scholarly journals Continuing the conversation about public health ethics: education for public health professionals in Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M Lee ◽  
Miguel Ángel Royo-Bordonada
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Public Health Professionals

scholarly journals Variability in public health ethics education in EUPHA and ASPHER members

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Butcher ◽  
P Schröder-Bäck ◽  
F Tahzib
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Public Health Practitioners

Abstract Background Public health professionals face decisions that have far-reaching ethical implications. Despite this, the field of public health ethics is relatively new, and teaching and training in ethics for public health professionals is “highly variable in quantity and content” [Doudenkova et al 2017]. Building on a prior body of research, surveys of ASPHER and EUPHA members were undertaken to explore current levels of ethics education. Methods Online surveys were distributed to ASPHER and EUPHA members with the aims of a) exploring the current status of ethics education in public health courses in ASPHER institutions and b) understanding the ethics education of individual public health practitioners in EUPHA. Results The ASPHER survey was completed by teaching staff at 35 different institutions between April and August 2019. The EUPHA survey was completed by 232 professionals between October 2019 and January 2020. ASPHER Survey: 39% (n = 12) of institutions awarding master's degrees in public health had one or more degrees in which no ethics was taught. Only 48% (n = 13) of institutions had someone in their academic team formally qualified to teach ethics by holding a master's degree, PhD or further academic role in ethics. EUPHA Survey: Despite 79% (n = 165) of respondents encountering ethical dilemmas on at least a monthly basis, 21% (n = 48) reported that they had never had any ethics education or training, and 50% (n = 101) respondents thought that they had too little training in ethics for their professional role. Conclusions There remains a significant proportion of those studying or working in public health who do not receive any public health ethics training or education. Key messages Ethics education in public health remains variable among ASPHER organisations and EUPHA members, a significant minority lacking any ethics training. To ensure ethically reflective and sensitive public health practitioners, access to ethics education is key.

Public Health Ethics: The Voices of Practitioners

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (S4) ◽  
pp. 104-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Gaare Bernheim
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
New Public

Public health ethics is emerging as a new field of inquiry, distinct not only from public health law, but also from traditional medical ethics and research ethics. Public health professional and scholarly attention is focusing on ways that ethical analysis and a new public health code of ethics can be a resource for health professionals working in the field. This article provides a preliminary exploration of the ethical issues faced by public health professionals in day-to-day practice and of the type of ethics education and support they believe may be helpful.

The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Public Health Professionals

Public health is fundamentally concerned with promoting the health of populations through the prevention of disease and injury. It is, at its core, a moral endeavor, because the end it seeks is the advancement of human well-being. Vexing ethics issues are inherent in all aspects of public health practice and policy. They exist in top-of-the-news stories like infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine hesitancy, health disparities, and in more routine assessments of population health needs, data collection, program evaluation, and policy development. They may be distinctive or shared across diverse fields, such as environmental health, nutrition programs and policy, injury prevention, communicable and noncommunicable diseases, and reproductive health. This volume represents the first comprehensive examination of public health ethics in the United States and globally. The volume editors recruited top public health professionals, policy experts, and scholars in public health and ethics fields to offer varied perspectives on the diversity of the issues that define public health ethics. The volume begins with two sections examining the crosscutting conceptual foundations, ethical tensions, and ethical frameworks of and for public health and how public health does its work. It then proceeds topically, with thirteen sections analyzing the application of public health ethics considerations and approaches across the broad range of subject areas. While the fifteen sections can serve to orient the reader within a specific field, each of the more than seventy chapters is designed to serve as a stand-alone contribution. The approach makes the book, its sections, and individual chapters useful as part of course materials, as well as a seminal reference for students, scholars, and public health professionals.

scholarly journals Looking Ahead: Addressing Ethical Challenges in Public Health Practice

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy M. Baum ◽  
Sarah E. Gollust ◽  
Susan D. Goold ◽  
Peter D. Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Global Health Ethics

In recent years, scholars have begun to lay the groundwork to justify a distinct application of ethics to the field of public health. They have highlighted important features that differentiate public health ethics from bioethics, especially public health’s emphasis on population health rather than issues of individual health. Articulations of public health ethics also tend to emphasize the role of social justice compared to the predominance of autonomy in the bioethical literature. Now that the field of public health ethics is developing a unique focus and a language of its own, including a code of ethics disseminated by the American Public Health Association, the future of public health ethics may well be global health ethics, focusing on issues of global justice. As public health ethics evolves from its nascent stage of reflection to a place of action and application in the national and global arenas, two interrelated developments will need to occur: (1) public health professionals, including practitioners, policymakers, and scholars, will need a richer understanding of the ethical challenges practitioners face on a daily basis and (2) scholars will need to develop useful tools (i.e., frameworks) that practitioners may employ for identifying and tackling these ethical challenges.

scholarly journals 14.G. Workshop: Teaching ethics in public health and medicine – International experiences, concepts, challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Ethics

Abstract To conduct good public health practice and research, ethical standards and reflection are essential. Therefore, ethics education rightly plays an increasing role in the training of the public health workforce. The organizers of this workshop all have the theme of ethics education for the public health profession as a priority in their activities. In this workshop, we present recent research findings, lessons learned and challenges in a European and global perspective. The aim of this workshop is to present and discuss these to help public health organizations and institutions of higher education to improving their public health ethics education. The added value of this workshop is to engage - personally - during the conference in Rome with senior public health professionals and researchers and to continue the dialogue on this important issue - a key mission of the EUPHA Ethics in Public Health section. Four presentations in different formats are planned, a mixture of “Research Abstract” and “Training and Education Abstracts” and presentations respectively are foreseen. The first presentation gives an assessment of how ethics is (or is not) taught in schools of public health and to the public health workforce in Europe. It shows, for the first time, the results of two surveys, among EUPHA and ASPHER members on ethics education. The second presentation gives examples of a university in Barcelona (Spain) on innovative teaching methods at master level and thus gives impulses on how education can be integrated and improved in public health education. The third presentation reflects on the competencies in public health ethics that are aimed at with innovative and traditional teaching methods. Finally, a presentation from Nigeria contrasts educational experiences of low- and middle-income countries with high income countries and shows challenges and collaborative solutions to improved ethics education in the health field. This perspective is especially suitable to be integrated in this workshop given the global character of this year's “World Conference on Public Health”. Mutual learning and support within Europe and globally is key to develop and promote the field of public health ethics education further. A fifth timeslot for a presentation would be possible in this workshop but is not filled on purpose to have sufficient time for a structured debate on challenges and opportunities with the audience and speakers. Key messages Public Health Ethics education remains key for professional education; more awareness of ethical competences has to be raised. The diversity of experienced ethics trainings offers a challenging but also promising context to develop and integrate better ethics education.

Oral health diseases among the older people: a general health perspective

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Oral Health ◽  
Older People ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Health ◽  
Oral Health Care ◽  
Oral Diseases ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
The Relationship

Background: The relationship between oral health and general health is gaining interest in geriatric research; however, a lack of studies dealing with this issue from a general perspective makes it somewhat inaccessible to non-clinical public health professionals. Purpose: The purpose of this review is to describe the relationship between oral health and general health of the elderly on the basis of literature review, and to give non-clinical medical professionals and public health professionals an overview of this discipline. Methods: This study was based on an in-depth review of the literature pertaining to the relationship between oral health and general health among the older people. The tools commonly used to evaluate dental health and the academic researches of male elderly people were also reviewed. And future research directions were summarized. Results: Dental caries, periodontal disease, edentulism, and xerostomia are common oral diseases among the older people. Dental caries and periodontal diseases are the leading causes of missing teeth and edentulism. Xerostomia, similar to dry mouth, is another common oral health disease in the older people. No clear correlation exists between the subjective feeling of dryness and an objective decrease of saliva. Rather, both conditions can be explained by changes in saliva. The General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) are the main assessment tools used to examine oral health and quality of life in the older people. The GOHAI tends to be more sensitive to objective values pertaining to oral function. In addition, oral health studies in male elderly people are population-based cohort or cross-sectional studies, involving masticatory function, oral prevention, frailty problems, cardiovascular disease risk, and cognitive status. Conclusion: It is possible to reduce the incidence of certain oral diseases, even among individuals who take oral health care seriously. Oral health care should be based on the viewpoint of comprehensive treatment, including adequate nutrition, good life and psychology, and correct oral health care methods. In the future, researchers could combine the results of meta-analysis with the clinical experience of doctors to provide a more in-depth and broader discussion on oral health research topics concerning the older people.

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