Health Policy Meeting Report Assignment

Please read the attached Health Policy Meeting Report Assignment for the instructions and answer the questions in the report. You need to watch the webinar video and use the academic resources in the third attachment to do the report.

Universit dOttawa University of Ottawa

Facult des arts Faculty of Arts
Dpartement anglais Department of English

Experiential Learning Assignment
Policy Meeting
ENG3182 Fall 2022

UOttawa Student Name: ___________________________________

Student Number: ___________________________________________

Agency Name: ____________________________________________

Contact Person: ____________________________________________

Position: ____________________________________________

Contact E-mail: _______________________ Phone: ______________

Description of my [students] involvement: __________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Date and duration (hours) of student involvement: _____________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Signature of UOttawa Student: __________________________________

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ENG3182 Health Policy Meeting (10%)
The goal of this course is to introduce students to the field of policy writing in its diverse forms.
Interests (stakeholders, pressure groups etc.), ideas, (values, research evidence) and
institutions (Parliament, City of Ottawa etc.) play a key role in the development of public policy.
Therefore, attending a health policy meeting is a valuable means of studying policy formulation
and the various actors in the health care system that contribute to writing policy.
This assignment meets the following goals:
Expand critical reading, writing, and analytic skills through written work on policy writing
Identify key dynamics that affect policy evidence and its use in policy development;
Be exposed to the stages and nature of the policy development process;
Understand how intergovernmental dynamics can potentially impact health care policy;
Value the approach of bringing multiple disciplines to bear on a given health policy question
Hence, students are responsible for attending a health policy forum/meeting to see the factors
and influences that impact health policies. This experiential learning opportunity must be at least
1 hour in length and must take place during this term. It can be completed online e.g. you can
watch a webinar or stream the meeting live at home. Examples of good opportunities include:
City of Ottawa Board of Health public committee meetings; hospital board meetings (CHEO,
The Ottawa Hospital, The Royal Ottawa, your local hospital etc.). Also, depending on the health
issue, various other health groups hold public meetings addressing important public health
policy issues (fentanyl overdoses).
For example, prior to its opening, a public consultation took place at the Sandy Hill Community
Health Centre about a proposal to open the capitals first supervised injection site at the
. Numerous players were involved including the public, Mayor of
Ottawa, head of police, public health and local, provincial and federal officials. Each had unique
interests and concerns which contributed to the policy recommendations.
Ottawa Public Health also held community meetings on illegal opioid use (fentanyl etc.) in
Kanata. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-city-opioid-meeting-kanata-1.4001755
Many of these health meetings take place at City Hall, hospitals, libraries, Community Health
Centres, UOttawa campus, in online forums, etcetera.
Students are encouraged to choose a policy meeting that connects with their career goals. So
for example, if you wish to work in childrens health, perhaps investigate the public board
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meetings of CHEO. If you are interested in mental health, there are public board meetings at the
Royal Ottawa (locations, times and dates are available online on the institutions website).
Students are advised to identify an appropriate meeting early as some institutions hold only
monthly or bi-monthly public board meetings. Again, advance planning will be necessary. See
the prof if you need an extension to accomplish your desired meeting date.
Academic Fraud
As a reminder, any assignment submitted with fraudulent claims counts as academic fraud
(same infraction level and penalties as plagiarism). Students must complete a signed Public
Policy Meeting attestation form (posted on Brightspace you must sign and submit this
verification form as part of your report). Reports submitted without this form will not be graded.
The Report
A brief critical review of your experiential learning is needed. This two-page (double spaced)
critical review is to be submitted digitally via Brightspace drop box by midnight (11:59 pm) on
October 3rd. Late penalties: 10% per day. Late reports with acceptable medical
documentation will not be penalized. The last day to submit a late Report is October 13.
Due date: October 3
rd by 11:59 pm
Length: two pages double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 pt. font (cover page and
Reference list are extra)
Any graphics, charts, tables etc. submitted must be in addition to the 2 pages of text
Reference List: 3 academic citations see below for definition of academic
Reference style: APA style only (APA 7)
Cover page: required
Reference list: required
Evaluation Criteria:
1. attendance at a 1-hour health policy meeting (and submission of Verification Form)
2. insightful policy meeting description
3. a 2-page double-spaced report showing evidence of critical analysis
4. accurate, correct reference list with minimum 3 academic sources in APA style
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Reference list:
3 academic citations minimum in APA style only
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/ge
neral_format.html
Accepted Academic sources:
Peer reviewed academic journals
Academic books
Statistics Canada reports
Academic course readings accepted here
What is NOT accepted as an academic
source for this assignment:
Articles off websites (even if reputable sites)
Newspaper or magazine articles
Pop culture online news sites like Buzzfeed,
Vox etc.
Wikipedia or a Dictionary
Think Tank publications
**After the 3 academic sources are used, other intellectual sources may be used
Examples of public policy meetings
If you are unsure if your meeting meets the assignment criteria, email the professor. While many
policy meetings are free, some forums may require a payment. Choose wisely.
Board of Health, Ottawa Public Health (City of Ottawa) *free
http://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/board-of-health.aspx
Royal Ottawa Hospital *free
http://www.theroyal.ca/mental-health-centre/about-the-centre/board-of-trustees/
The Ottawa Hospital *free
https://www.ottawahospital.on.us/our-leadership-team/board-of-governors/publicmeetings/
Canadian Public Health Events: (note: some require $$$ registration & payment)
https://www.cpha.ca/public-health-events
House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (HESA) [watch real-time meetings or
archived public meetings available to stream]
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/HESA
**Public forum events at UOttawa or Carleton may qualify for this assignment. Email the
professor with the details to see if the event qualifies.
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One suggestion:
This link may be helpful: https://www.eventbrite.ca/d/online/healthcare-conferences/?page=1
[*note: not all of the listings are policy events]
One suggestion:
‘Building palliative care services as we build houses: Improving
quality of life for all through evidence-based policy’ –online October
12, 2022 [note time difference]
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cicely-saunders-international-annual-lecture-online-2022-tickets387422931417?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1
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Examples of virtual/online public policy meetings:
1. House of Commons Health (HECO) hearings
a) live meetings are scheduled
-audio-visual available at this link:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/HESA/Meetings
For interest: Minister’s Bio for Jean-Yves Duclos and Minister’s Mandate Letter:
https://www.canada.ca/en/government/ministers/jean-yves-duclos.html
b) Virtual attendance at any archived House of Commons Health committee meetings
available online)
e.g. Concussion hearings (2019), LGBTQ health hearings (2019), Forced Sterilization of
Women in Canada hearings (2019), Impacts of Methamphetamine Abuse in Canada (2019) etc.
(**check the icons beside the topic — a screen icon means visual recording, a megaphone icon
is only audio you might find the audio-only somewhat less interesting).
Click on Watch on ParlVU to get you to the recorded webcasts video.
2. Health policy webinars:
example: Canadian Centre on Substance Use & Addiction: e.g. The Implications of the
COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Substance Use in Youth [others also listed here]
https://www.ccsa.ca/webinars
example Canadian Academy of Health Sciences https://cahs-acss.ca/past-fora/
example http://nccdh.ca/workshops-events/entry/webinar-health-in-all-policies-as-a-healthpromotion-strategy1
(others listed at this link also must be one hour can do 2 sessions to get the required hour)
3. Online Town Hall Meeting
UOttawa Town Hall Meeting (Feb. 27, 2020) student mental health on campus following the
very sad 6 suicides within the last couple years at our university
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6aydKY3pS4 (note: it starts after the first 30 minutes or so)
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Report Writing: Guiding questions: (suggestion only)
1. What was the meeting you attended and where did it take place?
2. Who hosted the meeting? How many people attended?
3. Why was this particular meeting organized? What health policy issue(s) were under
discussion? What type of policies were under discussion (e.g. public provincial policy,
administrative hospital policy, clinical policy etc.)
4. What was the purpose of the public meeting and did the meeting meet the goals and
expectations? Why or why not?
5. What were your impressions of the process of the meeting (format, ability for audience
or stakeholder input and questions or participation etc.)
6. Was there policy briefing material distributed? What was your impression of them?
7. What stakeholders influenced or tried to influence policy? Who stands to win/lose here?
8. Did the media play a role at your meeting? If so, how?
9. Did this public forum provide you with any insight into the stages and nature of the policy
development process? (for example, was your meeting planned to raise public
awareness and get this issue onto the publics or the government agenda? Was the
meeting planned to gather feedback on a proposed new policy? Was this a discussion of
a policy amongst several stakeholders who were arguing different approaches or
different viewpoints to policy writing or policy review? Etc.)
10. Did your attendance at this meeting provide you with a better understanding of how
issues make it on to the policy agenda? (e.g. there is a crisis or a child died etc.)
11. If you had an opportunity to change or improve this meeting to better engage the public
interest and stakeholders views, what would you suggest?
12. Finally, provide any more comment and analysis you feel necessary as it relates to our
course on policy writing and writing for government.