Effect of Nursing Intervention on Improving Youth Awareness about Climate Change

Abstract

Background: Climate change causes a cascade of adverse effects for the physical environment of the planet and the living organisms on the globe. It also poses a threat to the sustainability of health systems performance and development goals through increased pressure from elevated heat, extreme weather events, droughts, changes in length and prevalence of diseases, air and water pollution. Hereafter, education is crucial to promote climate action, it helps young people to be more educated and equipped to understand the complexities of climate science and have more awareness of the dangers of climate change. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of nursing intervention on improving Youth awareness About Climate Change. Subjects and methods: A quasi-experimental research design with pre-post test was used, where 124 governmental secondary school students were enrolled using a cluster random sampling technique. Two tools were used for data collection: (1) An Interview questionnaire composed of personal and environmental data, (2) Health Effects of Climate Change Questionnaire composed of two parts (perception about changes in the frequency of disease occurrence related to climate change and the effect of climate change on various health aspects). Results: Studied youth were initially unaware (39.5%) about health effects of climate change. Moreover, the most common health aspect for the student's Awareness about the effects of climate change on health was on the physical health. Conclusion: Nursing intervention proved to be an adequate tool in improving youth awareness regarding health effects of climate change. Recommendations: Health education about climate change ought to be conducted to school students. Moreover, booklet contains information about climate change and its consequences on health should be available on all school based clinics. Furthermore, conducting long-term campaigns in schools related to the impact of climate change on health