Policy Analysis Paper
In previous Discussions and Assignments, you have examined various aspects of the policy process: exploring the unintended consequences of policies, agenda setting, and analyzing policy recommendations. In this Assignment, you will have the opportunity to further develop your analysis skills by working through the policy analysis process. To be an effective agent for social change, you must be able to logically and critically analyze policy from multiple perspectives and contexts and then present your insights in a succinct and professional manner. This exercise will afford such an experience. For this Assignment, you will examine a particular policy of interest to you (perhaps the one you selected for this week’s Discussion), and apply a policy analysis framework to understand the impact associated with the implementation of the policy. You will then develop a policy analysis paper. This paper will also serve as your Major Assessment for this course.
NURS 8100 Assignment 3 – Policy Analysis Paper (major Assessment)
- Part 1: Define the policy issue.
- How is the issue affecting the policy arena?
- What are the current politics of the issue?
- At what level in the policy making process is the issue?
- Part 2: Apply a policy analysis framework to explore the issue using the following contexts:
- Social
- Ethical
- Legal
- Historical
- Financial/economic
- Theoretical underpinnings of the policy
- Include in this section:
- Who are the stakeholders of interest?
- Is there a nursing policy/position statement on this health care issue? If so, who developed it?
- Part 3: Policy options/solutions
- What are the policy options/solutions for addressing the issue? Include at least three levels of options/solutions: no change; partial change; radical change or maximum change.
- What are the theoretical underpinnings of the policy options/solutions?
- What are the health advocacy aspects and leadership requirements of each option?
- How does each option/solution provide an opportunity or need for inter-professional collaboration?
- What are the pros and cons of each suggested change? Include the cost benefits, effectiveness, and efficiency of each option along with the utility and feasibility of each option.
- Part 4: Building Consensus
- Outline a plan for building consensus around your recommended option/solution for solving the policy issue.
- Part 5: References
- Limit your references so this section is no more than 2 pages.