P3.183: “TEACH”ing: Creating an Assessment Tool for Trainee-Developed Advocacy Messages

Background: Learning how to create a persuasive advocacy message (e.g., op-ed or video) is an important skill for trainees. However, the literature is lacking evidence-informed tools to assess a trainee’s skills in developing and presenting an advocacy message. The objective was to create and implement a generalizable tool to assess trainees’ advocacy messages.

Methods: Pediatric medical educators collaborated with public health professionals and governmental relations staff to develop the tool. After a review of available literature and online resources, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Advocacy Guide “Tips for Writing ‘Printable’ Letters to the Editor” became the foundational framework, outlining the components needed for an effective advocacy message. A scoring rubric was iteratively designed with 5 domains (Figure 1), each including a 5-point Likert scale of response options. Two free-text questions added overall feedback. 8 faculty members were trained by the developers to use the rubric.
The assessment tool was tested within the Trainee Education in Advocacy and Community Health (TEACH) Curriculum, a multimodal child poverty and advocacy curriculum. Component 5 (Policy and Child Poverty) of the curriculum includes a module on legislative processes and guidance on crafting an effective advocacy message. Trainees attended an in-person or recorded hearing or briefing within the local or federal government on a topic of their choosing related to the social determinants/drivers of health. Prior to the event, they were given examples of op-eds, letters to the editor, and videos of effective pediatrician advocacy messaging. After attending the hearing/briefing, trainees could opt to write (as an op-ed or blog post) or orate (in a 1–2-minute video) an advocacy message on the topic. A trained faculty member reviewed the message, completed the assessment, and emailed the document directly back to the trainee.

Results: Of the 47 residents who provided submissions from December 2020 to July 2024, 45 submitted a written advocacy message, and 2 created a video. The topics selected by the residents spanned all 5 key domains of SDH: economic stability, education, health care access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context. Residents scored highest in the “use common language” domain and lowest in “counter act the counterargument” (Table 1).

Conclusion: The newly developed assessment tool provides a standardized, evidence-informed approach to evaluating trainee advocacy messages, filling a critical need in medical education. Results highlight a need to improve training on developing counterarguments. The tool was successfully incorporated into the TEACH Curriculum and is currently available nationally on OPENPediatrics.org. Further validation of this tool will strengthen its generalizability.