LI Course
CE Hours: 3 contact hours

Statement of Purpose and Institute Overview: The purpose of this course is to explore the challenges associated with evaluating public health policy and identify solutions for assessing the effectiveness of policy at bringing about changes in public health. Public health research is increasingly translated to policies which in turn are used as system-level interventions to change health outcomes. State level school nutrition policies, for example, are being implemented to address the overweight and obesity public health problem and booster seat laws reflect the translation of injury research into policy. With the increase in the translation of research to policy, it is imperative that we understand the most appropriate methodological tools available to analyze the effects, and outcomes of these policies. Policy evaluations can be used to build the library of research that examines how effective these policies are at impacting health outcomes. During this 3-hour workshop, participants will 1) explore through lecture and interactive discussions the challenges associated with evaluating public health policy; 2) review various sources of policy data and discuss the pros and cons of each data set; and 3) offer examples of how they have measured or evaluated public health policy and discuss their findings, and 4) analyze examples of public health policy evaluations and critique whether the evaluations were effective. Learning more about health policy evaluation will provide participants with training on key aspects of the core public health competencies proposed by the Public Health Foundation (http://www.phf.org/link/core-061109.htm), including: analytic/assessment skills, policy development/program planning skills, and community dimensions of practices skills. The instructors for this session are legislative analysts and evaluators who have dealt with many challenges in measuring the effectiveness of policy interventions and have developed theory-based and practical solutions for addressing these challenges through our work for Federal, state and foundation clients. The instructors are managers and staff at The MayaTech Corporation’s Center for Health Policy and Legislative Analysis and Center for Community Prevention and Treatment Research, which routinely conduct policy analysis and policy evaluations in areas of cancer prevention and treatment, HIV, nutrition and physical activity, heart disease and stroke prevention, and substance abuse prevention and treatment.

Session Objectives: 1) Explain the connection between public health policy and measurable health outcomes 2) Identify two sources of public health policy data suitable for conducting evaluations 3) Analyze and critique one example of public health policy evaluation

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)