Teaching ethics in public health programmes is not routine everywhere – at least not in most schools of public health in the European region. Yet empirical evidence shows that schools of public health are more and more interested in the integration of ethics in their curricula, since public health professionals often have to face difficult ethical decisions. The authors have developed and practiced an approach to how ethics can be taught even in crowded curricula, requiring five to eight hours of teaching and learning contact time. In this way, if programme curricula do not allow more time for ethics, students of public health can at least be sensitised to ethics and ethical argumentation. This approach – focusing on the application of seven mid-level principles to cases (non-maleficence, beneficence, health maximisation, efficiency, respect for autonomy, justice, proportionality) – is presented in this paper. Easy to use ‘tools’ applying ethics to public health are presented. The crowded nature of the public health curriculum, and the nature of students participating in it, required us to devise and develop a short course, and to use techniques that were likely to provide a relatively efficient introduction to the processes, content and methods involved in the field of ethics.

Background: Competency-based education is increasingly popular, especially in the area of continuing professional development. Many competency frameworks have been developed; however, few address leadership competencies for European public health professionals. The aim of this study was to develop a public health leadership competency framework to inform a leadership curriculum for public health professionals. The framework was developed as part of the Leaders for European Public Health project—supported by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. Methods: The study was carried out in three phases: a literature review, consensus development panel and Delphi survey. The public health leadership competency framework was initially developed from a literature review. A preliminary list of competencies was submitted to a panel of experts. Two consensus development panels were held to evaluate and make changes to the initial draft competency framework. Then two rounds of a Delphi survey were carried out in an effort to reach consensus. Both surveys were presented through Survey Monkey to members of the Association of the Schools of Public Health in the European Region Working Group on Innovation in Public Health Teaching and Education. Results: The framework was developed consisting of 52 competencies organized into eight domains: Systems Thinking; Political Leadership; Collaborative Leadership: Building and Leading Interdisciplinary Teams; Leadership and Communication; Leading Change; Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in Team-based Organizations; Leadership, Organizational Learning and Development and Ethics and Professionalism. Conclusion: The framework can serve as a useful tool in identifying gaps in knowledge and skills, and shaping competency-based continuing professional development leadership curricula for public health professionals in Europe.

The COVID‐19 pandemic is raising new questions on public health competences and leadership and on health workforce preparedness for global public health emergencies. The present commentary aims to highlight demand and opportunities for innovation through the disruptions caused by the COVID‐19 crisis. We review the public health competency framework recently launched by WHO and ASPHER through the lens of COVID‐19. The framework provides guidance for aligning public health and global health competences across sectors and professional groups. Five critical competency areas can be identified in relation to public health emergencies: (1) flexibility, adaptation, motivation, communication, (2) research, analytical sensitivity, ethics, diversity, (3) epidemiology, (4) preparedness and (5) employability. However, this may not be enough. New models of public health leadership and changes in the health workforce are needed, which transform the silos of professions and policy. Such transformations would include learning, working, leading and governing differently and must stretch far beyond the public health workforce. To achieve transformative capacity, critical public health competences must be considered for all healthcare workers on all levels of policymaking, thus becoming the ‘heart’ of health workforce resilience and pandemic preparedness.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to map the barriers to women leadership across healthcare, academia and business, and identify barriers prevalence across sectors. A barriers thematic map, with quantitative logic, and a prevalence chart have been developed, with the aim to uncover inequalities and provide orientation to develop inclusion and equal opportunity strategies within different work environments. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review method was adopted across five electronic databases. Rigorous inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied to select relevant publications, followed by critical appraisal of the eligible articles. The geographical target was Europe, with a publication time range spanning the period from 2000 to 2015. Certain specialized international studies were also examined. The key themes were identified using summative content analysis and the findings were analyzed using qualitative meta-summary method to formulate hypotheses for subsequent research. Findings: In total, 26 barriers were identified across the aforementioned sectors. A high degree of barriers commonalities was identified, with some striking differences between the prevalence of barriers across sectors. Research limitations/implications: The results of this study may need further validation using statistical methodology given the knowledge base gaps regarding the range of barriers and the differences in their prevalence. Bias and interpretation in reporting anchored in different theoretical frameworks ought to be further examined. Additional variables such as ambiguously stated barriers, sector overlap, women’s own choices, cultural and educational background and analysis in the context of the economic crisis, ensuing austerity and migratory pressure, are also worth exploring. Practical implications: Women’s notable and persisting underrepresentation in top leading positions across sectors reflects a critical drawback in terms of organizational and societal progress particularly regarding inclusion and balanced decision making. Practice-related blind spots may need to be further examined and addressed through specific policies. Originality/value: The comparative nature of barriers to women leadership across three sectors allows the reader to contrast the differences in gender inequalities and to comprehend inclusion challenges in healthcare, academia and business. The authors draw attention to varying degrees of barriers prevalence that have been understudied and deserve to be further explored. This gap in knowledge extends to policy, thus, highlighting the need to address the gender equality and inclusion challenges in a context-specific manner across work environments.

Eating disorders are widespread illnesses with significant impact. There is growing concern about how those at risk of eating disorders overuse online resources to their detriment. We conducted a pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining Problematic Usage of the Internet (PUI) and eating disorder and related psychopathology. The meta-analysis comprised n = 32,295 participants, in which PUI was correlated with significant eating disorder general psychopathology Pearson r = 0.22 (s.e. = 0.04, p < 0.001), body dissatisfaction r = 0.16 (s.e. = 0.02, p < 0.001), drive-for-thinness r = 0.16 (s.e. = 0.04, p < 0.001) and dietary restraint r = 0.18 (s.e. = 0.03). Effects were not moderated by gender, PUI facet or study quality. Results are in support of PUI impacting on eating disorder symptoms; males may be equally vulnerable to these potential effects. Prospective and experimental studies in the field suggest that small but significant effects exist and may have accumulative influence over time and across all age groups. Those findings are important to expand our understanding of PUI as a multifaceted concept and its impact on multiple levels of ascertainment of eating disorder and related psychopathology.

Violence against healthcare workers (HCWs) strongly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and this trend seems to continue. ^1–3 The attacks have exacerbated occupational stress and the physical and mental health risks of individual HCWs while also creating new threats for healthcare and societies. The violence has spilled over to social media and the private sphere and created new forms of hate crimes and harassment. ⁴ Live-threatening physical aggression, primarily known from war and conflict settings, now occurs in ordinary workplace settings. ⁵ International estimations highlight that about every second HCW globally have been affected by violence once in their work lives ⁶ and up to 38% suffer physical violence at some point in their careers. ¹ The frequency and patterns may vary between countries, but violence against HCWs is now also a problem in countries with developed healthcare systems and high levels of trust in institutions and professionals.