public health practice leadership, the topic of this presentation. One aspect of leadership is communication with multiple constituencies, to include legislators, the press, practitioners, communities, and government officials. The session will address different models and methods of communication. Another aspect of public health practice is negotiating and resolving conflict. A public health leader typically identifies unrevealed problems and their implications - often thereby creating conflict - and then rallies people toward meaningful and effective intervention. To do so, one must identify and understand the many dimensions of a public health problem. This instructional session presents a new and original method of non-adversarial negotiation and conflict resolution - "The Walk in the Woods" - a four-step process applicable to public health coalition building, leadership, and problem solving. See www.hsph.harvard.edu/php/
Learning Objectives: Develop a leadership agenda for complex public health problems. Articulate a public health mandate that helps people understand why a problem has important public health implications. Lead people through a step-by-step process of problem solving. Identify and assess how to resolve complex public health conflicts.
Keywords: Leadership, Conflict Resolution
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.