Tag: Policy engagement

Policy Analysis in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Course Objective

  • Define Stage Two of the CDC policy process i.e. Policy Analysis
  • List types of evidence that can be reviewed as part of the policy analysis phase
  • Assess feasibility of available policy options via framing questions and rubrics
  • Identify and define key variables in a complex public health issue
  • Sketch and interpret a simple systems map/ causal loop diagram
  • Define and identify leverage points in a system and assess their potential impact on the system
  • Discuss the importance of systems modeling and explore how systems models can be used to ask and answer policy-relevant questions

Date: June 30th 2021

Subject Matter Experts:  
Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH (Public Health), MBA
Assistant Professor at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, and Associate Director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) at Columbia University

&

Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant


The Strategic Skills Training Series developed by the Region 2 PHTC aims to help prepare public health leaders and the public health workforce to develop the practices and competencies associated with being a Chief Health Strategist.

Using a scenario focused on the opioid problem in the fictitious ‘Tycho County’, this course will describe how the ‘Policy Analysis’ stage of the CDC policy process can be implemented by a health department using systems thinking tools and approaches.

Recommended Pre-Requisites:

  1. An Overview of the Policy Process in Public Health and the Need for Systems Thinking
  2. Problem Identification in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Participants will be able to:

  1. Define Stage Two of the CDC policy process i.e. Policy Analysis
  2. List types of evidence that can be reviewed as part of the policy analysis phase
  3. Assess feasibility of available policy options via framing questions and rubrics
  4. Identify and define key variables in a complex public health issue
  5. Sketch and interpret a simple systems map/ causal loop diagram
  6. Define and identify leverage points in a system and assess their potential impact on the system
  7. Discuss the importance of systems modeling and explore how systems models can be used to ask and answer policy-relevant questions
Strategy and Policy Development in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Course Objective

  • Define Stage Three of the CDC policy process i.e. Strategy and Policy Development
  • Describe the steps that Health Departments can follow to develop an enactment strategy and draft an actual policy
  • Understand how systems thinking tools can help strengthen the strategy and policy development process

Date: June 30th 2021

Subject Matter Experts: 
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

&

Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH (Public Health), MBA
Assistant Professor at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, and Associate Director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) at Columbia University


The Strategic Skills Training Series developed by the Region 2 PHTC aims to help prepare public health leaders and the public health workforce to develop the practices and competencies associated with being a Chief Health Strategist.

 

Using a scenario focused on the opioid problem in the fictitious ‘Tycho County’, this course will describe how the ‘Strategy and Policy Development’ stage of the CDC policy process can be implemented by a health department using systems thinking tools and approaches.

 

Recommended Pre-Requisites:

  1. An Overview of the Policy Process in Public Health and the Need for Systems Thinking
  2. Problem Identification in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In
  3. Policy Analysis in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Participants will be able to:

  1. Define Stage Three of the CDC policy process i.e. Strategy and Policy Development
  2. Describe the steps that Health Departments can follow to develop an enactment strategy and draft an actual policy
  3. Understand how systems thinking tools can help strengthen the strategy and policy development process
Policy Making and Systems Thinking: tools to help the public health workforce address challenging times

Course Objective

  • Define policy making in public health and how it can be used to achieve public health goals
  • Identify how systems thinking can strengthen public health policy development
  • Discuss how some of the essential steps in policy making and systems thinking can help address “wicked” public health challenges

Date: January  12th, 2021

Presenter:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH, MBA
Assistant Professor
Population and Family Health
Columbia University Medical Center


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH, MBA, and Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS, walk us through the process of policy making and the role of systems thinking in combating complex challenges. Sylvia starts by highlighting the steps required to craft good policy and emphasizes the importance of incorporating community members and stakeholders in the process. She then identifies some of the common obstacles seen during this process and shares instances of the same. Helen goes on to unpack the concept of systems thinking, explaining how it can be used and why it is such an essential tool for policy makers and the public health workforce. She demonstrates the ways in which systems thinking can be used to address complex situations and tricky relationships in the policy making process through a series of examples. Finally, they both identify the next steps in policy making and share useful resources for policy identification and systems thinking during challenging times.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Define policy making in public health and how it can be used to achieve public health goals
  2. Identify how systems thinking can strengthen public health policy development
  3. Discuss how some of the essential steps in policy making and systems thinking can help address “wicked” public health challenges
An Overview of the Policy Process in Public Health and the Need for Systems Thinking

Course Objective

  • Explain the role of policy engagement in public health
  • Describe how policy is understood in a Public Health 3.0 context
  • Define the role of a public health agency in policy making
  • List ways that systems thinking concepts and tools can strengthen the policy process

Launch Date: June 30th, 2020

Presenter:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant


Engaging in policy making is an essential activity of public health agencies and staff to achieve the goals of Public Health 3.0 and to work collaboratively to address the social determinants of health. This training provides an overview of the policy making process as defined by the Centers for Disease Control, draws on the COVID-19 and other complex public health problems to discuss the challenges commonly faced by public health agencies during this policy process, and makes the case for using a systems thinking approach to overcome these policy roadblocks and address unintended consequences.

Participants will learn about the following:

  1. Explain the role of policy engagement in public health
  2. Describe how policy is understood in a Public Health 3.0 context
  3. Define the role of a public health agency in policy making
  4. List ways that systems thinking concepts and tools can strengthen the policy process
Problem Identification in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Course Objective

  • Explain Stage One of the policy making process i.e. Problem Identification
  • Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help visualize a problem
  • Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help define the boundaries of a problem

Launch Date: June 30th, 2020

Subject Matter Expert:
Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH (Public Health), MBA
Assistant Professor at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health,
Associate Director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) at Columbia University


This training describes how to implement the first stage of the CDC policy process – Problem Identification. Using a scenario focused on the opioid problem in fictitious Tycho County, the course discusses the practical steps that a health department, working in collaboration with key stakeholders, can take to describe and understand this complex problem. The course also explores how the application of systems thinking tools and approaches to make boundary decisions and visualize the problem using behavior over time graphs and rich pictures, can strengthen this stage of the policy making process.

Participants will learn about the following:

  1. Explain Stage One of the policy making process i.e. Problem Identification
  2. Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help visualize a problem
  3. Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help define the boundaries of a problem
Policy Engagement: An Essential Role for Public Health Agencies in Public Health 3.0

Course Objective

  • Describe the policy engagement process in public health
  • Identify approaches that public health agencies can use to inform policy development
  • Describe how the elements of the community health improvement process can be used to support effective policy engagement to achieve public health goals

Date: August 6, 2019

Presenter:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant


In this Month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, participants learn about various policy-focused approaches that public health agencies can utilize from Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS. The lecture takes a systems thinking approach and acknowledges that policy making is a rarely linear process with stages occurring simultaneously. From policy around motor vehicle related incident and fluoridation of drinking water through the transition to Public Health surveillance, this webinar walks participants through the evolution of policy engagement up to Public Health 3.0 and the role of the Chief Health Strategist. Focusing on partnerships and cross-cutting activities such as stakeholder engagement, collaboration and communication Slvia Pirani provides an overview of the policy engagement process.

Participants will learn how to:

  1. Describe the policy engagement process in public health
  2. Identify approaches that public health agencies can use to inform policy development
  3. Describe how the elements of the community health improvement process can be used to support effective policy engagement to achieve public health goals
Region 2 Public Health Training Center