 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Eric Breton, PhD candidate, GRIS - Faculty of medicine, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada, 514-343-6111 #5427, Eric.Breton@umontreal.ca, Lucie Richard, PhD, Faculty of Nursing, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada, and France Gagnon, PhD, UER Travail, économie et gestion, Téluq, 455, rue de l'Église, C.P. 4800, succ.Terminus, Québec, QC G1K 9H5, Canada.
The 'new public health' perspective urges a return to an agenda centered on the modification of the determinants of health, with a special emphasis on public policies. Public policies are regarded as powerful tools for changing macro-level determinants. This enthusiasm for strategies focusing on the modification of public policies has led, however, to declining interest in health education interventions, which are often mistakenly assimilated to intervention exclusively aimed at modifying the individual determinants of health. The aim of the present analysis is to reflect on the role of health education in the process leading to the adoption of 'healthy public policy'. Our efforts were guided by Hall (1993) and Sabatier's (1999) models of the policy process, which oppose the traditional 'iron triangle' rationalistic view of policymaking (centered around key politicians, civil servants, and lobbyists) and promote an approach which give an important role to beliefs and values. A case study method was used to apply our model in the context of tobacco and gun control legislation successes and failures. Health education emerged as a critical ingredient of the policy process and should be undertaken from the initial step in order to create the necessary conditions for policy change. One core function of these efforts should be the modification of the population's worldview in a way that could eventually constrain the belief system of the political elite. This analysis stresses the need for planning approaches integrating health education as the primary strategy to set the ground for policy change.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Health Education, Public Policy
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.