title: [Survey to assess educational needs of personnel working at Departments of Prevention, Health Districts and Hospital Directions in Italy: questionnaire validation and preliminary results].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim was of this pilot study was to validate a questionnaire to collect information on the number of health professionals, doctors and veterinarians working in the Departments of Prevention, Health Districts and Hospital Directions, their sociodemographic characteristics and cultural-background, define their educational needs, and subsequently extending the study to the maximum number of professionals in the classified services under study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The survey was conducted through the use of a questionnaire, designed and prepared by the working group and subsequently reported on-line. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was measured by Cronbach's alpha.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 128 health professionals were enrolled in the study. Their mean age was 57.5 years; 83.6% have a medical degree and 6.3% a degree in veterinary medicine. Most participants (64.8%) are employed by a Health District, 21.1% work in a Department of Prevention and 2.3% are part of a hospital clinical management staff. 32.3% are specialists in only one area, and, in particular, 22% of the sample is a Public Health specialist, 4% respectively are specialists in Occupational Medicine and Forensic Medicine. The alpha values for each section were, for Section A, 0.914; Section B, 0.963; Section C, 0.802; and Section D, 0.945.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The questionnaire was shown to have good internal reliability. Identifying the educational needs of public health professionals, and the innovative and emerging issues that impact public health is essential to allow for National Health Service staff to be able to respond to the rapid cultural changes that characterize the current global health context.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: La Torre
authors.affiliation: Distretto Sanitario ASL Roma C, Italia.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mete
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Guglielmo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giraldi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mannocci
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Rosella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saulle
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina e Prevenzione, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italia.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maurici
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie della Formazione, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italia.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capozzi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Damiani
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Maria Lucia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Specchia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capizzi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biomedicina e Prevenzione, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italia.
authors.forename: Augusto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panà
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boccia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006306:Health Surveys; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006762:Hospitals, Animal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011634:Public Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018634:Veterinarians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*