Tag: policy

Policy Enactment and Implementation in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Course Objective

  • Describe the steps and strategies needed to enact and implement a policy, program or service
  • Identify the kinds of individuals and organizations who can contribute to the enactment and implementation of policies, programs, and services
  • Explain the importance of monitoring the implementation of policies, programs, and services
  • Understand how applying habits of systems thinking can improve the enactment and implementation processes

Date: June 30th, 2022

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,
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 ‘Policy Enactment and Policy Implementation’ stages of the CDC policy process can be implemented by a health department using systems thinking tools and approaches.

Learners will be able to:

  1. Describe the steps and strategies needed to enact and implement a policy, program or service
  2. Identify the kinds of individuals and organizations who can contribute to the enactment and implementation of policies, programs, and services
  3. Explain the importance of monitoring the implementation of policies, programs, and services
  4. Understand how applying habits of systems thinking can improve the enactment and implementation processes
Community Engagement: The People’s Approach to Improving Health and Social Outcomes

Course Objective

  • Define community engagement
  • Discuss why community engagement is critical in advancing health and social equity
  • Describe the role of local health departments (LHDs) in engaging local communities and their leaders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions and policies
  • List best practices, strategies, and participatory processes for community dialogue and engagement
  • Discuss ways to integrate community engagement in public health practice

Date: June 30th 2021

Subject  Matter Expert: 
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL
Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Founder and Board President, Health Equity Initiative; Principal, Strategies for Equity and Communication Impact (SECI)


This course developed by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center (PHTC) focuses on community engagement, and the role of local health departments in engaging local communities. It focuses on strategies for “true” community engagement, which is about collaborating with and empowering local communities, and recognizing the expert in every community member and every leader representing the community. It also provides an overview of case studies, best practices and strategies for community dialogue and engagement and/or integrating community engagement in public health practice.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Define community engagement
  2. Discuss why community engagement is critical in advancing health and social equity
  3. Describe the role of local health departments (LHDs) in engaging local communities and their leaders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions and policies
  4. List best practices, strategies, and participatory processes for community dialogue and engagement
  5. Discuss ways to integrate community engagement in public health practice
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
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