Assessment task 1 – Policy analysis
‘Policy analysis is a core skill for all hea
Assessment task 1 – Policy analysis
‘Policy analysis is a core skill for all health practitioners who need to understand how their work is funded, how policy decisions impact on their work and how policy can be shaped to build better systems for the promotion of good health for all’ (Keleher 2016 p299)
Introduction
An important set of competencies for people working in health promotion or public health is to recognise ways in which policy gatekeepers and interest groups manage agendas while obscuring their underlying focus on values and negating either good evidence or persuasive arguments (MacDougall and DeLeeuw 2007). In analysing policy, it is crucial to ask whose interests will be served (or threatened) by the implementation of a policy and to consider groups that have no power or influence to affect policy (Baum 2016).
A valuable skill for people working in health promotion or public health is the ability to critically ‘read’ policy. This is important for two reasons:
To enable you to implement the policy with confidence knowing it is in the best interests of the population group for whom it is intended.
To enable you to articulate the shortcomings of the policy and advocate for policy change (which you will do in AT2 and AT3).
As Cheung, Mirzaei and Leeder (2010) state, ‘The development of policy documents is one part of the policy process that enables goals, opportunities, obligations and resources to be recognised in a concrete form and, through careful analysis of the documents…and the extent to which a policy adheres to certain principles, such as stakeholder and legislative support and goal clarity, may be ascertained’. (p406)
To assist you to develop your themes (or criteria) for analysing policy, seminar activities and readings from weeks 2 – 6 will concentrate on developing tools for analysing a variety of policy documents and proposals. There will be a specific focus on the progressive weekly development of your criteria and analysis of the policy, which will look similar to Cheung, Mirzaei and Leeder (p.409) and Bastian (2011 p.112)
To complete this assignment successfully you need to engage with the seminar exercises and the related literature as well as carefully read through the rubric. Seminar time will also be allocated to the discussion of this task. Unit Learning Outcomes
ULO1 Conceptualise policy, policy design and the policy making process to critically appraise policy documents for their capacity to effectively provide optimum public health outcomes and the reciprocal role of informing and being informed by health promotion and sustainability principles and frameworks.
ULO2 Identify and evaluate the role of values, political ideologies, stakeholder influence, types of evidence and power influences, which impact the policy making process in relation to health promotion, public health and health inequalities, inclusive of an environmentally sustainable context.
ULO3 Compare and evaluate the role of Federal, State and local governments in the provision of health services and their policy contexts and develop political persuasion techniques, which have the potential to make changes in public health and health promotion.
You are required to…
Choose ONE policy from the options listed further below.
Come up with three themes for analysing your policy (through developing questions based on the weekly unit readings)
Apply these to your chosen policy (assessing the policy with your questions to determine if the policy is the best we could hope for)
Compare the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (https://www.who.int/teams/health-promotion/enhanced-wellbeing/first-global-conference) to your chosen policy to assess its health promotion capacity.
This will provide you with the basis for producing a report critically evaluating the efficacy of your chosen policy to address the health issue for its related population group. Policy option:
https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/content/enforced/1422375-HSH302_TRI-1_2024/HSH302%202024/AT1%20Policy%20analysis%202024/Policies%20for%20AT1/National%20mens%20health%20strategy%202020-2030.pdf?isCourseFile=true&ou=1422375
Breakdown of each section
1. Introduction – 225 words (5 marks)
a. Provide a background and rationale for why policy analysis is important for promoting health.
b. Provide a brief outline of the selected policy.
2. Develop criteria for analysing policy – 450 words (12 marks)
This will include three criteria headings. Under each one, you will develop questions or prompts to assist with your policy analysis. Each criterion rationale needs to be supported by evidence from the unit readings. 3. Policy document analysis utilising your criteria for analysing policy – 600 words (15 marks)
Essentially this involves interrogating your chosen policy with the set of criteria headings and questions/prompts you have developed and determining how the policy has fulfilled each criterion. It is important to provide evidence from your policy, as well as unit readings, to support your policy analysis statements. 4. Evaluation of the health promotion capacity of the policy under review – 225 words (5 marks)
Utilising the WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, assess your chosen policy’s capacity to promote population health. Use examples from the policy to indicate the extent to which the policy fulfils the criteria from the Charter.
5. Referencing and presentation (3 marks)
Ensure your work is well written and articulate and that you have used APA7 referencing.
Below is a arecording outlining AT1. Here is a copy of the slides in PDF as well as the rubric.
Here are some sample criteria and questions you can use or re-word to suit your own ideas. You only have to reference questions that are taken word for word from the readings. Here is a template to help you draft your AT1. We will work on this in seminars.
Submission details
Due date: Thursday March 28th by 8:00pm
Word count: 1500 words (+/- 10%)
Weighting: 40% of total unit marks
Group or individual submission: Individual
Referencing style: APA7 – refer to the Deakin Guide to APA7 referencing. In third year units, we expect referencing to be of a high standard.
Minimum 12 references required.
Included in the word count: in-text citations, subheadings, all written work
NOT included in the word count: questions for criteria, cover page, contents page, references list, tables or figures