title: Do I need training in public health ethics? A survey on Italian residents' beliefs, knowledge and curricula.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ethics is needed to support the decision-making process in public health and to face moral issues during practice. However, professionals are often not adequately trained.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In 2015, the National Conference of Public Health Medical Residents of the Italian Society of Public Health started the "Public Health Ethics" workgroup to evaluate how the Italian Schools of Public Health train their residents in ethics, and which are residents' beliefs, knowledge and attitudes about public health ethics.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey was built and emailed to the Italian public health residents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Residents are interested in ethics/bioethics (83.2%) and are aware of its importance for professional practice (97.2%). However, few of them (19.6%) evaluated their competence above a satisfactory level. They believe that a training in ethics should be offered during residency (92.1%). Nonetheless, in Italy only two schools required a course on bioethics, and one a course in public health ethics. According to residents, a public health ethics trainer should be a public health professional (23.2%) or a social scientist (22.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In Italy, Schools of Public Health do not train future professionals in ethics or public health ethics during residency. Training should be implemented in curricula, and trainers should have a strong competence in both public health and ethics.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Igiene, Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colucci
authors.affiliation: Sezione Igiene, Medicina Preventiva e Sanità Pubblica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chellini
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Igiene, Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anello
authors.affiliation: Sezione Igiene, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Benedetto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arru
authors.affiliation: Unità di Igiene, Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Medicina Sperimentale e Forense, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Glenda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tettamanti
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Igiene, Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marcon
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000193:education*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007558:Italy; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education* / Q000941:ethics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires