6th Edition of World Nursing Science Conference 2026

Abstract

Climate change (CC) is a major threat to human health. Risks to health include air pollution, threats related to extreme weather events, changes in the geographic distribution of vector-borne diseases, water availability, and quality, access to food, forced migration, and mental health. As one of the largest groups of health professionals, nurses have a critical role to play in raising awareness of this phenomenon and addressing health consequences experienced by the most vulnerable populations. They must constantly adapt their practice to adequately respond to new health issues caused by CC. Working in a multitude of settings, nurses need to be involved in fighting those issues, individually and collectively and should promote policies to protect populations from the adverse effects of CC. To do so, nurses should be aware of their role in the fight against the climate crisis.

The place of CC in nursing education and practice remains little studied worldwide. A scoping review was therefore conducted to answer the following questions: What are nurses' perceptions of CC? And how are CC issues addressed in the nursing education curriculum? Results show that nurses have a great concern for the health impacts of CC but have a variable and generally low level of knowledge on the subject. They perceive CC issues as complex and the solutions as inaccessible. It is suggested that content related to CC and health be integrated from the baccalaureate to the doctoral level through case studies, simulations, and group discussions. The use of theoretical models could broaden the perspective of nursing students. However, several challenges arise overloaded curricula, professors not trained in CC, the effectiveness of teaching methods to be tested, etc. Educational interventions could increase nurses' knowledge and awareness about CC, thus contributing to CC adaptation, mitigation, and resilience.