Defining health policy big P and little p November 2013

Brief presentation about defining health policy with examples from public health. Introduces one way of thinking about health policy: big P and little p.

[@healthpoliticspolicy]

I was impressed by Professor Meyerson's presentation, which I will include in a list of videos on the policy process for students. Professor Meyerson manages to be both comprehensive and succinct. She also provides great examples. Thank you. (Miriam Laugesen, Associate Professor, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University)

[@lerandagarib378]

Very informative. I learnt a lot. Thank you Beth

[@sayurifujita6394]

Thank you Beth Meyerson, this has been informative. I am creating a health policy for a competition on 'food desert,' It will relate to land-use regulation and impact on food desert analysis. I hope to earn a graduate degree in Health Policy and Management.

[@emmshxn3638]

Do people who make these policies understand the science behind their actions? How can we separate politics from science? How can we ensure that there is a connection between policies and the communities it affects?

[@DrBethM]

Hi Emm. Thanks for your question. You are coming from an important place in our policy research -- how to determine what people believe about their policy making and actions, its relationship to science and evidence. We have not solved this, and I would say that if you asked* policy makers, they would give you evidence valued to them. You may not agree that it is evidence. I recommend Ross Brownson and colleagues and their work on evidence-based policy communication for additional learning. As to community engagement in policy, this is a civic development question that we are watching in real time during the 2020 presidential election and Senate runoff in Georgia. Our approach to deepening community engagement in policy is to train and support 'evidence ambassadors' who not only have lived experience with the issues at hand but develop skills in policy communication, self efficacy to do it, and hopefully this will be sustainable. Your questions are really important. Thanks so much.

[@dmzdan]

Good job on this Beth.

[@htinkyawthu5280]

ႊBeth Thank you so much for your explanation, I found it very useful and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed your lecture especially small p and Big P. I have a question that what defines a good policy and for a policy to work quite effectively it needs a good political system ? in cases of country with let's say not perfect political grounds is it possible for a policy that could actually benefit the public to grow ? where should we start in such cases ?

[@Isimey26]

thank u soooo much

[@beth4440]

awesome!

[@juliabucher7698]

Why is HHS action a little p? The who did it is HHS -- still the govt. Help! jb

[@DrBethM]

Julia Bucher Hi Julia, thanks for the question. All public policy is governmental, so just because HHS is part of our governmental expression does not necessarily define it as big P. HHS is not part of elected government, but a creation of it and is an organizational expression of our administration. So, then, the actions of HHS are little p. The way HHS is organized is also little p.