Abstract
Introduction: Theories of the policy process provide structured ways to understand, navigate and influence political landscapes using evidence-based approaches. While influencing policy is a core function of the health promotion discipline, little is known about how practitioners engage with these theories. This study aims to address this gap by examining health promotion practitioners’ awareness, understanding, and application of theories of the policy process in practice, and factors influencing health promotion practitioners’ engagement in policy processes.
Methods: A thematic qualitative study was used to explore perspectives and experiences of health promotion practitioners practicing in Queensland, Australia using online, semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed with NVivo software using a reflexive thematic analysis to identify key themes.
Results: Four key themes were generated; 1) health promotion practitioners understand policy process complexity but have limited awareness of theories of the policy process, 2) health promotion practitioners implicitly apply constructs of theories of the policy process in their practice, 3) organisational context shapes the extent to which health promotion practitioners’ are positioned to engage in policy processes, and 4) industry-level factors influence health promotion practitioners’ engagement in policy processes.
Conclusion: Opportunities exist for health promotion practitioners to more explicitly draw from theories of the policy process to inform their practice in influencing healthy public policy for population health and equity outcomes. Stronger inclusion of theories of the policy process within tertiary education and professional development, including formalising industry accreditation, may support strengthening and maintaining practitioner skills to meet industry core competencies.