South Eastern European Journal of Public Health Special Volume No. 3, 2021 LEADING POLICY CHANGE IN PUBLIC HEALTH A Collection of Policy Briefs Jacobs Publishing House P a g e 1 | 6 Executive Editor Prof. Dr. Genc Burazeri PhD Faculty of Medicine, St. Dibres, No. 371, Tirana, Albania, and CAPHRI, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6200 MD, Maastricht, the Netherlands Email: genc.burazeri@maastrichtuniversity.nl and: gburazeri@gmail.com Skype: genc.burazeri Volume Editor Prof. Dr. Kasia Czabanowska Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6200 MD, Maastricht, the Netherlands Email: kasia.czabanowska@maastrichtuniversity.nl Assistant Executive Editor Kreshnik Petrela BA Tirana, Albania Email: kreshnikp@gmail.com Technical Editor Meri Roshi BA Tirana, Albania Email: meriroshi90@gmail.com Publisher Dr. Hans Jacobs Jacobs Publishing Company Am Prinzengarten 1 D 32756 Detmold, Germany Email: info@jacobs-verlag.de Phone: +49 5231 6161885 The publication of the South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (SEEJPH) is organised in cooperation with the Bielefeld University Library. https://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/management/settings/context/mailto:genc.burazeri@maastrichtuniversity.nl https://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/management/settings/context/mailto:genc.burazeri@maastrichtuniversity.nl https://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/126 https://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/management/settings/context/mailto:kreshnikp@gmail.com https://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/127 https://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/management/settings/context/mailto:urankurtishi@gmail.com mailto:info@jacobs-verlag.de https://www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/ P a g e 2 | 6 SEEJPH South Eastern European Journal of Public Health www.seejph.com/ Special Volume 3, 2021 Publisher: Jacobs/Germany ISSN 2197-5248 P a g e 3 | 6 ISSN2197-5248 DOI 10.11576/seejph-4677 Bibliographic information published by Die DeutscheBibliothek. Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (Open Access Journal). Copyright 2021 by Jacobs Publishing Company: Am Prinzengarten 1, D 32756 Detmold, Germany Copyright cover picture: WordPress Foundation: http://wordpressfoundation.org/GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE http://dnb.ddb.de/ P a g e 4 | 6 Editorial Teaching Public Health Change Leadership Katarzyna Czabanowska1,2, Valia Kalaitzi1 and Suzanne Babich3 1 Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands 2 Department of Health Policy Management, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Care, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland 3 Department of Global Health and Health Policy and Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, USA “The time for leaders is too great to leave their emergence to chance” (1). There is a documented need to develop leaders in public health educational programmes at every level (2). We need leaders with vision who can see a future different than the status quo, who can influence and drive change, who are able to communicate their vision and win others to embrace and implement it. Current and future complex public health challenges require public health leaders to use scientific, evidence- based approaches and leadership skills, especially in the area of transformation and leading change. Public health professionals work at the intersection of practice, research, and policy; therefore, they need to identify and understand public health problems, use research and scientific evidence to prepare policy options, and make recommendations for policy change to improve health and wellbeing or effectively advocate for it. We present the collection of nine policy briefs developed by the students of the Governance and Leadership in European Public Health Master at Maastricht University in the Netherlands in the academic year 2020-2021. The development of policy briefs was a part of the course on leading change in public health, which is one of the topic areas in leadership education and training in this programme. The change leadership approach in this instance was adapted from a doctoral health leadership programme model first implemented in 2005 by Babich and Brooks and colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (4) with further adaptation more recently at Indiana University in the United States. The main objective of this course was twofold: 1) to facilitate the development of change leadership competencies by the students based on the eight-step Kotter Model of Leading Change (5) including establishing a sense of urgency, creating a guiding coalition, developing a change vision, communicating the vision for buy- in, empowering broad-based action, generating short-term wins, never letting up, and incorporating changes into the culture, and 2) to help the students develop the skills of writing a policy brief as both an advocacy communication and policy change tool that can support public health leaders who want to introduce change. The students worked in nine five-person leadership tutorial groups. Each group had a case study or problem devoted to a current public health problem, including Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Autism and Inclusive Education, Diversity and Inclusion in Public Health Organizations, Vaccination, Public Health Workforce, Artificial Intelligence, Green Deal, Nutrition and Food Policy in the EU and Health Inequalities and Vulnerabilities. Experienced academic facilitators were guiding the students in achieving the objectives of the course. Not only had the P a g e 5 | 6 participants define and contextualise the problem, which requires policy change, research possible policy options, and develop recommendations for policymakers but also had to propose a plan for implementation of a selected policy option addressing the stakeholders, barriers, and facilitators of change using the Kotter Model. A result of this educational innovation was a policy brief, structured according to the common policy brief logic (6), including: • Title • Executive Summary • Context/Rationale for action on the problem • Aims • Proposed Policy Option(s) • Policy Recommendations • Sources consulted or recommended • Information on original research/analysis We hope that this course helped the students see leadership in a different way, not as a top-down, manage and control process but instead envision a change or transformational leadership, where it is possible to empower teams, collectively solve problems and spark lasting change. We hope that the course helped the students acquire and reflect on some of the leading change competencies such as: serve as a driving force for change (including strategies of change), being able to identify and communicate the need to innovate when the opportunity arises, understand how change occurs and what stages it involves, lead a team and yourself, influence and communicate, work in interdisciplinary teams, solve problems and understand the impact of change on health. In order to educate a new generation of leaders in public health, the educational approaches need to change and provide opportunities for students to act as experts, co-designing real projects that can bring positive systemic changes. We have the pleasure of inviting colleagues and the SEEJPH readership to find out how the students of the Maastricht University public health leadership programme propose policy change by reading the following collection of policy briefs. References 1. Institute of Medicine, The Future of Public Health. National Academy Press. 1988. 2. Czabanowska K, Rethmeier KA, Lueddeke G, Smith T, Malho A, Otok R, Stankunas M. Public health in the 21st century: working differently means leading and learning differently. Eur J Public Health. 2014 Dec;24(6):1047-52. 3. Czabanowska K, Kuhlmann E. Public health competences through the lens of the COVID19 pandemic: what matters for health workforce preparedness for global health emergencies. Int JHealth Plann Mgmt. 2021;36(S1):14–19. 4. Hobbs, Suzanne Havala, Brooks, Edward, Wang, Virginia, and Skinner, Ashley. “Developing Practitioner Leaders in a Distance Education Doctoral Program: Challenges and Opportunities.” Journal of Health Administration Education, 24(3): 283- 300, Summer 2007. 5. Kotter J. Leading Change. Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Best of Harvard Business Review. January 2007. 6. Eóin Young and Lisa Quinn. An Essential Guide to Writing Policy Briefs. Centre for Policy Advocacy.2017 P a g e 6 | 6 Table of contents van Ravenswaaij HP, Sharjeel M, Slaats P, Andelic P, Rojas D, Paric M. Improving the health status of sex workers in Europe: a policy brief with recommendations Kusters J, Millner M.A, Omelyanovskaya K, Tangerli MM, Laszewska A, van Kessel R. Addressing ableism in inclusive education policies: a policy brief outlining Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom Böbel S, Bormans M, Siepmann I, Tirekidis I, Wall K, Kalaitzi V. Diverse and inclusive leadership teams in public health schools: the change agents for sustainable and inclusive public health education De Bruin J, Machado M, Nabbe M, Saccà R, Verhoeven J, Clemens T. Increasing influenza vaccination rates among healthcare workers by focusing on workplace and patient safety Haque S, Terêncio I, Stankutė I, Bikniūtė I, Staišiūnaitė A. Towards harmonisation of public health master education based on WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for Public Health Workforce in the European Region Bimczok SP, Godynyuk EA, Pierey J, Roppel MS, Scholz ML, Hrzic R. How is excellence and trust for using artificial intelligence ensured? Evaluation of its current use in EU healthcare Alaze AF, Coomans SK, Persefoni Dimitsaki P, Mol MA, Smith-Cornwall M. Time for Action Towards a Sustainable Future: A Policy Brief for “Green Supermarkets” Van Asselt E, Elamin A, Sánchez GC, Kalesi A, Majoor E. Incorporating Sustainability into Food Based Dietary Guidelines by Traffic Light Ecolabelling Argyrou F, Hirschler J, Karan F, Kugel R, Romancencoa E, Neicun J. Committed Collaboration to Address Homelessness in the Netherlands Executive Editor Volume Editor Prof. Dr. Kasia Czabanowska Assistant Executive Editor Technical Editor Meri Roshi BA Tirana, Albania Email: meriroshi90@gmail.com Publisher