Role of Grassroots Policy Initiatives and Nurse Leadership in Addressing Mental Health Disparities within Underserved Communities

 

From a personal view, the last eight weeks that focused on policymaking processes from the top policymakers to the grassroots policy initiatives have been insightful. I now understand policymaking processes, the impact of grassroots policy initiatives, and the role of nurse leaders in improving health outcomes and addressing barriers to practice through their engagement in policy processes. My meaningful key points of the entire 8-week learning include the take that grassroots policy initiatives are the drivers of tangible policy changes and reforms in healthcare. At the same time, nurses are directly involved in these grassroots policy initiatives. Arguably, as frontline workers, nurses drive policy development and change processes by providing first-hand patient data from their points of practice. Such data is essential for developing evidence-based policy changes and supporting their practice. At the same time, I have learned that nurses face various challenges in the advocacy role, including limited knowledge of politics and the political environment, which further affects their involvement in policymaking (Rasheed et al., 2020).

Other key meaningful points are the role of leadership in addressing the barriers to nursing practice and involvement in policy making. By recognizing the role of nurses in the policy development process and the challenges nurses face that limit their involvement in politics, leadership needs to provide the needed policy education and training (Turale & Kunaviktikul, 2019). As a key point from the 8-week learning, I believe nurses need continuous education and mentorship on policy-making and ways to improve advocacy. Additionally, I have learned that policymaking and advocacy are collaborative processes. Nurses, patients, the community, and political leaders need to work together to ensure all policy-related health challenges can be resolved.
References
Rasheed, S. P., Younas, A., & Mehdi, F. (2020). Challenges, Extent of Involvement, and the Impact of Nurses’ Involvement in Politics and Policy Making in in Last Two Decades: An Integrative Review. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(4), 446–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/JNU.12567

Turale, S., & Kunaviktikul, W. (2019). The contribution of nurses to health policy and advocacy requires leaders to provide training and mentorship. International Nursing Review, 66(3), 302–304. https://doi.org/10.1111/