Health Advocacy
PostgraduateACU-PUBH6432023
Course information for 2023 intake
Enrolments for this course are closed, but you may have other options to start studying now. Book a consultation to learn more.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Part of a degree
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Loan available
- FEE-HELP available
Health Advocacy
About this subject
On successful completion of the Health Advocacy unit, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate specialised knowledge of effective design, implementation, and evaluation of health advocacy programs (GA5);
- Assess health issues and articulate appropriate public health advocacy strategies in response (GA1, GA2, GA6);
- Critically evaluate existing health advocacy strategies, particularly in terms of their method, strengths and limitations, and outcomes (GA4, GA6, GA8);
- Create an advocacy strategy designed to influence a particular decision-making process that takes into account relevant community, stakeholder and audience considerations (GA3, GA7, GA9, GA10);
- Adapt health advocacy strategies for use with both conventional and emerging communication platforms, balancing overall consistency of purpose with tailored delivery to different audiences (GA7, GA8, GA10).
- Health advocacy
- - Definitions and key concepts applied to advocacy
- - Roles, scope and levels of advocacy in health: patient advocate, public health advocate
- - Other advocacy in health and community services: e.g. guardianship and administration systems
- - Range of advocacy: single vs multiple issues, people, communities, countries
- - Contextual factors: social, cultural, political, economic and other
- - Importance of advocacy for global health and relationship to Sustainable Development Goals
- Advocacy, community and culture
- - Community consultation and consent
- - Methods of community engagement, consultation
- - Community controlled health campaigns; top-down vs bottom-up approaches
- - Cultural responsiveness and advocacy, cross cultural advocacy
- - Advocacy as paternalism; advocacy as empowerment
- Advocacy method
- - Advocacy approaches and issue appraisal
- - Advocacy when challenging: influencing change in existing/entrenched values or practices in health
- - Advocacy tools: persuasiveness and the art of rhetoric, presentation and refinement of issues
- - Nested advocacy: place within larger campaigns or programs
- - Communication strategies, audience considerations
- - Evaluating impact of advocacy strategies
- Applied advocacy in health
- - Case studies of successful or unsuccessful advocacy in health
- - New advocacy tools: social marketing, new media; combination with other approaches
- - Advocacy landscape: large scale health campaigns and multi-pronged approaches
- - Advocacy, advertising or lobbying: celebrity advocacy vs endorsement vs sponsorship; grass-roots vs astro-turf organizations
- - Competitive advocacy in health: landscape of health issues, their campaigns and advocacy efforts
- - Advocacy in relation to fundraising/philanthropic approaches
- - Advocacy and audience: incorporating audience through new media; criticisms of effectiveness
Public health advocacy involves individuals and organisations who operate locally, regionally, nationally and globally to address policies, products and practices that compromise people’s health. Advocacy is a critical skill for all practitioners to effectively promote and protect population health and wellbeing. Advocacy is often needed to transform research into policy and practice. This subject enables students to refine their existing communication skills by building their knowledge of the “art of advocacy” and the various ways this can be used to influence decisions and outcomes to improve health. Students will examine various facets of advocacy, including: approaches to advocacy; persuasiveness, rhetoric, method, audience, presentation and evaluation; nested advocacy within larger approaches; and challenging existing values or practices. Students will then consider the various factors that underpin effective, valid and appropriate advocacy, such as: community engagement, consultation and empowerment; community/organisational relationships; and respectful communication methods. In considering health advocacy in a global context, this subject will also include cultural responsiveness and cross-cultural communication. Finally, this subject will apply critical analysis to advocacy “tools” (existing or emergent) such as social marketing, new media approaches, focused health campaigns, fundraising, celebrity advocacy and competitive advocacy in health.
A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. In order to successfully complete this unit, students need to complete and submit two graded assessment tasks and obtain an aggregate mark of greater than 50%.
ACU-PUBH643 assessments are designed to enable students to progressively develop their knowledge of health advocacy through first critique of existing strategies, and then through development of a health advocacy strategy for a contemporary health issue. In order to develop the knowledge and skills required to achieve the learning outcomes and Graduate Attributes, students first demonstrate their knowledge by preparing a critique of a health advocacy strategy with reference to global political priorities. Students then build on this analysis during the second assessment, where they are required to design a health advocacy strategy (including rationale, purpose, background and associated materials) on a contemporary health issue.- Written Assignment: Global health advocacy and political priority (50%)
- Written Assignment: Health advocacy strategy (50%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
Established in 1991 after amalgamating four eastern Australian Catholic tertiary institutes, Australian Catholic University now has seven campuses, from Brisbane to Melbourne and welcomes students of all beliefs. Specialising in arts, business, education, health sciences, law, theology and philosophy, ACU encourages its students to think critically and ethically and bring change to their communities and offer this online through Open Universities Australia.
Learn more about ACU.
Explore ACU courses.
- QS World University Ranking 2025, within Australia:
- 35
- Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2025, within Australia:
- 26
Entry requirements
To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted into a degree.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.