Healthy public policy A conceptual cognitive framework.

Area of Science:

• Public Health Policy
• Health Promotion Strategies
• Policy Analysis

Background:

• The significance of health determinants beyond healthcare was recognized in "A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians" (1974).
• Healthy public policy, as outlined in the Ottawa Charter (1986), is a key strategy for health promotion.
• Despite understanding health determinants, they are often overlooked in public policy development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance understanding of healthy public policies through a novel conceptual framework.
• To demonstrate the importance of public policy subsystems within the healthy public policy process.
• To emphasize the need to focus analysis on decision-making, policy evaluation, and knowledge transfer.

Main Methods:

• Adaptation of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) by Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1999).
• Review of theoretical developments in public policy studies.
• Examination of ACF criticisms and introduction of a tailored conceptual framework.

Main Results:

• The proposed framework highlights the relevance of public policy subsystems.
• It underscores the necessity of analyzing decision-making, prospective policy evaluation, and knowledge transfer processes.
• The framework addresses the role of knowledge, values, and beliefs in policy formulation.

Conclusions:

• The conceptual framework offers a structured approach to understanding healthy public policy.
• It integrates concepts of policy subsystems, process, and learning for effective policy development.
• This work contributes to the discourse on evidence-informed and value-driven public policy.