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Climate change – knowledge, views and opinions of medical students
Ricardo De Sousa Peixoto, William Regan, Hannah Bakewell, Esther Jackson, Sarah Owen, Frances Griffiths
Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
The ‘Green Wing’ is an environmental society
based at Warwick Medical School. Although we
inherently have an interest in this area, we
trained and designed focus group questions to be
as neutral and non-leading as possible (see
questions below):
INTRODUCTION
Climate change is now recognised as the ‘biggest public
health threat of the 21st century’ (1) with direct and
indirect effects:
AIMS
To explore how medical students’ knowledge, views and
opinions about climate change and what action they can take.
RESULTS
Is climate change happening?
On validity of evidence
• indirect effects include mass environmental displacement
and conflict resulting from resource scarcity (1).
“It’s very difficult to read out what is fact and what is just pure
sensationalism”
Recent calls from leading medical bodies highlight
healthcare profession’s role in advocating and acting on
climate change (3,4). This study explores the current views
of healthcare professionals on the issue and whether
there is a drive to change among this group?
On consensus of climate change
Four focus groups planned (two undertaken
and recruitment underway for two groups
from new cohort). One focus group was
volunteers and the others students
attending a research course.
Prompts used in Focus Group
1) What you know about climate change?
2) Has climate change relevance to global
health?
3) As health professionals you have some
interest in the health of others- is there a
role for health professionals in relation to
climate change? What might this be?
4) What is your personal role?
Questions for nominal group technique
1) Write down what needs to change for
there to be more action internationally in
relation to climate change.
2) Write down what you would need to change
in your way of life to contribute to tackling
climate change
3) How do these things compare with what
you are doing and why? What would make you
change?
•
The groups felt that the priority was to achieve an
international consensus on climate change
“An international collaboration with targets and making sure that
we lead by example”
How can we change it?
The need for policy change
•
Literature review
To compare with previous studies on
attitudes of health-care professionals on
climate change, we performed a literature
search. We used the databases: Medline,
ASSIA & Web of Knowledge. Search
terms:
1)‘views’ or ‘opinions’ or ‘perspectives’ and
2) ‘medic*’ or ‘health-care professionals’
and
3) ‘climate* change’ or ‘global warming’ or
‘greenhouse effect’
We found a number of studies of public
opinion but no articles specifically about
healthcare professionals. Yet the
influence of doctors on the public may be
important, as doctors are one of groups
most likely to be trusted to tell the truth
about climate change (5).
Initial analysis
We present initial analysis of the first
two focus groups
Generally the groups felt that policy was important to
achieve targets
“I still think that policy is worth more than individual contribution”
“There must be more doctors involved in policy making”
Financial incentives
•
The medical students felt that the only way to achieve a
change was by the distribution of incentives
“You need a bit of carrot on a stick”
What is the impact of the NHS?
Is there a link to health?
•
Most people thought that there was some link between
climate change and health but it was difficult to know how
•
Students thought that the NHS had an impact on the
country’s carbon footprint
“It’s just the scale of the NHS“
The role of the doctor as a role model was
highlighted by the students
“People look up to healthcare professionals (...) so if you live
in a village and if you see your local GP cycling to
work (...)”
•
There was a split between medical students. Whilst some
believed that the evidence was clear, others were not so
convinced
•
METHODS
The role of doctors
•
• direct effects include increasing morbidity and mortality
from physical effects (2).
We focus on the perspectives of medical students toward
climate change and their involvement.
What can doctors do?
There was disagreement about talking of climate
change in consultations. Whilst some students
advocated encouraging patients taking exercise
because it benefited environment and health, others
were more sceptical
“We don’t encourage our patients to go out and smile and go
and help their neighbours. That’s just not part of our
role.”
4.2 - Feeling powerless about climate change
•
The medical students talked a lot about feelings of
powerlessness
“The more I see it in the news the more unempowered I feel
personally”
“My house is a micro-cosmos to the rest of the world, I keep
trying but nobody else bothers”
CONCLUSION
Medical students were still querying the validity of
concern about climate change. An international
consensus is important.
Medical students felt powerless to change the present
situation. There was a need for policies
enforcing regulations. Some of these policies
could include financial incentives.
Some medical students were not convinced that there
was a link between climate change and health.
There was a split of opinion in the groups as to whether
doctors should include advice related to climate
change in normal consultations. Some students
thought that the authority of a doctor would be
beneficial, but others thought it was
not
appropriate.
References
1) Lancet and University College London Institute for Global Health Commission. Managing the health effects of climate change. Lancet 2009; 373:
1693–733
2) International Commission on Climate Change. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. November 2007.
3) Victor Lim et al. Politicians must heed health effects of climate change. The Lancet, Volume 374, Issue 9694, Page 973
4) Victor Lim et al. Politicians must heed health effects of climate change. BMJ 2009;339:b3672
5) Lorenzoni, I & Pidgeon, N. Public views on climate change: European & USA perspectives. Climatic Change (2006) 77: 73–95