Preparedness, knowledge, and perception of nursing students about climate change and its impact on human health in India

• Published in: Regional sustainability 2024-03, Vol.5 (1), p.100116, Article 100116
• Main Authors: Ravi, Ramya Kundayi, Baby, Priya, Elias, Nidhin, Thomas, Jisa George, Veerabhadraiah, Kathyayani Bidadi, Pareek, Bharat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climate change; Curriculum; Human health; India; Nursing students
• ISSN: 2666-660X; 2666-660X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.regsus.2024.100116

Higher education plays an important role in all aspects of sustainability. Infusing climate change and sustainability into the curriculum is important to prepare future health-care professionals for climate change and sustainability actions to build resilient health systems. In this study, we evaluated the preparedness, knowledge, and perception regarding climate change and its impact on human health among Indian nursing students. A quantitative descriptive survey was conducted among 644 undergraduate nursing students studying in three institutes in the southern, northern, and western parts of India. We used a structured online questionnaire with established validity and reliability to collect data. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26 software. The results showed that more than half of the students reported experiencing excessive increase (362; 56.2%) and decrease (374; 58.1%) in temperature in recent years. Though more than three quarters of the students (494; 76.7%) accepted the general truth that climate change is mainly caused by human activities, only less than half of the students (309; 48.0%) perceived the impact of climate change to be high. Three quarters of the students (483; 75.0%) had a high level of knowledge regarding climate change. The students who had a high level of knowledge about climate change exerted a high perceived impact of climate change (χ2=75.47; P