Effects of a Novel Psychosocial Climate Resilience Course on Climate Distress, Self-Efficacy, and Mental Health in Young Adults

Background: The sustainability of ecosystems and human flourishing depends on the well-being of younger generations who are most at risk. Increasing youth climate distress is an important public and mental health issue. Training in resilience skills and climate advocacy may reduce climate distress and may be accomplished in educational settings, and we aimed to test the efficacy of such training in a university setting. Methods: We developed and implemented a 10-week climate resilience (CR) course for students on eight university campuses that included lectures by experts on varying aspects of the climate crisis, discussion, guided resilience practices, and group climate projects. We administered surveys at baseline, immediately and 5 months post course completion to assess primary outcomes (mental health symptoms, climate distress, and climate self-efficacy). Results from qualitative interviews with a subsample of participants are provided to compliment the quantitative results. Results: From baseline to immediately post course completion in 150 of 190 (79%) assessment responders, students showed significantly reduced climate distress, depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, and enhanced climate self-efficacy. Course-related reductions in climate distress were associated with (a) lower depressive symptoms and (b) greater coping with climate emotions. Secondary outcomes showed increases in actions taken to combat climate change, community belonging, altruism for climate causes, and decreases in climate-related loneliness. At 5 months post course, improvements were sustained for primary outcomes (climate distress, depression, anxiety, stress, and three of four facets of climate efficacy). Conclusions: Our CR course yielded improvements in mental health and confidence to collectively contribute to climate change solutions with evidence of longer-term maintenance. The next challenge is to replicate the findings and disseminate the CR course effectively across educational settings. This will help to promote the engagement of the youth in climate solutions and help to promote the sustainability of ecosystems, importantly, while nurturing personal and collective resilience.