Use this form to develop an editable PSE agenda (sometimes called a policy agenda) for your comprehensive cancer control coalition.
Developing a PSE or policy agenda includes identifying problems and raising them to leaders. The following steps should have informed your decisions about your PSE outcomes and goals:
Gathering cancer surveillance data and information about existing cancer-related interventions can be a first step in determining your PSE agenda. Knowledge of your state or community’s cancer burden is important in communicating with stakeholders and developing targeted interventions. Comprehensive cancer control leadership teams, coalitions and community-based organizations can play an important role in gathering this information.
Conducting an environmental PSE scan can provide a picture of current initiatives and policies designed to address the issues you may have uncovered through your review of surveillance data and existing programs. It can also serve to provide useful information about interventions or programs that may have worked or not worked in the past and some potential barriers to anticipate. Reviewing success stories or case studies from other communities may also be helpful at this step.
Understanding the current political, social and economic landscape can help you frame your PSE agenda. A PSE agenda should be based on the needs and capacity of your coalition, not necessarily on what is politically feasible at the time. Even if large scale policy changes (like legislation) are not possible, you can still establish systems or environment changes that can make a big difference in addressing your health issue. In order to determine your course of action, you should first have an idea of what is happening at the local, state and federal level.
Consulting with your stakeholders can help to identify different issues and different approaches to addressing issues. For example, two groups may agree that sugar-sweetened beverages are a problem, but may have different approaches to addressing the issue (like restricting access in schools vs. promoting a tax on high-calorie beverages in a community). Seeking out and listening to stakeholders with diverse viewpoints can make your resulting PSE agenda stronger.
How you frame a health issue can influence the types of solutions considered. Framing can help your audience understand a health issue or capture the attention of decision makers. It can also help you define the problem and make the case for why your solution will be effective.
Consider your timeline and assess other PSE change efforts already underway. Decide whether you should participate in current PSE change efforts or focus your energies elsewhere. Assess whether your PSE change will have a significant impact on the cancer burden in your community or whether you could have a greater impact working on another issue.
The steps above were adapted from Section IV of the American Cancer Society’s Policy, Systems and Environmental Change Resource Guide. The American Cancer Society refers to this process as developing a policy agenda, but the process can be utilized for policy, systems or environmental change, or combinations of the three.