title: Reflections on a 38-year career in public health advocacy: 10 pieces of advice to early career researchers and advocates.
abstract: There are many important principles and lessons that public health researchers and advocates who hope to influence policy and practice need to consider. In this paper, I set out what I consider to be 10 of the most fundamental of these. Together, these focus on the importance of preserving public confidence in the evidence base underscoring public policy; being clear and concrete about the policy reforms you support; emphasising the values on which policy is based; understanding the structure, conventions and subtextual features of news reporting; developing 'killer facts' with 'earworm' potential; appreciating that the advocacy process leading to policy change almost always takes a long time; and growing a rhinoceros hide to assist in the inevitable attacks you will face.
authors.affiliation: Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia simon.chapman@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chapman
mesh_terms: D003254:Consumer Advocacy; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000379:methods; D015980:Public Health Practice; D061108:Social Media; D012945:Social Values