Health Action and Advocacy
What you must understand
Health action is the process of planning and implementing change; advocacy is speaking or acting to influence decisions and secure resources for a health issue. Know the advocacy types: self-advocacy, peer advocacy, public/social advocacy, and legislative/lobbying advocacy. Understand the health action process: identify the issue, gather evidence, define the target audience, choose strategies, build partnerships, implement, monitor and evaluate. Recognise strategies such as lobbying, media campaigns, petitions, community forums, social media, partnerships with NGOs, and working with decision-makers. Know the role of empowerment and community participation - action is strongest when affected people lead. Understand how to evaluate impact (reach, uptake, policy change, health outcomes).
Traps in questions
- Describing advocacy as only protest - it includes lobbying, education and partnership.
- Failing to identify the specific decision-maker or target of the action.
- Proposing action without evidence or a monitoring and evaluation plan.
- Ignoring cultural safety and community leadership when advocating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Worked example
Students want healthier vending machines. Evidence: survey of student purchases and nutrition guidelines. Target: the school council and canteen manager. Strategies: petition, presentation with data, media coverage in the school newsletter, partnership with a dietitian. Evaluation: sales data before and after, student survey, and whether the policy was adopted. Each element maps to a step in the action process, which is what markers reward.
Rule of thumb
Every advocacy answer needs four parts: issue and evidence, target, strategy, and evaluation.