As US voters cast ballots in the 2022 midterm elections last week, voters rated health equity matters highly among issues of concern, according to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in August 2022. Although voters also rate health care highly among issues that concern them, it is joined by other public policies that are just as linked to health, including gun safety (62%) and education (60%). In addition, in the current post-Dobbs world, reproductive care (56%) and even judicial appointments (58%) are linked to health. Given that several issues related to health and health care are of concern to voters, the topic of civic engagement is highly relevant for health professionals, researchers, policy makers, and everyday people.
Civic engagement includes efforts by individuals and groups to influence laws, policies, regulations, and governmental practices that relate to the public good, including health and health care. Such efforts include voting, volunteering, becoming members of community organizations, participating in community organizing, engaging in activism through faith-based or labor organizations, and more. Although several questions remain about the connections between civic engagement and health, substantial evidence indicates that when citizens participate as decision makers in community organizations, those entities provide more accessible services and are more effective.
In addition, neighborhoods with heightened civic participation have a greater sense of community, better leadership, lower rates of crime, and healthier and happier citizens. Similarly, states and countries with high levels of civic participation experience better physical health and mental health. The clear pattern from scholarship in this area indicates that individuals and their communities fare better when mass civic engagement is present. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarMarch2024