The Policy Change
The Policy Change Essay Paper
This assignment focuses on the methods to develop a change in policy to improve the public’s health by using a health policy model.
Tasks:
Suppose you want to initiate a policy of taxing sugared sodas/pop/beverages in your community. Use the Longest’s policy cycle model to ponder the following questions:
What arguments would you use to make the case for the policy?
What argument(s) would your opponents make?
How would you go about getting buy-in for your proposed policy?
What stakeholder groups need to be involved in promoting your policy? The Policy Change Essay Paper
Submission Details:
Submit your response in a 2-page Microsoft Word document (500 words).
Name your document SU_NSG4068_W1_Project_LastName_FirstInitial.doc.
Submit your document to the Submissions Area by the due da
The policy change
Obesity among children and adolescents has become an ever increasing health care concern, especially in the face of prevalence figures tripling since the 1970s. Data collected after 2014 reveals that approximately 20% of children in the US between 6 and 19 years of age are obese. The concern is that the affected individuals are placed at high risk of poor health and wellness. A review of the factors contributing to this state of affairs identifies negative childhood events, short sleep duration, environmental design and safety, nutrition, physical activity, metabolism, and genetics as factors that contribute to obesity among this population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). World Health Organization (2020) adds to the discussion by suggesting that obesity can be managed and preventing. It specifically recommends that intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 5% of the total energy intake, a recommendation that applies throughout the life course. The suggestion is based on the fact that sugar sweetened drinks have been linked to obesity among children and adolescents, as well as other health concerns to include liver disease, sleep disorders, asthma, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes (World Health Organization, 2020). The Policy Change Essay Paper. Given this awareness, the policy recommendation is made to increase taxes on sugar sweetened drinks as a strategy for reducing obesity prevalence among children and adolescents through reducing public consumption of these drinks. The preset paper discusses the pros and cons of the proposed policy change, as well as how to engage the stakeholders.
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Policy pros
The proposed policy is to tax sugared sodas/pop/beverages. Three arguments would be presented to make the case for the taxation. Firstly, taxation increases public funds available for healthcare projects. Through increasing taxes, the government has access to more money that can fund obesity intervention programs. Secondly, these sugared drinks have a direct correlation with obesity through increasing prevalence. The sugared drinks have higher calories with no additional nutritional so that the consumer takes in more calories that is converted into fat. Through taxation increases the purchase cost and subsequently reduces consumption thereby helping in controlling the prevalence of obesity (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). Thirdly, taxation would increase production costs so that producers are encouraged/motivated to research and present health drinks that would not attract high taxes (Milstead& Short, 2019). The Policy Change Essay Paper
Policy cons
There are two arguments in opposition of the policy. The first argument is that increasing taxation has a domino negative effect on the economy. Increasing taxes would increase the costs thus making these products less attractive to the consumers so that fewer drinks are purchased. Subsequently, the companies would be forced to reduce their production and lay off personnel who would then be without jobs and unable to contribute to the economy. Besides that, the drinks industry supports other business industries (such as bottle producers) so that any negative effect on the drinks industry would cause a corresponding effect on other business industries. Secondly, the tax has ethical implications through denying consumers the right to use their preferred drinks. Those who cannot afford to pay the new prices would be considered as having been denied their freedom of choice (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014).The Policy Change Essay Paper
Getting buy-in for thepolicy
Getting buy-in for the proposed policy is important since it galvanizes stakeholders to support the policy. The Longest Policy Cycle Model with its three phases (forming, implementing and modifying phases) is consider appropriate. This model is a continuous cycle with the three phases in which all decisions are subject to change. This policy will process the issue through all three phases to determine the outcome. This is very useful in nursing because it supports the central purpose to enhance health and facilitate its pursuit of specific healthcare goals to increase quality of life(Mason, 2018). In addition to the model, a four-step process has been identified as important for getting buy-in for the policy. The first step is to formulate a coherent vision or idea for the policy as a draft. Through presenting a problem that the stakeholders can understand, they will be convinced that there is an issue to be addressed. The draft idea with concrete examples directs them towards a possible solution and they are engaged in formulating the final solution. The second step is to acknowledge the idea and expose it to outside criticism. This helps in generating debate that generates awareness of the issue and improves attention so that the stakeholders become committed to implementing the solution. The third step is to leverage the feedback received and use it to improve the policy so that the stakeholders feel respected and heard. At this point, the policy is considered as the result of consensus. The final step is to communicate the progress of the policy development and how close it is to implementation or how it is performing after implementation (Milstead& Short, 2019).The Policy Change Essay Paper
Stakeholders
There are three stakeholders who must be involved in promoting the policy. The first stakeholder is the government that implements the policy and determines what decisions are best for the public based on its agendas. It is driven by the political agenda. The second stakeholder is medical personnel who can authoritatively inform on the correlation between sugared drinks and obesity. They are driven by the health agenda. The third group is economists who are concerned with the effects of the taxation on the economy. They are driven by the economic/financial agenda. The fourth group are the public members who are affected through determinations of how much they spend on these drinks and whether they remain within their budget. They are driven by consumer agenda. The final group are sugared drink companies who are affected through changes in cost of production that is transferred to the customers. They are profit driven (Huff, Kline & Peterson, 2015). The Policy Change Essay Paper
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). CDC healthy schools: obesity. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/index.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fhealthyschools%2Fobesity%2Ffacts.htm
Huff, R., Kline, M. & Peterson, D. (2015). Health promotion in multicultural populations: a handbook for practitioners and students (3rded.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Mason, J. D. (2018). Policy &politics in nursing and health care (7thed.). St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier, Inc.
Milstead, J. & Short, N. (2019). Health policy and politics: a nurse’s guide (6thed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Stanhope, M. & Lancaster, J. (2014). Public health nursing: population-centered health care in the community (8thed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Mosby.
World Health Organization (2020). Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to reduce the risk of childhood overweight and obesity. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/elena/titles/ssbs_childhood_obesity/en/. The Policy Change Essay Paper
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