publications

Working upstream: Skills for social change [pdf]

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Public health needs more practitioners who can bridge the gap between research and practice, and more students who can advocate for social change. Unfortunately, degree-granting public health programs generally do not provide systematic training in advocacy. Recognizing this gap, BMSG worked with professor Susan Sorenson and dean Lawrence Wallack to develop a curriculum and resource guide that could be adapted by public health programs to teach social advocacy. We enlisted the participation of faculty, nonprofit public health leaders, students and recent graduates from across the nation.

Messaging guide for communicating about overdose prevention

Friday, August 23, 2024

This guide provides recommendations and resources for local leaders and advocates developing strategies to communicate about overdose prevention with a range of audiences. It includes examples that focus on key issue areas that emerged from our conversations with experts: stigma against people who use substances, pushback against policies like harm-reduction efforts and substance use treatment, and unique considerations for rural communities.

From beating the odds to changing the odds: Recommendations for journalists covering early childhood

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Early childhood is a critical developmental period because what happens during this time affects health outcomes into and throughout adulthood. How, then, can journalists incorporate complex findings from multiple bodies of science into their reporting to tell a more complete story about early childhood? In this report, we offer recommendations based on a national news analysis and conversations with veteran reporters whose own work on this subject is exemplary.

Reframing housing as a health issue in Napa County, California

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Together with community residents, elected officials, industry leaders, and community-based organizations, the Public Health Division of Napa County’s Health and Human Services Agency is working to make housing more affordable for everyone in the county and to reframe housing as a health issue — not just for individuals, but for the entire community. This case study explores how they are using a combination of community engagement, policy change, and strategic communication to push forward innovative solutions to the area’s housing crisis.

thumbnail image of book cover showing hands in a circle

Using media advocacy to influence policy

Wednesday, January 03, 2018

Media advocacy is one of the few public health education tools we have that allows us to work “upstream” to address the conditions and inequities that harm the public’s health. Media advocacy, used as a tool to accelerate and amplify community organizing and policy advocacy, can direct the public and policymaker attention to the policies that can reshape our social and physical environments so public health concerns can be effectively addressed. This chapter, from “Community and Public Health Education Methods: A Practical Guide,” teaches students to think strategically about working with the news media to advance public health policy.

Video: Epigenetics and equity: The health and social impacts of racism and inequality

Friday, May 15, 2015

BMSG co-founder Larry Wallack, who directs public health studies at Portland State University, joins Rachael Banks, manager of Multnomah County’s Healthy Birth initiative, to discuss a new area of science that shows how certain lifetime stresses create inheritable changes in our bodies. The science challenges prior understanding of genetic inheritance and has major implications for public policy that seeks to create equal health outcomes for communities of color.

Moving from them to us: Challenges in reframing violence among youth

Saturday, August 01, 2009

This report explores how youth and violence have been framed in the news, how the issue of race complicates depictions of youth and violence, and how public attitudes about government can inhibit public support for violence prevention. It also includes recommended next steps for reframing violence among youth for UNITY, a national effort addressing the root causes of violence. The Appendix describes the methods for the literature review of research on news coverage included in the paper.

More than a message: Framing public health advocacy to change corporate practices

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Framing battles in public health illustrate the tension in our society between individual freedom and collective responsibility. This article describes how two frames, market justice and social justice, first articulated in a public health context by Dan Beauchamp, influence public dialogue on the health consequences of corporate practices. It also offers lessons for health education practitioners who need to frame public health issues in contentious and controversial policy contexts.