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PROMOTING CHANGE/ PREVENTING DISEASE

PROMOTING CHANGE/ PREVENTING DISEASE. THROUGH POLICY. CITIZENS’ WATCH FOR ORAL HEALTH. Tracy Garland Washington Dental Service Foundation May 20, 2004 Grantmakers In Health Washington, DC. POLICY CAMPAIGNS: Focus shifts:. From Problem defined at individual level

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PROMOTING CHANGE/ PREVENTING DISEASE

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  1. PROMOTING CHANGE/ PREVENTING DISEASE THROUGH POLICY CITIZENS’ WATCH FOR ORAL HEALTH Tracy Garland Washington Dental Service Foundation May 20, 2004 Grantmakers In Health Washington, DC

  2. POLICY CAMPAIGNS: Focus shifts: From Problem defined at individual level Short term focus on programs Treating people as consumers Using mass media to change health habits To Blend of individual and societal responsibility Long term focus on policy Treating people as citizens Using mass media to influence policy

  3. POLICY CAMPAIGNS You can’t have a media strategy without an overall strategy

  4. POLICY CAMPAIGNS: Strategy Development • What is the problem? • What is the solution or policy? • Who has the power to make the necessary change? • Who must be mobilized to apply the necessary pressure? • What do the targets need to hear?

  5. POLICY CAMPAIGNS: Problem ID “A public problem doesn’t exist until enough people with enough clout in the society say it does.”

  6. POLICY CAMPAIGNS: Theory of Change • Public officials look to media as a proxy for public opinion • Media set the public agenda • Use media to frame our issue • Public officials • Feel it is safe to move the issue • Believe that people will understand why he/she is doing this

  7. POLICY CAMPAIGNS: Communications Research • Media creates a framework of expectation about an issue (dominant frame) • Must understand how ordinary people think • Frame trumps facts • To change opinion, must shift the frame • Search for metaphors, messengers, images to support new frame

  8. Oral Health in America:A Report of theSurgeon GeneralEXECUTIVE SUMMARY Department of Health and Human ServicesJune 2000

  9. Q. How to give legs and longevity to the Surgeon Generals report on oral health? A. Citizens’ Watch for Kids Oral Health

  10. ORAL HEALTH POLICY CAMPAIGN Research Findings • Issue is unknown; no salience • Issue is undervalued; connects to toothbrushes, junk food, smiles, self-esteem • Issue is framed solely as personal responsibility (habits, discipline) • For children, likely frame is parent responsibility • No consequences, no connection to overall health • No opportunity for public/private partnerships • Dental visits an expendable luxury • Dentists seen as self-interested, not credible

  11. The Good News in the Research Findings ORAL HEALTH POLICY CAMPAIGN • When prompted, adults believe that oral health is part of overall health and well-being. • When prompted, adults can understand that children’s oral health is a community responsibility.

  12. ORAL HEALTH POLICY CAMPAIGN How Do We Shift the Frame? • Emphasize prevalence of problem • Explain severity of problem • Identify consequences of problem • Underscore the efficacy of prevention in solving the problem • Mainstream the issue

  13. ORAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN: Message “Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease in America. It affects half of all first graders and 80% of seventeen-year-olds. In Washington State, one in seven low-income children has unmet dental needs, and many more families struggle to pay for dental care. Oral disease keeps kids out of school and later out of work…”

  14. ORAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN: Solution “It doesn’t have to be this way. When communities make prevention and early treatment a priority, kids can get regular check-ups, sealants, and fluoride. So let’s watch our mouths and use them to speak up for the children of Washington State. Because if our mouths aren’t healthy, neither are our bodies.”

  15. ORAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN: Tools • COALITION • MEDIA • PAID • EARNED • POLICY • Phase I Political advance work • Phase II awareness solutions

  16. ORAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN: Coalition Citizens’ Watch for Kids Oral Health • Business • Labor • Medical The Ask • Embed this in your policy agenda • Open your communication channel • Sign Op-Eds • Testify • Dental • Education • Public Health

  17. ORAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN: Results • Issue reframed, with new identity • Success broadening constituency • Policy “wins” • Defeat anti fluoridation attack • Oral health references in model nutrition legislation • WSMA policy: responsibility of md’s to identify, treat and refer oral disease • WDS Foundation seen as “moral authority” in state capital

  18. ORAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN: Summary Improved health status will come about as a result of • Individuals getting more knowledge about personal health behaviors • Groups getting more power to change social and economic conditions

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