Public policy involvement by nurse practitioners

The purpose of this study was to determine the level and type of public pol icy involvement, as well as perceptions regarding public policy involvement of nurse practitioners. A four-page survey was mailed to a sample of 600 c ertified nurse practitioners, randomly selected from the American Academy o f Nurse Practitioners' database. A three-stage mailing procedure yielded a 73% response rate. Most (59.6%) were involved in three or less public polic y activities. The most frequently indicated activities included voting (87% ) and giving money to a campaign (57%). Lack of time was the most frequentl y cited barrier, while improving the health of the public was cited most of ten as a benefit. Overall, nurse practitioners felt they had limited knowle dge on how to go about changing public policy, were somewhat interested in public policy issues, believed the actions of public policymakers were very important, and believed these actions influenced the public's health. The majority (79%) had received some information/education on public policy cha nge. Those most active in public policy had high public policy efficacy exp ectations and perceived a high number of benefits to public policy involvem ent.