Applying Advocacy Skills at the Employment Site

There are many individuals involved in the formation and implementation of health policy.

From the individuals who collect data to be used in the policy, to those who write the laws, to pollsters, policymakers, advocates, lobbyists, and journalists, the policy process touches many hands.

How would you apply your knowledge of public health, health policy, and advocacy at your job site? Will you seek future employment opportunities that are strongly directed toward health policy or advocacy work?

Will you be able to conform to the legal and ethical lessons discussed in Week 5?

Consider not only what you have examined in your academic studies, but also your personal assets, skills, and personality traits.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review the DeBuono et al., Dorfman et al., and Wyatt articles. Reflect on public health advocacy as a career choice.

• View the media "Professionals in Public Health." Reflect on the roles of professionals in the public health field.

• Research job boards, and select a job in the policy advocacy or public health policy field.

• Consider the requirements of your selected policy advocacy or public health policy job.

• Think about how you would apply the concepts you studied in this course to your selected job.

In this week, you explored how new technologies are allowing more involvement in advocacy for health policy and social change.

In addition, you examined various job opportunities that exist in public health policy and how employment settings might affect advocacy. Finally, you considered how policy advocacy and public health policy careers.