Systems Change for Health (aka Shaping Policy for Health™)

The Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE) presents Systems Change for Health (formerly known as Shaping Policy for Health^TM) competency-based training program. This training curriculum was developed recognizing that health problems are influenced by policies and environments that either sustain healthy behaviors or fail to support them. Major public health problems will not be solved solely by individual actions, but by coming together to forge a society where healthy choices are easy and popular.

As a practitioners’ organization, DHPE has long recognized that health policy and systems change are essential to our work if we want to improve the health of all. Recommendations from our 2001 report Policy and Environmental Change: New Directions for Public Health led DHPE to work with Carolyn Crump, PhD, and James Emery, MPH, of the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health (UNC) to identify the professional competencies public health workers need to succeed in creating policy, systems, and environmental changes that promote health. DHPE’s Systems Change for Health curriculum was developed by our partners at UNC to address those competencies.

Please review our Systems Change for Health Competency Based Training course descriptions, and let us know your interest in bringing our training to you.

As used in this course, the term “policy” refers to a range of approaches, actions or interventions that are part of the policy process.  The policy process can occur at the local, state, or national levels.  Policies include workplace rules, insurance provisions, limitations businesses accept (such as beverage distributors deciding to remove sugar sweetened soda as vending machine options in schools or restaurateurs making their establishments smoke-free), local ordinances, joint use agreements (such as allowing the use of school facilities for community programs), changes to built environments (such as traffic calming measures and safer walking routes to schools),  school board decisions, agreed upon ways of doing business, state guidance, state regulations, state laws, federal guidance, federal regulations, and federal laws.

Our comprehensive curriculum uses a transdisciplinary approach incorporating theories, methods, tools and case evidence from public health, public policy, public administration and urban planning to teach the concepts of effective policy change and strengthen practitioners’ skills and competencies.. The competencies learned are foundational and adaptable across public health issues such as obesity, tobacco, injury control, heart disease and stroke prevention. The courses are sequential and the concepts, tools, case examples, and activities progressively build with each level of the curriculum.

Intended Audience

The Systems Change for Health Competency Based Training Program is designed for public health practitioners, their leaders, and community coalitions. The training supports the work of states and communities to improve health through policy, systems and environmental change. The workshops are conducted in cooperation with DHPE members — health promotion and education leaders in state and territorial health departments — and their partners in national and community health organizations and presented at host sites.

Who Should Host Trainings

• State and Local Health Departments

• Community Partners

• Professional Associations

• Federal Partners

DHPE brings a team of expert trainers to conduct the trainings at your desired location. Our national cadre of trainers are experienced public health and policy professionals who have been trained by the curriculum developers to facilitate the one- and two-day training sessions.