Predictors of Saudi nursing students’ attitudes towards environment and sustainability in health care

Abstract

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the predictors of Saudi nursing students' attitudes towards the environment and sustainability in health care. BACKGROUND: With rising temperature and decreasing annual rainfall, Saudi Arabia is threatened by the harmful effects of climate change on its population. In response to these threats, the Ministry of Health adapted sustainable development and environmental preservation in their National E-Health strategy. INTRODUCTION: To implement these policies successfully, healthcare practitioners should be educated on how climate change could impact human health negatively. METHODS: A secondary analysis of 280 questionnaires from baccalaureate nursing students of a university in Hail City, Saudi Arabia, was completed. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale and Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey 2 (SANS-2) were used to investigate the predictors of student attitudes towards the environment and sustainable development in health care. RESULTS: The NEP score indicated moderate pro-environment attitudes, whereas the SANS-2 mean score showed very positive attitudes towards sustainability in health care. Learning about the environment and related issues in the nursing programme, raising climate change awareness and attending environment-related seminars and training positively influenced the environmental and sustainability attitudes of nursing students. DISCUSSION: Saudi nursing students moderately manifested pro-environment attitudes but exhibited extremely positive attitudes towards sustainability in health care. The results support the need to strengthen the education of nursing students about environmental and sustainability concepts and the inclusion of these topics in the nursing curricula. CONCLUSION: The study underscores the critical role of enriching the awareness of nursing students on environmental issues and concerns and sustainability in health care. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND NURSING POLICY: The findings of this study can support the inclusion of course contents, which deal specifically with environmental health and sustainability practices, in the creation of new policies directed towards curricular revision.

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