We invite submissions for coordinated panel discussions, individual paper presentations, and posters on topics concerning ethics and public health. You need not be a current member of the Ethics Section, or a professional in ethics, to submit an abstract.  The Ethics Section encourages submissions from students and public health practitioners. Abstracts that are framed to fit with the 2016 theme are encouraged, but all submissions that address issues of public health ethics are welcome.

• Emerging ethical issues within integrated healthcare delivery systems (both public and private); in particular, submissions that focus on the application of public health ethics in the development, delivery, and evaluation of health care services
  
• Emerging issues in the study and practice of public health ethics
  
• Ethical conduct of research in challenging situations
  
• Ethical, legal, and social implications of public health genetics
  
• Ethics of oppression, intersectionality, and issues in health inequities
  The pursuit of a more just world is fundamental to the ethical practice of public health as well as for the development of policy and practice to reduce and eliminate health inequities.  Does public health (and public health ethics) adequately comprehend power? What conception of power should we work with? What are the roles and responsibilities of public health professionals faced with social injustice and its impacts on health?  What are the ethical implications of participating, or not, in acts of civil disobedience, social and political activism, and the use of media to effect change?
• Expanding the role of ethics in public health education
  The Ethics section seeks submissions regarding strategies for improving and expanding the teaching of public health ethics including but not limited to: pedagogy in undergraduate and graduate education; teaching ethics across the curriculum; ethics and professional development for public health workers outside of college; best practices in teaching ethics; working to fully integrate ethics education through collaboration with accrediting bodies (CEPH, PHAB, ASPPH, APHA, NACCHO, etc.)
• Individual agency and the social determinants of health: examining volition beyond “behaviors” and “lifestyle choices”
  Notions of autonomy or agency are often sometimes considered a better fit for clinical medical ethics, whereas public health ethics needs concepts that focus on the community or population-level of analysis. How can individual agency be understood in ways that invigorate public health ethics in theory and in practice? How do current public health practices demonstrate social influences on individual agency? How can/do public health ethics or public health programs reconcile the importance of both the individual and social?
• Moral distress among the public health workforce
  
• Public health ethics in all policies; in particular, submissions that focus on the interaction between health and well-being and other areas of social policy
  The Ethics Section solicits submissions that address public health ethical implications of policies. Policies might include public health policy, health policy writ large, or other areas of policy including education, economic, and science policy. In addition, this topic raises the question of the boundaries of public health. Does public health overstep its area of expertise, political, or moral authority by addressing certain topics? What makes something a public health issue? How can public health professionals successfully address the health implications of policies that initially seem unrelated to the traditional purview of the field?
• Revis(it)ing the public health code of ethics
  In 2002, APHA adopted the “Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health” as a code of ethics (PH Code of Ethics) to guide the work of public health professionals. Funded by the CDC and PHLS, the Code was developed by the Center for Health Leadership & Practice, Public Health Institute, members of the original PHLS Ethics Work Group, and the PHLS standing committee on Public Health Ethics.  It has been a little over ten years since the PH Code of Ethics was widely distributed to influence practice and policy in public health and for use in the education and training of public health professionals. The Ethics Section seeks submissions presenting case studies, critiques, reflections and expansions of the PH Code of Ethics that reflect its use over the past decade and their relevance at the growing edges of ethical practice across public health in all its disciplines.
• The political, moral, and/or legal basis of a “Right to Health”
  The Ethics Section encourages submissions in both theory and practice addressing the right to health. Submissions might address:
  • how rights are grounded in political, moral, or legal theory
  • whether viewing health as a right mobilizes, undermines, or carries mixed implications for garnering political will and organizing political action
  • policy implications of this right for health systems, health care delivery, and public health institutions

Student Submissions

Submissions by students are especially encouraged. The Ethics Section will consider highlighting the work of public health students, depending on the number and quality of abstracts.

Panel Submissions

Coordinated panel sessions are also valuable, particularly by offering opportunities to examine topics more richly and completely. Each coordinated panel discussion should have up to three presenters, and allow at least 10-15 minutes for discussion with the audience.

Each abstract in the panel must be submitted and accepted individually.  After submitting each abstract individually, persons interested in proposing a coordinated panel discussion should send a request for a coordinated panel to the Ethics Program Chair (Selena Ortiz, seortiz@psu.edu), including an overall session title, rationale for and brief summary of the session, the moderator’s contact information (to ensure timely communications about the proposal), the individual abstract titles, their authors, and their APHA Confex-assigned ID numbers.

The Program Committee reserves the right to break session proposals apart and consider the individual abstracts separately without prior notification to the session organizer.

Continuing Education Credit

The Ethics Section asks that all abstracts conform to the APHA Continuing Education requirements.  Last year, we were acknowledged for submitting all of our abstracts in compliance with APHA’s important requirements to assure CEU credit for attendees.

APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators, and those certified in public health at its annual meeting. Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.

For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter, panelist, discussant, and/or faculty must provide:

1) An abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names;

2) At least one MEASURABLE SINGLE learning objective.  “To understand” or “to learn” are not measurable objectives and compound objectives are not acceptable. Use ONLY the following Measurable Action Verbs: Explain, Demonstrate, Analyze, Formulate, Discuss, Compare, Differentiate, Describe, Name, Assess, Evaluate, Identify, Design, Define, or List.

3)  A signed Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form with a relevant qualification statement.  For example, an acceptable biographical qualification statement might be: “I have been the principal or co-principal of multiple federally funded grants focusing on the epidemiology of drug abuse, HIV prevention and co-occurring mental and drug use disorders. Among my scientific interests has been the development of strategies for preventing HIV and STDs in out-of-treatment drug users.”

4)  All continuing education learning content must be of sound science or professional practice and serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills and professional competence of the health professional. Learning content should be evidence-based if available. A list of over 30 areas will be provided online for you to choose from. You will be asked to choose at least one or up to 6 areas that your presentation will address.

Thank you for your assistance in making your session credit worthy. Contact Annette Ferebee at annette.ferebee@apha.org if you have any questions concerning continuing education. For program questions, contact the program planner listed below.

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Ready?

Program Planner Contact Information:

Selena Ortiz
Gregory H. Wolf Professor of Health Policy and Administration Department of Health Policy and Administration College of Health and Human Development
The Pennsylvania State University
seortiz@psu.edu