Utilizing a Multi-level Approach to Support Advocacy Efforts in the Advancement of Health Education

Abstract

Advocacy is an integral component of health education. Although the use of advocacy is continually cited in the literature as an essential and crucial factor in the success of health intervention strategies, the gap between what health education practitioners know they should do and what they actually do still exists. The purposes of this article are threefold: 1) to propose an ecological approach to advocacy efforts; 2) to provide selected examples of approaches to health advocacy that have worked in the field; and 3) to provide practical guidelines on how health education practitioners can participate in advocacy efforts. This article intends to bring attention to individual, social, and environmental factors that support advocacy efforts in the advancement of the profession.