Determinants of Turkish nursing students' attitudes towards sustainable development and knowledge of climate change: A descriptive and correlational study

BackgroundNurses are in a unique position to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and to prevent and intervene in climate change. Determining nursing students' levels of attitudes and knowledge on this subject is important in determining the content of nursing education programs.ObjectivesTo determine the nursing students' attitudes towards sustainable development and their knowledge of climate change, and to identify determinants associated with these parameters.DesignA descriptive and correlational design was used.SettingsNational Student Nurses' Association in Turkey.ParticipantsThe sample of study consisted of 481 nursing students who were members of the National Student Nurses' Association.MethodsData were collected online with the descriptive characteristics' questionnaire, the Attitudes Towards Sustainable Development Scale, and the Climate Change Knowledge Test. We used Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman correlation analysis to analyze the data obtained from the scales.ResultsThe participants' mean sustainable development attitude score was 82.61 +/- 12.69 and mean climate change knowledge score was 6.47 +/- 1.44. There was a relationship between the sustainable development attitude and the variables such as gender, grade, warning people around them to be sensitive about environmental pollution, following the news about environmental problems, taking precautions about sustainable development and climate change in daily life, and receiving education about sustainable development and climate change in the nursing education. There was a relationship between climate change knowledge and the variables such as gender, grade, membership in an environmental organization, method of keeping up with environmental issues, and receiving education on sustainable development and climate change in nursing education.ConclusionAlthough the students displayed favorable attitudes towards sustainable development at a good level, their knowledge of climate change was not adequate. Thus, we recommend that sustainable development and climate change issues should be integrated into nursing education curricula to improve students' attitudes towards and knowledge and awareness of sustainable development and climate change.