The faculty research team behind the Leadership Training Academy evaluation. From left to right: Professors Diana Romero, Lynn Roberts, Heidi Jones, Meredith Manze, Alexis Pozen and Chris Palmedo. Not pictured: Postdoctoral fellow Amy Kwan.
With conservative lawmakers focused on undermining hard-won advances in reproductive rights in the United States, informed and authoritative advocates to defend those rights are needed more than ever.
To meet this urgent need, Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH), an organization founded by doctors seeking to improve access to comprehensive reproductive health care, has run the Leadership Training Academy (LTA) for the past 15 years. The LTA prepares physicians to become lifelong leaders in reproductive health care and abortion advocacy, garnering support from policymakers to enact positive change. The program, funded by an anonymous benefactor, has trained over 300 Fellows.
With the goal of delivering the most effective program in physician leadership and advocacy for increased access to contraception and abortion, and the normalization of abortion training as a standard part of medical education, the program is due for a rigorous evaluation. After a competitive proposal process, a team of researchers at CUNY SPH was selected to design and conduct the evaluation. The wealth of diverse, relevant experience among its faculty made the school the optimal candidate for the project.
The research team includes faculty from three departments at CUNY SPH (Community Health and Social Sciences; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; and, Health Policy and Management) and boasts an interdisciplinary mix of substantive and methodological expertise. Associate Professors Diana Romero and Heidi Jones (co-PIs) and Assistant Professors Meredith Manze and Lynn Roberts bring deep experience in reproductive and sexual health and rights, including teaching in CUNY SPH’s specialization in Maternal, Child, Reproductive and Sexual Health (MCRSH) for both master’s and doctoral students. Associate Professor Chris Palmedo contributes expertise in communications and social marketing. Alexis Pozen, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, will be conducting a cost analysis of the project and Dr. Amy Kwan (doctoral alum) is the project director.
During this two-year mixed-methods evaluation, the team will collect data from LTA alumni via a retrospective survey and in-depth interviews. They will also conduct a randomized, controlled trial of 2019 LTA applicants and compare groups over a two-year period through surveys at four points in time and in-depth interviews. Members of the research team will collect observational data at each of the program’s three in-person trainings and six webinars regarding educational approaches, how content is received by participants, engagement in applied media, and policy advocacy and leadership activities. Cost analysis, social media analysis, and interviews with key stakeholders will also be conducted.
The evaluation will identify the aspects of the LTA program that are associated with specific advocacy and leadership outcomes and develop a strategy for strengthening the existing curriculum. The overall project will also inform development of a theoretical framework for physician advocacy and leadership training.
“What makes this project exciting is the opportunity to partner with colleagues involved in the development and implementation of the LTA to assess its impact, inform components of its curriculum, and hone the theoretical framework of change that is best suited to LTA’s programmatic goals,” says Romero.
“This evaluation provides us with a unique opportunity to contribute methodologically to the development of measures for advocacy work as well as to explore ways to measure and analyze data on the use of social media for advocacy,” adds Jones.
The evaluation should be complete by September of 2020.
“We hope the study results will present a clear assessment of the impact that the LTA has had on physician-trainees’ skill-set as reproductive health advocates and leaders generally, and as spokespersons regarding the importance of access to abortion more specifically,” Romero says. “The results can then be used to improve the program and motivate Fellows to actively promote these services across the country.”
STUDYING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AT CUNY SPH
The Maternal, Child, Reproductive, and Sexual Health (MCRSH) specialization is available to MPH and DPH students in any concentration, and provides students with sociological, political, familial, and biological contexts that shape maternal, child, reproductive, and sexual behaviors and health outcomes across the life-span; and with practical experience in research, program implementation, and/or policy developed to reduce MCRSH-related disparities and promote health. Graduates will be able to apply population health approaches to addressing MCRSH-related health issues in government, health care, private, and non-profit health agencies and research settings. Learn more at sph.cuny.edu/academics/specializations.
In 2018, Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) partnered with CUNY SPH to unveil the Joan Malin Reproductive Justice Fellowship in Public Health. The fellowship, named in honor of PPNYC’s President and CEO from 2000 to 2017, was created to support a graduate student in developing their theoretical knowledge and practical skills in applying a sexual and reproductive justice lens to address disparities in sexual and reproductive health in New York City. Learn more at tinyurl.com/PPNYC-CUNYSPH.
