Walden University Week 8 Scholar Research Policy Brief Practitioner Project

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Submit an 8- to 10-page research policy brief that synthesizes the following:

• Title page and Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Part 1: Introduction
  • Identify your audience
  • Articulate the public health issue
  • Provide evidence that justifies this as a public health issue
    • Identify the level of interest
    • Describe the population(s) affected
• Part 2: Multidisciplinary Impacts
  • Laws and policies
  • Epidemiology and medicine
  • Economics
  • Politics
  • Ethics
• Part 3: Analysis and Recommendations
  • Explain how current policy could be adapted (or new policy created) to address the public health issue
  • Critique the merits of current interventions
  • Propose and support an alternative intervention
  • Explain limitations to your recommendations
• Part 4: Conclusion
  • Explain the need for the audience to address the public health problem
  • Reiterate the action you want the audience to take
• APA reference page

Reference the scholarly articles that you used in your policy brief.

Note: The 8- to 10-page requirement excludes the Title page, Table of Contents, Executive Summary, and APA reference page.

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REMINDER ABOUT YOUR PROJECT

Hi everyone.

As you work this week to finalize your policy brief, I thought I would remind you of the guidance via an announcement I provided early in this course. I’ve pasted it below. Keep this in mind as your prepare your final paper.

First, think of a policy brief like a story. A good story makes sense, and it moves us. That is, it appeals to both the heart and the mind. While solid facts are an essential part of a policy brief, you want to present them in a way that compels the policy maker (your audience) to act. You will be provided with a specific outline for the policy brief in Week 7, but generally the structure look like this.

• The Introduction Grabs the Reader. It motivates the policy maker to read on, and care about the issue. The problem statement needs to be clear and precise and convey exactly what the problem is, and why it is important. While there are exceptions to be sure, the policy maker generally has not asked for the policy brief and may not really want to read it. Thus, the first few paragraphs have to be compelling, without overwhelming.
• The Middle is the PEEEL Framework. It is the section that develops the plot – the analysis and detail. It is important that it be factual and credible and relate to the problem statement. This is not the section for opinion and recommendations. Scholarly, balanced, comprehensive, objective and discerning are other good descriptions for this section.
• The End is for the Conclusions and Recommendations. This is the section where the author brings all the relevant information together and provides the needed perspective with opinion about the best course of action to address the problem. Like the end of any story, it provides closure to what has come before. Although this is the last section of the policy brief, you may want to write it first. Doing so will help assure you have a logical document.

It requires hard work to connect these three sections. The worst thing you can do is complete the PEEEL disciplines simply to check them off without any thought of how they help tell the story. If information in a PEEEL discipline doesn’t provide context for the conclusions, it doesn’t belong. Eliminate it. If a conclusion or recommendation introduces new information or doesn’t have the foundation and context necessary for it to make sense, information is missing in the PEEEL disciplines. By the time the reader gets to the end, he or she should be saying “of course, I see why that makes sense; I should do something about that.” The logic should be tight and so obvious that the reader has no choice but to agree. Of course, that is the goal. Easier said than done.

Two final thoughts.

• Your audience (reader of the policy brief) is a specific policy maker. You must specify the audience in the introduction section of your paper. Know who your audience is. Some policy makers understand science. Others do not. Some are focused on budgets. Others care more about ethical considerations. Some policy makers have a particular bias or pet peeve that has to be addressed. While you will be writing only one policy brief for this course, in the real world, your advocacy strategy may require many policy briefs on the same subject, each geared toward a different audience.

Your policy brief has to be well written. Grammar and syntax mistakes destroy your credibility instantly