A health policy education initiative to increase political self-efficacy in texas nurse practitioners

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Date Issued
2020-082020-08
Author
Aleman, Kristy
Aleman, Kristy
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Texas ranks lowest in the nation for access to healthcare. Improvement could be facilitated by
active engagement of nurses in political activities and health policy advocacy. Political Self
Efficacy (PSE) is the belief or idea that one can influence policymakers and/or the political
process. Historically, nurse practitioners (NPs) have had low PSE because political activity in
nurses tends to be limited to voting. This health policy education initiative was a collaboration
between the Texas Nurse Practitioners (TNP) organization and Texas A&M University-Corpus
Christi (TAMU-CC) to provide an evidence-based educational resource for Texas NPs to
improve their PSE and ability to advocate for high quality healthcare for Texas residents.
Approximately 5,145 members of TNP, were invited to participate in this health policy education
initiative. Participants completed the Efficacy Index (EI) survey before and after attending two
live educational webinars addressing key NP policies, the legislative process and engagement in
advocacy. Participants were predominantly White females, held a master’s degree in Nursing,
were certified as Family Nurse Practitioners, aged 46-65 years of age, and had an income
between $80,000-$120,000/year. Pre-education mean scores improved, but only slightly
(Webinar 1: 48.3 to 50.0; Webinar 2: 49.3 to 50.5). Initial levels of PSE in this NP sample were
higher than expected, likely due to higher education, experience, and membership in a
professional organization. Targeted educational interventions can improve PSE levels in NPs
resulting in increased engagement in the political process, making it imperative to educate all
nurses, and to expand educational opportunities to NPs outside of professional organizations.
Nurses constitute the largest group of healthcare providers and have the potential to positively impact legislative health policies. Through increased PSE, Texas NPs can become the needed change agents to advocate for the rights of their profession and their patients.
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This material is made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited with its source. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards. Permission for publication of this material, in part or in full, must be secured with the author and/or publisher.Aleman, Kristy
Aleman, Kristy