208933 Evaluating policy advocacy: Employing systems change outcomes

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 5:30 PM

Claire Brindis, DrPH , Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Mary Kreger, Dr PH , Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, UCSF, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Dana Hughes, DrPH , Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Simran Sabherwal , Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, UCSF, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Katherine Sargent, BA , Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Annalisa Robles, MPA , The California Endowment, Los Angeles, CA
Marion Standish, JDL , Greater Bay Area Regional Office, The California Endowment, Oakland, CA
  
Purpose: The Community Action to Fight Asthma Initiative is a comprehensive community initiative, which funds local, regional, and statewide coalitions and technical assistance providers to establish policies to reduce environmental risk factors that affect children where they live, learn, and play. Seven years of data on outcomes of policy advocacy in housing, schools, and outdoor air are presented using systems change concepts to evaluate the building a synergistic movement.

The Evaluation included: Outcome measures are presented for policy advocacy, collaboration among interdisciplinary partners and stakeholders, media usage, and policy maker surveys. The primary policy topics include: housing, schools, and outdoor air.

Policy and systems change concepts are discussed as they related to structural changes across multiple sectors of communities. These sectors include outcomes at the individual, family, organizational, interorganizational, policy, and systems levels. A typology of collaboration is presented that assesses success for each of the policy areas (housing, schools, and outdoor air) as well as cross pollination across multiple arenas. Examples of communities leveraging their resources to create sustainable policies are included to provide maximum accessibility to relevant lessons.

Conclusion: Multiple policy outcomes, ranging from organizational procedures to redesigning policies for slum housing and goods movements, have been undertaken by community coalitions in California, many with substantial success. Mature and middle coalitions gained traction more quickly than younger coalitions; however, strategies to share outcomes enabled younger coalitions to enhance their success rates and more mature coalitions to diversify approaches. Suggestions for maximizing effectiveness of policy advocacy are included.

Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to define process and impact outcomes used to evaluate multidisciplinary community coalitions engaged in environmental policy advocacy related to asthma. Participants will be able to cite best practices for establishing environmental policies affecting housing, schools, and outdoor air.

Keywords: Environmental Health, Community Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: 20 plus years of policy work and position as Director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Culturally Relevant Approaches to Reducing Health Disparities
See more of: Community Health Planning and Policy Development