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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Monty Messex, MPH¹, Mark D. Weber, PhD¹, Linda Aragon, MPH¹, and Jack Nicholl, MA². (1) Tobacco Control & Prevention Program, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 3530 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010, 213-351-7314, mmessex@ladhs.org, (2) The Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing, American Lung Association of California, 79 Daily Drive, #138, Camarillo, CA 93010

Policy enactment is an effective strategy to improve the public's health. Successfully enacting policy requires strategic planning and capacity building. The objective of this paper is to describe a phase-based model developed by the Los Angeles County Tobacco Control and Prevention Program and the Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing that has proved effective in facilitating local legislative-based tobacco control policy campaigns. The model's generality suggests that it is applicable to a variety of public health policy areas (e.g., obesity control and violence prevention). The recognition that most successful policy campaigns go through similar phases is fundamental to the phase model approach. Activities in each phase lay the foundation for the success of the next phase(s). The five phases are: 1) community assessment – investigate the public health and political environment to identify issues that will influence local policy makers; 2) campaign strategy -- develop a blueprint or roadmap to organize the campaign and build the power necessary to influence local policy makers, 3) coalition building/broadening – engage a diverse group of community stakeholders to ensure the needed leadership and skills are available to achieve the policy goals; 4) campaign implementation -- implement activities designed to influence local policy makers and 5) campaign evaluation – determine effectiveness of campaign and understand its strengths and weaknesses so refinements can be made and future efforts can be optimized. Field-tested experiences to date suggest that the phase model approach is an effective tool for nongovernmental organizations, community advocates and health departments to organize, implement and evaluate policy campaigns.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to describe the phase-model approach to enacting public health policies and list the five phases.

Keywords: Advocacy, Policy/Policy Development

Related Web page: lapublichealth.org/tob

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation