Chairs

Current SIG Co-Chairs:

Ana Monterrey, MD, MPH

Laurie Gordon, MD, MA

Roopa Thakur, MD

Current SIG Mentor:

David Keller, MD

The Advocacy Training SIG supports community outreach, health promotion, and health policy activity as an integral part of medical training and ongoing career advocacy for social change.

The goals of the SIG are (1) to support the development of pediatricians who can identify the needs of their communities and use their skills to partner with the community for improved pediatric health, (2)t o facilitate exchange of ideas between educators and trainees in best practices in advocacy education and (3) to maintain and advance the presence of advocacy training in core pediatric education at academic training centers and for community pediatricians.

 

Join the Advocacy Training SIG

Annual Summary

The Advocacy Training SIG had another successful meeting at PAS this year, entitled “Making Legislative Advocacy Part of Your and Your Trainees Careers." The focus of the session was on legislative advocacy, with an emphasis on teaching participants the skills they need to advocate effectively at the legislative level. The session also addressed the impact of policy on the health and well-being of children, with a focus on the underserved. We provided ideas for how to empower trainees to become advocates to address the needs of the communities they serve through sharing curricular innovations in teaching legislative advocacy and strategies for integrating teaching about legislative advocacy into pediatric medical education across a spectrum of learners. During the session we heard from a dynamic group of speakers who presented their experiences advocating at the local, state, or federal level; we discussed the importance of young physicians as change agents; and we allowed participants to share their experiences inspiring and mentoring trainees. We also provided an opportunity for participants to work on creating their own advocacy messages through an interactive small group activity.

Current SIG Goals:

The learning objectives for the session were that by the end, participants would be able to:

  1. Develop a basic understanding of the legislative process and the opportunities throughout the process where they can use their voice to advocate on behalf of issues they care about.
  2. Describe the unique role that pediatricians can play in advocating on behalf of children.
  3. Discuss ways that advocacy is doable within the demands of a busy pediatrician’s schedule.
  4. Begin to create a tailored message to communicate effectively with decision makers about an issue affecting child health. Identify opportunities for including advocacy training in residency training to increase pediatric residents’ advocacy-related confidence and comfort level in working with decision-makers.

We also highlighted two outstanding trainee advocacy projects with oral presentations. Over 30 people attended the session this year. We have created a repository of resources that were used during the session that will be shared with the SIG membership in the upcoming weeks.

Other groups (other SIGs and other groups not in the APA) that work in your area of interest:

AAP Community Pediatrics Training Initiative, APA Advocacy and Public Policy Committee, APPD Community Health and Advocacy Training Learning Community Serving the Underserved SIGÂ Â