WEEK 8 Flashcards
Differentiate between politics and policy
Politics:
* anything that involves groups of persons making/infuencing decisions regarding allocation of resources
Policy:
* plans that guide the actions of government, institutions, corporations, or communities
* reflect beliefs of the majority of those directly responsible for creating policy
Nurses are most concenred with ____ _____ and _____ ______ ______
- health policy
- healthy public policy
What is health policy?
decisions, actions, and plans that are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals in a society
What can an explicit health policy achieve?
4
- defines a vision for the future
- establish targets and points of reference for short and medium term
- outlines priorities and the expected roles of different groups
- builds consensus and informs people
What is healthy public policy?
- health in all policies
- improve the conditions under which people live: secure, safe, adequate and sustainable livelihoods, lifestyles, and environments
- focus on social determinants of health
- don’t address health head on - target factors that affect health
What are the 5 influences of public policy?
- Political parties - get members elected
- Interest groups - pressure legislators to pass laws
- Lobbyists - pressure and inform members of congress and other elected officials
- Media - provide info and watch over government; accountability through exposition
- Public opinion - influence elected leaders through voting
Characteristics of Current Gov Policies
3
- focus on individual and lifetyle - we all make individual lifestyle decisions; dont consider broad issues
- demonstrate siloed nature of ministries - MOH separate from social services
- Focus on treatment, not prevention - funding directly to acute care
How do nurses influence public policy?
- Focus on overall improvement of health
- Looking to influence behaviour and decisions of people relative to their environment and living conditions
- Have strong opinions on policies that influence us professionally
- Should be highly politically involved to address issues of social justice
- We have a window into results of policy on the public, therefore play a role in influencing issues of health policy, healthy public policy and social justice
Strengths of Nursing as a Political Force
- numbers
- societal view
- lack of agenda
- ability to engage in policy related to work
Challenges of Nursing as a Political Force
- Discomfort
- Lack of political unity in the profession
- Don’t devote $ to lobbying efforts
- Burnout/apathy
- Not knowing how to be political
What is structuralism?
acknowledging existence of a fixed real world with ideas that rest upon a bedrock of material relations
What is post-structuralism?
- Opposition to the 1950’s/60s structuralist movement
- Doubt existence of concrete reality
- Look at discourse analysis - language is key to understanding power
- Analyze from different perspectives; look beyond the obvious
Recall: Lipitt’s 7 Phases of Change
- Diagnose the problem
- Assess motivations and capacity for change
- Diagnosing the client system’s problem
- Establishing alternative routes
- Transforming intentions into actual efforts
- Stabilizing change
- Terminal Relationships
Lipitt’s 7 Phases of Change
Diagnosing the Problem in Politics
4 considerations
- causality - what are the factors behind the problem
- severity - how bad is the problem and how bad is it likely to get?
- incidence - what is the scope and impact
- novelty - is this new?
Lipitt’s 7 Phases of Change
Assessing Motivation and Capacity for change in politics
- Consider who the stakeholders are
- Consult with stakeholders and consider what they see as positive outcomes
- Consider who can be your best followers
