Exploring Agenda-Setting for Healthy Border 2010

Charles T Kozel,William M Kane,Frank Peréz,Everett M Rogers,Melanie Goodman,James Dearing,Michael T Hatcher,Sharon Thompson,Anne P Hubbell,Adriana Peña,Shelly Modell,Enrique Suárez,Kathrin Berg Pettit

doi:10.32398/cjhp.v4i1.742

Abstract

Policy makers take action largely on issues that attain the pinnacle of the policy agenda (Pertschuck, 2001). As a result, how decision makers choose which issues are important has been the subject of much research. Agenda-setting conceptualizes the process of how issues move from relative unimportance to the forefront of policymakers’ thoughts (Dearing & Rogers, 1996). An area within agenda-setting research, Health Promotion Agenda-Setting, provides Health Promotion practitioners with an innovative framework and strategy to set agendas for sustained courses of action (Kozel, Kane, Rogers, & Hammes, 1995). In this interdisciplinary and bi-national exploratory study, funded by the Center for Border Health Research of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation, we examine agenda-setting processes in the Paso del Norte Region and evaluates how the public health agenda is determined within the U.S.-Mexico border population. Integrating both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, the current research is focused on identifying deficiencies in the public health infrastructure in the U.S.-Mexico border area, and identifying channels that exist for working toward the bi-national goals presented in Healthy Border 2010 (U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, 2003). Research directions, design, and methodologies for exploring health promotion agenda-setting in applied settings, such as Healthy Border 2010, provide health practitioners and policy makers the potential to improve public health leadership by influencing the public health and policy agendas.

Highlights

The U.S.-Mexico Border is a crucial area of study in health due to the unique health issues faced by its population, and the impact of those issues on border regions of the U.S where Mexican workers migrate
Summary Exactly how decision makers choose which issues are important has been the subject of much research
Agenda-setting is one way researchers have conceptualized the process of how issues move from relative unimportance to the forefront of policymakers’ thoughts

Summary

Introduction

The U.S.-Mexico Border is a crucial area of study in health due to the unique health issues faced by its population, and the impact of those issues on border regions of the U.S where Mexican workers migrate. Healthy Border 2010 outlines health promotion and disease prevention agendas in the regions that lie on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. The document created with cooperation between the public and private sectors of both countries. It is unclear if those responsible for and/or influential in their community’s health services are aware of the Healthy Border 2010 program topic areas and objectives, if they were communicated, and if they were on the public’s agenda. Aside from the participants, we are interested in the processes by which agendas are set and alternatives specified” (p. 16)

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Conclusion