Community Engaged Research
|
The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the result of years of struggle to address the knotty problem of health care, and the nation must continue to move forward and build a sustainable healthcare system that will survive the future and provide top quality care. Political actors for decades have been unsure how to organize an effective response. Governor Herbert stated that Utah has a clear vision to pioneer health care innovation and reform, harness the power of collective efforts and market principles, and become the healthiest people in the nation, including solutions for low-income, uninsured and vulnerable populations. This study proposes evaluating two methods, Synergy and Knowledge Translation, to ascertain whether community engagement can effectively enhance the direction of Utah’s health policy by assessing following: whether diverse, multidimensional, multidiscipline resources are necessary to enhance policy goal congruence, policy effectiveness, financial resources, and joint governance structures to address the common good and changing demographics in Utah; whether the supply of research and information and collaborative endeavors can forward the salient concerns in a community and refocus goals for the public good in order to shift political impetuses and elitist behaviors; and, whether policy directives arising from community evolvement are necessary to improve local health determinants. Both methods could advance the diverse, multidimensional, multidiscipline resources that are necessary to enhance policy goal congruence, policy effectiveness, and financial resources and could help frame the joint governance structures to address the common good and changing demographics in Utah. |
