Demystifying Advocacy: Moving Faculty and Students Toward Citizen Engagement

According to the Bylaws of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the Advocacy Committee: "will advise the Board of Directors on the formation of positions on matters of public policy and on strategies to advance those positions to the public and private sectors on behalf of academic pharmacy." PRESIDENTIAL CHARGE President Cynthia J. Boyle presented the committee with the following charge: Building on advocacy tools from previous committee work, the Advocacy Committee will consider how to empower us as citizens--within our institutions, communities, and governments. Can we take our needs to actions by 1) preparing to answer 'why now?' 2) offering a plan, and 3) characterizing benefits or 'what is in it for them'? This skill set is necessary for student pharmacists, but also for our faculty and professional staff members. Too often Legislative Day has become the equivalent of 'dropping off the kids at the mall' without the sufficient support and mentoring of faculty and practitioners. The 2015-16 Advocacy Committee will: 1. Identify and recognize citizen exemplars among faculty, practicing pharmacists, and students. 2. Identify the key characteristics and development opportunities to expand and empower the pool of pharmacy education advocates. PROCESS AACP members are annually requested to submit their interest in serving on AACP governance and standing committees. Staff, along with the President, determine the best fit of those interested in the Advocacy Committee with the given charge. Selected participants received a follow-up email asking them to verify both their interest and their expertise relative to the charge. Staff also reviewed the member profile of the interested participant for inclusion of content-expertise. In November 2015, the selected committee members met during a face-to-face meeting in Toronto, Canada. During this meeting the Chair and staff reviewed the committee charge and led the group through in a wide-ranging discussion of that charge. Using a draft report outline, committee members determined who would be responsible for specific portions of the report, what that portion would include, and a timeline for committee work. The committee workgroups worked toward completion of their specified report portions sharing information and resources via email, google docs and phone calls. The committee, as a whole, held monthly conference calls to provide status updates, seek input from the entire group related to challenges, and review and modify accountabilities as needed. The outcome is a final committee report published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, the highlights of which are presented at the AACP 2016 annual meeting. The committee discussed the work of recent Advocacy Committees in applying concepts and frameworks from implementation science to improve AACP's advocacy efforts. These advocacy efforts recognize that public policy is an intervention and greater utility can be realized if public policy is evidence-based. As individuals and institutions increase the use of evidence-based interventions, these concepts and frameworks allow for the identification and implementation of successful interventions (1,2). A CONSISTENT APPROACH TO ADVOCACY Based on the presidential charge, the committee identified the characteristics of an engaged citizen, utilizing the following elements of the previously described approach: 1. Placing the issue in context- Committee members reviewed a variety of documents to better understand and appreciate the role of students and faculty as engaged citizens. 2. Defining the issues- To evaluate the progress of the academy, the committee discussed the need to find an existing definition for or define the term citizen engagement. This essential first step would provide the committee and readers with a clear statement of what it is we are attempting to address. …