Awareness of sustainable development and food waste attitudes among nursing students: a cross-sectional correlational study

Background: The International Council of Nurses aims to empower nurses to take leadership roles in promoting sustainable practices within healthcare organizations and to lead sustainable development initiatives in healthcare by emphasizing that sustainable development should be part of nursing curricula and continuing education. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between nursing students' sustainable development awareness and food waste attitudes. In addition, it was aimed to compare the descriptive characteristics of the students (gender, class, sibling and receiving education about sustainable development goals) and these two concepts. Design: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between sustainable development awareness and waste attitudes among nursing students as a cross-sectional correlational study. Participants: The target audience of this study was undergraduate nursing students studying at Yuksek Ihtisas University in the 2022-2023 academic year. A total of 150 volunteer nursing students participated in the study using the convenience sampling method. Methods: Participants were administered an Introductory Information Form, a valid and reliable Sustainable Development Awareness Scale, and a valid and reliable Food Waste Attitude Scale. Participants completed Introductory Information Form, Sustainable Development Awareness Scale and Food Waste Attitude Scale. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the two scales. Results: In this study, 84.7 % of the students were female, 15.3 % were male, and the mean age was determined as 20.93 +/- 1.45 years. Sustainable development awareness scale and food waste attitudes scale scores among nursing students was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). It was found that female students (p < 0.05) and 4th grade students (p < 0.01) had high sustainable development awareness. It was found that female students and students with siblings had high food waste attitudes (p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study presents the relationship between sustainable development goals and food waste, emphasizing the importance of including sustainable development goals in the curriculum of nursing students.