Nursing Students’ Perceptions about the Effects of Climate Change on Health: A Descriptive Exploratory Study

Jonalyn P. Santos; Eladio Martin S. Gumabay

doi:10.14710/nmjn.v14i1.53942

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v14i1.53942

Nursing Students’ Perceptions about the Effects of Climate Change on Health: A Descriptive Exploratory Study

*Jonalyn P. Santos

- Center for Health Research and Development, University of Saint Louis, Philippines

Eladio Martin S. Gumabay - Community Health Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

BibTex Citation Data :

@article{NMJN53942,
    author = {Jonalyn Santos and Eladio Martin Gumabay},
    title = {Nursing Students’ Perceptions about the Effects of Climate Change on Health: A Descriptive Exploratory Study},
    journal = {Nurse Media Journal of Nursing},
  volume = {14},
    number = {1},
    year = {2024},
    keywords = {Climate change; climate change effects; nursing students; perceptions},
    abstract = {  Background:    Climate change is recognized as an important health concern that the health sector and nurses must prepare for. Adequate preparation and understanding of its effects on health must be exemplified by nurses and nursing students. Previous studies showed that nurses and nursing students have good knowledge of climate change and its effects on health. However, none of these studies were conducted in the Philippines.   Purpose:  This study explored the perceptions of nursing students about the effects of climate change on health.   Methods:  The researchers utilized a descriptive qualitative research design. The study was conducted among level three Bachelor of Science in Nursing students selected through purposive sampling using the following criteria: a) students who were enrolled with a full load of units in the BSN course, and b) those who have not taken Disaster Nursing course in the previous semesters. A total of 35 participants were included in the study. Data collection was done through an interview using a researcher-made interview guide. Data analysis was done through content analysis.   Results:  Two major themes were identified, which describe the perceptions of the nursing students about the effects of climate change on health. The findings revealed that the respondents have an adequate understanding of what climate change is and the factors that cause it. The respondents also mentioned that climate change negatively affects the physiological health of humans. Specifically, climate change increases the risk for non-communicable disease such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. It also alters certain characteristics of communicable diseases such as prevalence, seasonal pattern, and geographic distribution.   Conclusion:  The findings revealed that student nurses know what climate change is and are aware that it negatively affects health. However, their perceptions of the effects of climate change on health are limited to its physiologic effects, specifically on non-communicable and infectious disease, as this reflects their understanding of how environmental factors affect disease pathogenesis or development. },
   issn = {2406-8799},   pages = {16--28}  doi = {10.14710/nmjn.v14i1.53942},
    url = {https://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/medianers/article/view/53942}
}

Citation Format:

Abstract

Background: Climate change is recognized as an important health concern that the health sector and nurses must prepare for. Adequate preparation and understanding of its effects on health must be exemplified by nurses and nursing students. Previous studies showed that nurses and nursing students have good knowledge of climate change and its effects on health. However, none of these studies were conducted in the Philippines.

Purpose: This study explored the perceptions of nursing students about the effects of climate change on health.

Methods: The researchers utilized a descriptive qualitative research design. The study was conducted among level three Bachelor of Science in Nursing students selected through purposive sampling using the following criteria: a) students who were enrolled with a full load of units in the BSN course, and b) those who have not taken Disaster Nursing course in the previous semesters. A total of 35 participants were included in the study. Data collection was done through an interview using a researcher-made interview guide. Data analysis was done through content analysis.

Results: Two major themes were identified, which describe the perceptions of the nursing students about the effects of climate change on health. The findings revealed that the respondents have an adequate understanding of what climate change is and the factors that cause it. The respondents also mentioned that climate change negatively affects the physiological health of humans. Specifically, climate change increases the risk for non-communicable disease such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. It also alters certain characteristics of communicable diseases such as prevalence, seasonal pattern, and geographic distribution.

Conclusion: The findings revealed that student nurses know what climate change is and are aware that it negatively affects health. However, their perceptions of the effects of climate change on health are limited to its physiologic effects, specifically on non-communicable and infectious disease, as this reflects their understanding of how environmental factors affect disease pathogenesis or development.

Fulltext View|Download

Keywords: Climate change; climate change effects; nursing students; perceptions

Article Metrics:

Article Info

Section: Articles

Language : EN

In Vol 14, No 1 (2024): (April 2024)

Recent articles

Nurses’ Knowledge on the Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) among Critically Ill Patients Nursing Students’ Perceptions about the Effects of Climate Change on Health: A Descriptive Exploratory Study Development of a Holistic Nursing Model Based on Transcultural Nursing to Improve the Quality of Life of Patients with Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus More recent articles

Most cited articles

Back-matter Effects of Acupoint Stimulation with Digital Massager of Oxytocin on the Breast Milk Production of Working Mothers The Lived Experiences of the Lombok Earthquake Survivors Concept Analysis of Perceived Control Correlation between Coping Strategies and Quality of Life among Myocardial Infarction Patients in Nepal More cited articles

Ajuang, C. O., Abuom, P. O., Bosire, E. K., Dida, G. O., & Anyona, D. N. (2016). Determinants of climate change awareness level in upper Nyakach Division, Kisumu County, Kenya. SpringerPlus, 5(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-2699-y
Alcayna, T., Bollettino, V., Dy, P., & Vinck, P. (2016). Resilience and disaster trends in the Philippines: Opportunities for national and local capacity building. PLoS Currents, 8, ecurrents.dis.4a0bc960866e53bd6357ac135d740846. https://doi.org/10.1371/currents.dis.4a0bc960866e53bd6357ac135d740846
Anåker, A., Nilsson, M., Holmner, A., & Elf, M. (2015). Nurses’ perceptions of climate and environmental issues: A qualitative study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71(8), 1883-1891. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12655
Assarroudi, A., Heshmati Nabavi, F., Armat, M. R., Ebadi, A., & Vaismoradi, M. (2018). Directed qualitative content analysis: the description and elaboration of its underpinning methods and data analysis process. Journal of Research in Nursing, 23(1), 42-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987117741667
Butler, C. D. (2018). Climate change, health and existential risks to civilization: A comprehensive review (1989–2013). International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(10), 2266. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15102266
Cabilao-Valencia, M. I., Ali, M., Maryani, E., & Supriatna, N. (2019). Integration of disaster risk reduction in the curriculum of Philippine educational institution. In 3rd Asian Education Symposium (AES 2018) (pp. 463-468). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/aes-18.2019.104
Caranto, B. F., & Pitpitunge, A. D. (2015). Students’ knowledge on climate change: Implications on interdisciplinary learning. In Biology Education and Research in a Changing Planet: Selected Papers from the 25th Biennial Asian Association for Biology Education Conference (pp. 21-30). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-524-2_3
Cianconi, P., Betrò, S., & Janiri, L. (2020). The impact of climate change on mental health: a systematic descriptive review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 490206. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00074
Crowley, R. A., & Health and Public Policy Committee of the American College of Physicians. (2016). Climate change and health: A position paper of the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine, 164(9), 608-610. https://doi.org/10.7326/M15-2766
Debela, N., Mohammed, C., Bridle, K., Corkrey, R., & McNeil, D. (2015). Perception of climate change and its impact by smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana, South Ethiopia. SpringerPlus, 4(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-015-1012-9
Domantay, J. A. A., Leochico, C. F. D., Salvador, P. A. G. S., Ciriaco, V. M., Abad, P. R., Cruz, G. M., ... & Torres, C. P. (2021). Knowledge and attitudes of future physicians in the Cordillera region of the Philippines towards climate change: A pre-pandemic cross-sectional study. The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 4, 100063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100063
Dupraz, J., & Burnand, B. (2021). Role of health professionals regarding the impact of climate change on health—an exploratory review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(6), 3222. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063222
Ebi, K. L., Vanos, J., Baldwin, J. W., Bell, J. E., Hondula, D. M., Errett, N. A., Hayes, K., Reid, C.E., Saha, S., Spector, J., & Berry, P. (2021). Extreme weather and climate change: population health and health system implications. Annual Review of Public Health, 42(1), 293-315. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-012420-105026
Etikan, I. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Felicilda-Reynaldo, R. F. D., Cruz, J. P., Alshammari, F., Obaid, K. B., Rady, H. E. A. E. A., Qtait, M., Alquwez, N., & Colet, P. C. (2018). Knowledge of and attitudes toward climate change and its effects on health among nursing students: A multi-Arab country study. Nursing Forum, 53(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12240
Gumabay, E. M. S., Ramirez, R. C., Dimaya, J. M. M., & Beltran, M. M. (2018). Adversity of prolonged extreme cold exposure among adult clients diagnosed with coronary artery diseases: A primer for recommending community health nursing intervention. Nursing Open, 5(1), 62-69. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.111
Hathaway, J., & Maibach, E. W. (2018). Health implications of climate change: A review of the literature about the perception of the public and health professionals. Current Environmental Health Reports, 5, 197-204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0190-3
Harper, S. L., Edge, V. L., Ford, J., Willox, A. C., Wood, M., IHACC Research Team, RICG& McEwen, S. A. (2015). Climate-sensitive health priorities in Nunatsiavut, Canada. BMC Public Health, 15, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1874-3
Kreslake, J. M., Sarfaty, M., & Maibach, E. W. (2016). Documenting the human health impacts of climate change in tropical and subtropical regions. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 95(2), 260. https://doi.org/10.4269%2Fajtmh.16-0400
La Torre, G., Sestili, C., Cocchiara, R. A., Barbato, D., Mannocci, A., & Del Cimmuto, A. (2020). Knowledge and perception about climate change among healthcare professionals and students: A cross-sectional study. South Eastern European Journal of Public Health, 13. https://doi.org/10.56801/seejph.vi.155
Liao, W., Yang, L., Zhong, S., Hess, J. J., Wang, Q., Bao, J., & Huang, C. (2019). Preparing the next generation of health professionals to tackle climate change: Are China's medical students ready?. Environmental Research, 168, 270-277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.10.006
Lujala, P., Lein, H., & Rød, J. K. (2015). Climate change, natural hazards, and risk perception: The role of proximity and personal experience. Local Environment, 20(4), 489-509. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2014.887666
Maxwell, J., & Blashki, G. (2016). Teaching about climate change in medical education: An opportunity. Journal of Public Health Research, 5(1), 673. https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2016.673
McIver, L., Kim, R., Woodward, A., Hales, S., Spickett, J., Katscherian, D., Hashizume, M., Honda, Y., Kim, H., Iddings, S., Naicker, J., Bambrick, H., McMichael, A. J., & Ebi, K. L. (2016). Health impacts of climate change in Pacific Island countries: A regional assessment of vulnerabilities and adaptation priorities. Environmental Health Perspectives, 124(11), 1707-1714. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509756
McMichael, C. (2015). Climate change-related migration and infectious disease. Virulence, 6(6), 548-553. https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2015.1021539
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2015). Global Climate Change: Vital signs of the planet. http://climate.nasa.gov/faq/
Ofori, B. Y., Ameade, E. P., Ohemeng, F., Musah, Y., Quartey, J. K., & Owusu, E. H. (2023). Climate change knowledge, attitude and perception of undergraduate students in Ghana. PLOS Climate, 2(6), e0000215. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000215
Opoku, S. K., Filho, W. L., Hubert, F., & Adejumo, O. (2021). Climate change and health preparedness in Africa: analysing trends in six African countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 4672. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094672
Polit, D.F. and Beck C.T. (2018). Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice (9th eds.). Wolters Kluwer Health
Rocque, R. J., Beaudoin, C., Ndjaboue, R., Cameron, L., Poirier-Bergeron, L., Poulin-Rheault, R. A., Fallon, C., Tricco, A. C., & Witteman, H. O. (2021). Health effects of climate change: an overview of systematic reviews. BMJ Open, 11(6), e046333. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046333
Seposo, X. T., Dang, T. N., & Honda, Y. (2015). Evaluating the effects of temperature on mortality in Manila city (Philippines) from 2006–2010 using a distributed lag nonlinear model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(6), 6842-6857. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606842
Siña, M., Wood, R. C., Saldarriaga, E., Lawler, J., Zunt, J., Garcia, P., & Cárcamo, C. (2016). Understanding perceptions of climate change, priorities, and decision-making among municipalities in Lima, Peru to better inform adaptation and mitigation planning. PloS One, 11(1), e0147201. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147201
Sun, L., Fang, S., Iqbal, S., & Bilal, A. R. (2022). Financial stability role on climate risks, and climate change mitigation: implications for green economic recovery. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(22), 33063-33074. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17439-w
Weilnhammer, V., Schmid, J., Mittermeier, I., Schreiber, F., Jiang, L., Pastuhovic, V., Herr, C., & Heinze, S. (2021). Extreme weather events in europe and their health consequences–A systematic review. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 233, 113688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2021.113688
World Health Organization. (2021). 2021 WHO health and climate change global survey report. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/348068/9789240038509-eng.pdf
Yang, L., Liao, W., Liu, C., Zhang, N., Zhong, S., & Huang, C. (2018). Associations between knowledge of the causes and perceived impacts of climate change: a cross-sectional survey of medical, public health and nursing students in universities in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(12), 2650. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122650
Yusa, A., Berry, P., Cheng, J. J., Ogden, N., Bonsal, B., Stewart, R., & Waldick, R. (2015). Climate change, drought and human health in Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(7), 8359-8412. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120708359
Zaman, F. (2021). The role of popular discourse about climate change in disaster preparedness: A critical discourse analysis. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 60, 102270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102270

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update: 2024-11-21 09:35:10

No citation recorded.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Journal Author(s) Rights

In order for the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro to publish and disseminate research articles, we need non-exclusive publishing rights (transferred from the author(s) to the publisher). This is determined by a publishing agreement between the author(s) and the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro. This agreement involves the transfer or licensing of the copyright for publishing to the publisher, while authors still retain significant rights to use and share their own published articles. The Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro supports the need for authors to share, disseminate, and maximize the impact of their research through these rights in any databases.

As the author(s), you have rights to a wide range of uses of your article, including use by your employing institution or company. These author rights can be exercised without the need to obtain specific permission. Authors publishing in the Nurse Media Journal of Nursing have extensive rights to use their works for teaching and scholarly purposes without needing to seek permission, including:

use for classroom teaching by the author or the author’s institution and presentation at a meeting or conference, including distributing copies to attendees;
use for internal training by the author’s company;
distribution to colleagues for their research use;
use in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works;
inclusion in a thesis or dissertation;
reuse of portions or extracts from the article in other works (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
preparation of derivative works (other than for commercial purposes) (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
voluntary posting on open websites operated by the author or the author’s institution for scholarly purposes;

following the open access license of the Creative Commons CC BY-SA License.

Authors, readers, and third parties can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, but they must give appropriate credit (including the name of the creator and attribution parties, detailed information about the authors, a copyright notice, an open access license notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. The publisher will indicate any modification of the material (if any) and retain an indication of previous modifications using a CrossMark Policy and information about Erratum-Corrigendum notifications.

Authors, readers, and third parties can read, print, and download, redistribute or republish the article (e.g., display it in a repository), translate the article, download it for text and data mining purposes, reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works, sell or reuse it for commercial purposes, remix, transform, or build upon the material. They must distribute their contributions under the same license as the original Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA).

Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (Publishing Right)

The Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that if accepted for publication, non-exclusive right for publishing (publishing right) of the article shall be assigned/transferred to Publisher of the Nurse Media Journal of Nursing (Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro).

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (CTAP)'. An e-mail will be sent to the Corresponding Author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing' form by online version of this agreement.

Nurse Media Journal of Nursing and Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro, the Editors and the Editorial Board make every effort to ensure that no wrong or misleading data, opinions or statements be published in the journal. In any way, the contents of the articles and advertisements published in the Nurse Media Journal of Nursing are sole and exclusive responsibility of their respective authors and advertisers.

Please note that even though we ask for a transfer of copyright for publishing (CTAP), our journal Author(s) retain (or are granted back) significant scholarly rights as mentioned before.

The Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (CTAP) Form can be downloaded here: [Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (CTAP) Form NMJN 2024]

The copyright form should be signed electronically and send to the Editorial Office in the form of original e-mail below:

Dr. Meira Erawati (Editor-in-Chief)
Editorial Office of Nurse Media Journal of Nursing
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro
Jl. Prof. Soedarto, Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia 50275
Telp.: +62-24-76480919; Fax.: +62-24-76486849
E-mail: media_ners@live.undip.ac.id

(This policy statements has been updated at 24th January 2024)

Nursing Students’ Perceptions about the Effects of Climate Change on Health: A Descriptive Exploratory Study

Journal Author(s) Rights

Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (Publishing Right)

OFFICE INFORMATION