TOP 1 - Foundation for Change: Implementing an Advocacy Bootcamp Grounded in the Socioecological Model

Publication Number: 1761.TOP 1

Ryan Parnell, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Kathleen Kelly, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Emma Anselin, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Audrey G. Brewer, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Karen Sheehan, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Mariana Glusman, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Lindsey Arenberg, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Background: To advance health equity, pediatric residents must be prepared to engage in advocacy across the societal domains that impact child health. The AAP Community Pediatrics Training Initiative has outlined advocacy objectives for residency education using the socioecological model of health promotion, with learning goals across individual, community, structural, and policy domains. As residency programs adopt new curricular structures to meet updated ACGME requirements, it will be essential to design advocacy education that effectively advances residents along the learning continuum in each of these domains.

Objective: - To design and implement a novel five-day intern Advocacy Bootcamp to provide foundational knowledge and skill development in each domain of the socioecological model and jumpstart a longitudinal 3-year advocacy curriculum
- To assess pre-intervention knowledge and skills of incoming pediatric residents in each domain of the socioecological model
- To evaluate the effectiveness of bootcamp education and identify areas of interest in advocacy education

Design/Methods: A five half-day Advocacy Bootcamp was conducted during the first outpatient block of the 2025 – 2026 academic year for 38 first-year pediatric residents. The curriculum was structured around the socioecological model of health, with didactics, case-based workshops and community immersion sessions aligned to each domain. Residents completed a pre-intervention survey assessing knowledge and skills across advocacy domains, as well as intention to perform advocacy during residency. A post-intervention survey asked residents to evaluate bootcamp effectiveness and included open-ended questions about advocacy goals during residency and recommendations for future advocacy training. The survey was determined to be exempt after IRB review.

Survey data collection is complete. Pre-intervention survey results will be analyzed with descriptive statistics to assess baseline patterns in advocacy knowledge, skills and intentions across socioecological domains. Post-intervention responses will undergo qualitative analysis using a combined inductive-deductive approach informed by the socioecological framework. Findings will describe the baseline characteristics of pediatric residents, the effectiveness of the intensive advocacy bootcamp approach, and priorities for future curricular development. All analyses will be completed by January 2026.