Prevalence and characteristics of advocacy curricula in Australian public health degrees

Abstract

Background: Public health advocacy is a fundamental part of health promotion practice. Advocacy efforts can lead to healthier public policies and positive impacts on society. Public health educators are responsible for equipping graduates with cross-cutting advocacy competencies to address current and future public health challenges.Problem: Knowledge of the extent to which students are taught public health advocacy is limited. To determine whether advocacy teaching within public health degrees matches industry needs, knowledge of pedagogical approaches to advocacy curricula is required. This study sought to understand the extent to which advocacy is taught and assessed within Australian public health degrees.Methodology: Australian public health Bachelor's and Master's degrees were identified using the CRICOS database. Open-source online unit guides were reviewed to determine where and how advocacy was included within core and elective units (in title, unit description or learning outcomes). Degree directors and convenors of identified units were surveyed to further garner information about advocacy in the curriculum.Results: Of 65 identified degrees, 17 of 26 (65%) undergraduate degrees and 24 of 39 (62%) postgraduate degrees included advocacy within the core curriculum, while 6 of 26 (23%) undergraduate and 8 of 39 (21%) postgraduate offered no advocacy curriculum.Implications: Australian and international public health competency frameworks indicate advocacy curriculum should be included in all degrees. This research suggests advocacy competencies are not ubiquitous within Australian public health curricula.The findings support the need to advance public health advocacy teaching efforts further.

Conceptualization and teaching health advocacy in undergraduate medical education: a document analysis

“…Brender et al performed a document analysis of advocacy in U.S. medical schools where they found that advocacy was taught mainly in elective courses (42). Other studies include content analysis or scoping reviews of health advocacy curricula in postgraduate medical education (12,22,43).…”

Excellence in health promotion learning and teaching scholarship

“…Building the skills of the health promotion and public health workforce to undertake effective advocacy will strengthen health programs, services and policies leading to improved health and societal outcomes. Bhatti et al 7 describe the scope of public health advocacy education within Australian public health degrees and reveal inconsistency in delivery. The findings highlight the need for Australian universities delivering health promotion and public health programs to review their curriculum and assess current strengths and gaps related to advocacy content with a view to ensuring all public health graduates are equipped with this essential skill.…”