Abstract
Governors use State of the State speeches to publicly outline state status, progress, and policy priorities. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively analyze the public health content of State of the State addresses from 2009 to 2013. Speech transcripts were collected and uploaded into NVivo10. Speeches were coded using a priori, general thematic codes followed by detailed sub-coding of public health text. Data was organized by emergent thematic patterns. From 2009 to 2013, 48 governors presented 72 speeches with public health messages. Framing current public health problems and outlining strategies were two of the three main themes that emerged. Problems were often framed using data or emphasizing economic costs. Governors outlined prevention strategies on tobacco, nutrition, or physical activity through increased funding, policies, or partnerships. Speech content provides information on priorities and trends and can be used to inform advocacy efforts. Future research should link these priorities to outcomes of legislation.
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Acknowledgments
The work on this paper was partially funded through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, contract no. 69715 titled: Understanding state legislation to prevent childhood obesity: trends, predictors and the role of advocacy.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Ethical standards for the protection of human participants and animals in research
No animal or human studies were carried out by the authors for this study.
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Implications
Practice: Governors play an important role in state policy priorities. Public health practitioners and advocates could use the content of the State of the State speeches to gauge support on issues and to inform their annual policy agendas.
Research: Public health researchers could use the State of the State speech content to understand governor policy priorities and collaborate with policymakers to provide information that can garner constituent or funding support.
Policy: Policy messages communicated in State of the State speeches can provide insight on gubernatorial support on a wide array of public health issues. These priorities can guide policymakers in developing policy solutions.
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Eyler, A.A., Zwald, M.L. Governors’ priorities for public health and chronic disease prevention: a qualitative analysis of State of the State addresses. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 5, 347–353 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-015-0323-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-015-0323-2