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Making public policy choices (especially on health issues) based on available scientific evidence is an ideal condition for any policy making. However, the mechanisms governing these scenarios are complex, non-linear, and, alongside the medical-health and epidemiological issues, involve socio-economic, political, communicative, informational, ethical and epistemological aspects. In this article we analyze the role of scientific evidence when implementing political decisions that strictly depend on it, as in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. In carrying out this analysis, we will focus above all on the Italian case. This, on the one hand, precisely because Italy led the way (among European countries) regarding the containment policies of the pandemic. Secondly, the government's action was immediately criticized in various respects (specifically, by a publication on the Harvard Business Review, but later on also by various political figures and experts of various research fields). Some were calling into question not only the cumbersome political mechanisms, but also suggesting a scarce ability to take scientific evidence into account. On other fronts, there are those who have criticized Italy for its blind and uncritical faith in science and for the paternalism of its decisions. This debate therefore offers the possibility of dealing with some aspects concerning scientific results and their implementation at the political level from the point of view of a political philosophy of science, roughly in the spirit suggested by John Dupré (2016).

The Urban Innovative Actions initiative of the European Union supports pilot projects aimed at identifying and testing new solutions related to sustainable urban development. The cities that responded to the call for proposals had the opportunity to experiment with creative ideas, which are not funded by traditional sources, and to turn them into prototypes. The first UIA call was part of the process of definition of the European Urban Agenda. With a view to consolidating collective intelligence, this paper proposes a critical analysis of the 18 projects that won the first UIA Call. The overall objective is to highlight how Urban Authorities interpreted the definition of innovation through the various projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into the orientation and purposes of a Lifelong Learning Law that was sanctioned in the Basque Country in 2013, and whose formation process entailed a year-long consultation with different local stakeholders. Although the consideration of diverse agents - other than political players - in policy making is a very valuable element for the democratisation of public policy, grounded on examination of the Basque experience, the paper poses serious questions as to the extent to which non-state actors may take part in the policy and decision making processes, and underscores the differences in the scope and influence of their actions, perspectives and proposals. From a social construction framework, it is argued that the incorporation of experts to policy making belongs to a certain way of crafting policy, one that is top-down, while the idea of democratic policy making requires an inverse design; a bottom-up method that may enable the practitioners who implement programmes and strategies, and those receiving the educational services, to be co-participants and to share responsibility in the ideation and effectuation of education policy.

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Evaluation research is for us of key importance because it constitutes the self-reflexive effort of social policies. This article shows how different approaches to policy making have been matched with different approaches to their evaluation, with the purpose of understanding how to implement poli- cies supporting the well-being of the family. Specifically, we suggest that there is a need for relin- quishing the traditional linear evaluation approaches, because they are too heavily based on a precon- ceived description of the social reality that does not leave space for the complex effects that social policies can have on family relations. We argue that there is the necessity of using complex models considering the family as an active subject, both in the planning and in the evaluation phase. We hypothesize the possibility of joining the contributions of the last generations of evaluation research, with the purpose of building a comprehensive evaluation tool based on the relational approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Politics, the science and the art of administering public affairs, is a very important field. Dealing with professional policy means to dedicate ourselves to the good of the profession. Professional policies are an integral part of taking care; the professional family needs clear reference points: training, tutoring, promotion and institutional representation., Aim: Exploring perceptions, ideals, shared imagination and desires about the professional policies of nurses/midwives and of master's students in order to be able to have a representation of the reality and to start a critical reflection on the subject., Method: A qualitative study was conducted on a proactive sample of 22 nurses / midwives as qualified witnesses of the national situation. The data was collected through a questionnaire built ad hoc., Results: From the analysis of the answers given to the questionnaire, we identified 10 main themes. In the training sector two of the themes that were selected are the importance of the new knowledges and inadequate differentiation of the positions; Regarding the working sector two of the themes that came out are the lack of meritocracy and of new opportunities; meanwhile, in the research field one of the main theme identified is the gap between the theory and the practice., Conclusion: The present study finds out that participation in policy-making processes is occasional and of little intensity: just few nurses/midwives are actively involved in the promotion and development of projects in the health sector and of healthcare policies.

"The multinational corporations producing tobacco, alcohol, soft drinks, and processed foods have a role of vectors in the increase of chronic diseases, so that one can speak of manufacturing epidemics. The main aim of this paper is to conduct a literature review on different approaches in population-based interventions to stem the rise in consumption of unhealthy products. Different approaches were found: • command-and-control regulations: the route is definitely more advanced for tobacco with the implementation of an international treaty, which requires 180 ratifying states to implement a series of tobacco control policies. Similar regulations have been partially adopted to reduce alcohol use and to increase taxes of sugar-sweetened beverages; • multinational corporations in few Countries can voluntarily adopt recommendations on media campaigns and on labelling of soft drinks and processed foods; • in order to reduce salt in foods, many Countries developed voluntary agreements with industries with monitoring systems to assess compliance. Population-based interventions to try to align the interests of multinational corporations with those of public health are described in literature: • the "Health Footprint" programme; • the performance-based regulation which could oblige industry to take responsibility to reduce the harmful consequences of the use of their unhealthy commodities; • the price-cap regulation, usually applied to the utilities sector, would set a cap on the price of the tobacco industry, raising the tobacco taxes by 500 million euros per year. In order to reduce the burden of chronic disease, one of the objectives of the Italian National Prevention Plan, a working group including non-governmental organizations and experts in communication, social marketing, and lifestyles should be organized by the Ministry of Health in order to identify which population-based interventions could be implemented in Italy in next years to stem the rise of consumption of unhealthy products. ".

The Health Impact Assessment (HIA) has already been tested in dozens of nations, including Italy, and the reflection is now mature enough to allow a first evaluation of its effective capacity to offer an inclusive tool for prevention. The analysis focuses in particular on the HIA ability to address, through a participatory approach, one of its founding values: the democratic nature of decisions with an impact on public health. In most cases, the experiments carried out so far seem to be disappointing: the participation is often absent or performed in a rhetorical form. Sometimes the HIA has even been used in an instrumental way to justify decisions already taken, with the only result to further erode the credibility of experts and institutions. In this work, however, the author will try to show how, on the contrary, a greater involvement in the evaluation and decision-making processes could improve the effectiveness of HIA in terms of prevention, while at the same time promoting a relationship of trust between experts, institutions, and citizens on which to establish an ecologically and socially sustainable development.

Objectives: Multiple factors influence individuals' health status. Their impact is difficult to quantify as it is their interaction. Aim of the current work is to develop guidelines to support designers to promote health in the residential environment and to apply them through an evaluation system to certify the level of health performance., Design: Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with the Local Health Authorities of Milan and Empoli through analysis of needs performance and numerous multidisciplinary meetings, has produced a design guide (Healthy Design Guide - HeDe) and an evaluation system to certify the level of health performance. This system was tested on the Milan metropolitan area., Setting: The experiment was carried out on a sample of 30 private residences, with an overall floor area ranging between 90 and 150 square meters, new or recently renovated., Results: The tool works but at the same time it also shows that too often design choices are made for aesthetic or economic reasons rather than a real need for health and wellness., Conclusions: It is becoming increasingly important to strengthen synergies and multidisciplinary collaborations to achieve shared performance indications and to make a systematic review of the regulatory tools to protect public health.

The high state of anxiety about Ebola virus and its possible spread in the Western world has seemingly changed the route of the disease, for which effective vaccines and medicines do not exist. The rapid spread of the virus provides a paradigmatic narrative about the failure of today's governance for health, grounded on a series of global initiatives focussed on pathologies prioritized by the donors' community, at the detriment of health promotion and the strengthening of health systems in countries. The Ebola crisis also delivers a powerful account about the consequences of the de-potentiation of the World Health Organization (WHO), once the leading organization in public health policy-making. Today, the WHO is increasingly weak technically, politically and financially. While the virus remains out of control, the WHO's capacity to play a role in accompanying the development of the new essential vaccines and in brokering the conditions for accessibility and availability of the new medical tools remains to be questioned.

The ADAPTE process is a systematic approach to adapting guidelines produced in one setting for use in a different cultural and organizational context. It ensures that the guideline addresses specific health questions relevant to the context, accounting for the needs, priorities, legislation, policies, and resources in the targeted setting. The ADAPTE process was developed to meet the needs of different user groups, including guideline developers, health care providers, and policy makers at the local, national, and international level. The process is flexible; the transparent and explicit reporting enhances the quality and validity of the adapted guideline. The ADAPTE process is briefly described.

Introduction: The Service of Health Professions of this facility (TO2 of Turin) aimed during the 2010 to devise/develop a new evaluation tool for the new employees , trying to fit them with the profiles set up the previous year., Methods: The conceptual model of reference for the construction of working drafts of the grids was inspired by the special insert edition of "L'infermiere" in 2007, a literature review was carried out and a number of internal meeting within 6 of the Service of health Professions were set up. A working group were set up - 93 people - as well as indicators were developed to monitor and implementation of the instruments. Once the drafts of the standard tools were made, working groups started to improve the tools provided under the supervision of a tutor. Finally half way through an evaluation was carried out using a questionnaire., Conclusion: The new template leads a number of problems which were later sorted out also with the support of tutors.

Healthcare systems are offered with a wide range of technologies and services, but they have to cope with decreasing resources and the uncertainty about what is effective and more appropriate. Making decisions about health care interventions is complex. Decisions should be informed by the best available evidence, being comprehensive to take into account all the relevant aspects (e.g. efficacy, safety, equity, costs), and taken within a limited time period. DECIDE is a project funded by the European Community that, using the GRADE methodology, aims at implementing strategies to enhance dissemination and communication of scientific evidence to support on-time evidence-based decision making in clinical practice and healthcare policies. Communication strategies are developed in order to address different target audiences, trying to meet their information needs. One key target are policy makers and managers who are responsible for coverage decision making.

The Emilia-Romagna regional government decided to develop a monitoring and surveillance system, known as MonITER (Incineration Monitoring on the Emilia-Romagna Territory), in 8 areas characterized by the presence of municipal waste incinerating plants.The project was divided into 7 lines, among these the number 6 developed a procedure of Health Impact Assessments (HIA) to support the planning of new facilities for incineration or combustion. Line number 6 is divided into 3 actions n action 1 aimed to developing and validating a participative HIA methodology, as well tools for the impact assessment and recommendations for implementing HIA on future plants; n action 2 analysed connected issues on communication; n action 3 was focused to developing a methodology for integrating HIA models into existing tools for mandatory impact assessment.Tailoring the HIA model development to the waste management context has highlighted the fundamental differences of the HIA approach with the other mandatory assessment tools, being theoretically founded on the principles of public involvement, equity, sustainable development and ethical use of evidence.

The review describes the evolution of the environmental policies in Italy underlying current delays and discords between the environment and its effects on human health. It also tries to define the major barriers to the introduction of the health impact assessment (HIA) in government policy-making process in Italy; the lack of regulations and the lack of methods to perform an HIA are the main reasons for its limited use. Epidemiology is a fundamental tool to produce effective health impact assessments along with a deep knowledge of medicine, environmental hygiene and risk communication. In conclusion, should the Italian scientific community agreed on a common and constructive approach avoiding possible exploitations and conflicts of interest, HIA could be a valuable method for helping to develop environmental policies and assisting policy-makers in important decisions.

The aim of the article is to start a debate on deliberative democracy among scientists. Deliberation is analysed by political scientists because deliberative experiences usually involve citizens in the policy making process. Although experts are instrumental in many deliberative processes, scholars usually ignore the interaction between scientific information, citizens' knowledge and deliberation. Through the analysis of three citizens' juries, the article examines the effects that experts-citizens interaction generates on cognitive mechanisms. People who participate in deliberative processes often seem not to accept information experts give them. Cognitive psychologists assert that this is a typical human mechanism: people select information choosing messages more linked with their values and believes. Observing deliberative processes, where people not only have to learn but to make policies in a public arena the reaction of citizens seems less instinctive. In a deliberative context citizens are not satisfied of information, they want to know what there is behind facts and causal relations: how instruments measure data, which methods are used. In other words, in a deliberative context citizens want to understand reality before knowing it.

When implementing healthcare policies it is common to observe a "gap" between policy objectives and results. This because effective translation of healthcare policy into action, from its formulation to final evaluation, requires the contemporary presence of various essential factors and conditions. In this paper, we have attempted to describe and analyse the various existing theoretical models of implementation of healthcare policy and critically discuss them also through the use of specific case studies.