KNOWLEDGE OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY ISSUES. AN EMERGING NEED FOR ITALIAN PUBLIC HEALTH RESIDENTS

Background Air pollution poses a significant threat to global health, contributing to millions of deaths annually. Currently, only 11% of medical schools worldwide formally include air pollution in their curricula, while how many post-graduate schools of public health including this topic in their curricula is not known, especially in Italy. To respond to this lack, a multidisciplinary working group, named "Hygiene of built environment" of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, performed a bottom-up study, measuring the IAQ knowledge among Italian public health residents directly, to identify training deficiencies for curriculum development. Method The team developed and validated a questionnaire including 30 true/false statements on many domains od IAQ knowledge; the questionnaire, anonymous, was sent to all the residents enrolled in the Italian post-graduate schools of public health to be filled. Results A total of 235 residents from 39 Italian Schools participated in the study (about 15% of the total). IAQ training in Italian postgraduate public health should be improved: about the 90% of respondents lacked a specific education on IAQ, showing many knowledge gaps on relevant issues, including carcinogenic hazards, thermal comfort, and radioactive contaminants. No difference was observed between year of the course. Discussion and conclusion Since the investigated sample reached just 15% of the overall of target, the results obtained must be interpreted with caution. However, the observed gaps ask for the knowledge improvement on IAQ among public health' residents preparing to address health risks in many built environments, like hospitals, offices, etc. International initiatives of the academic societies of Public Health should consider IAQ as competency to include in the training programs of public health residents, defining clear learning objectives, and using active pedagogical formats including case-based learning and supervised micro-audits in real-world settings, and the interdisciplinary collaboration with architects and engineers.