Public health practitioners as policy advocates: skills, attributes and development needs.

Effecting policy change is a key strategy in tackling wider determinants of health. In England, public health sits within Local Authorities and responsibility for ensuring health is considered across directorates increasingly falls to public health practitioners. While international professional standards expect competence in understanding policy processes, the advocacy role has been under-explored. This paper explores the professional skills, role characteristics and learning needs of practitioners advocating for the restriction of advertising high-fat, salt, and sugar products in a region of England. A series of three interviews were conducted at three time points over ten months with policy advocates leading this policy change from four Local Authorities. Three focus groups were also held with 12 public health advocates from ten Local Authorities at the end of the 10-month period of data collection.