Self-assessment is considered to be a major component of learning in public health.1 It provides an opportunity for health professionals to reflect on competency-based strengths and weaknesses in order to identify learning needs and reinforce new skills or behaviors in order to improve performance. The MCH Navigator has been collecting data from our online Self-Assessment for five years and during that time have identified a number of data trends.
With nearly 3,000 completed assessments in the database, learners have consistently reported high levels of knowledge but low levels of skills across a number of competencies. This translates into MCH professionals having high levels of understanding of a competency but not as much self-efficacy in translating this knowledge into practice. In response to this need, the MCH Navigator has developed a series of implementation briefs that provide specific learning opportunities that focus on how to implement and execute skills associated with the MCH Leadership Competencies. This implementation brief is focused on Competency 3: Ethics.
Trainings from the MCH Navigator
Ethical behavior in professional roles includes conduct congruent with generally accepted principles and values. This definition includes general leadership ethics, such as honesty, responsibility, and cultural competency, as well as ethics specific to the MCH population.2
Interest in ethical leadership from academics and practitioners has grown enormously in recent years.3 After a thorough review of the literature Lawton and Paez (2015) suggest a framework to draw together the different dimensions of ethical leadership and aide in the implementation of executing skills associated with ethics.
View each of the three dimensions below and corresponding learning opportunities for: 1) Practices, 2) Purposes, and 3) Virtues.
Practices: examines key definitions of leadership, ethical character and virtues, including integrity and authenticity.
Public Health Ethics Training Series.Year Developed: 2014. Source: North Carolina Institutes for Public Health. Presenter(s): Unknown. Type: Online course. Level: Intermediate. Length: Self-Paced.
A Master Class in Public Health Ethics.Year Developed: 2014. Source: National Association of County and City Health Officials. Presenter(s): Drue Barrett, Ph.D.; Alan Melnick, M.D., M.P.H., C.P.H.; Leonard Ortmann, Ph.D.; Matthew Stefanak, M.P.H.; Karyn Clark, M.A.; Jane Wernsman, R.N., B.S.N.; Linda Doerge, M.P.A. Type: Archived Webinar. Level: Intermediate. Length: 74 minutes.
Purposes: examines the relationship between leadership and outcomes, both for individuals and the organization.
Professionalism. Year Developed: Unknown. Source: Wisconsin Center for Public Health Education and Training. Presenter(s): Mark Edgar, PhD, Sue Kunferman, RN. Type: Video Lecture. Level: Intermediate. Length: Self-Paced.
Ethics in Decision Making in Public Health. Year Developed: 2016. Source: Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Presenter(s): Lisa Lee, PhD, MA, MS. Type: Webinar. Level: Intermediate. Length: 35 minutes.
Virtues: examines how leaders treat others and in what contexts these relationships take place.
Sujata, B., Oliveras, E., and Edson, W.N. (2001). How Can Self-Assessment Improve the Quality of Healthcare? Operations Research Issue Paper 2(4). Published for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by the Quality Assurance (QA) Project.
Lawton A., Paez I. (2015). Developing a Framework for Ethical Leadership. Journal of Business Ethics. 130:639-636.
Ethics: Implementation Brief
June 2019 Authors: Keisha Watson, Ph.D., MCH Navigator Reviewers: Faculty and staff of the National Center for Cultrual Competence
This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UE8MC25742; MCH Navigator for $180,000/year. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.
Self-assessment is considered to be a major component of learning in public health.1 It provides an opportunity for health professionals to reflect on competency-based strengths and weaknesses in order to identify learning needs and reinforce new skills or behaviors in order to improve performance. The MCH Navigator has been collecting data from our online Self-Assessment for five years and during that time have identified a number of data trends. 
Ethical behavior in professional roles includes conduct congruent with generally accepted principles and values. This definition includes general leadership ethics, such as honesty, responsibility, and cultural competency, as well as ethics specific to the MCH population.2