Public Health Policy Analysis

Catalog description

This course takes a pragmatic approach to public health policy analysis that aims to provide an understanding of how to do policy analysis. The course uses a case study format to investigate both historical cases and contemporary issues, in parallel, to understand the real-life complexity and challenges in health policy analysis. Attention will be given to what theoretical, ethical, and analytic frameworks best inform policy analysis, what research designs and methods to use, and the historical, political, and contextual influences. Health policy issues are often high profile and demand a public response. By examining health policy cases, both retrospectively and prospectively, students will develop a thoughtful conceptualization of the policy process and a systematic approach to construct clear and testable propositions about the health policy topic they are studying. The case study approach will provide lessons on the evolution of policy implementation, successes, and failures, and provide tools to assist students, as future policy-makers, in evaluating and planning current and future health policy