Nursing students’ mental health: How does eco‐anxiety effect?

Abstract

AbstractClimate change is recognised as one of the fundamental determinants of human health. Anxiety experienced in response to an ecological crisis is defined as eco‐anxiety. This study aims to determine the eco‐anxiety levels of nursing students and the relationship between eco‐anxiety and their mental health. The sample of the cross‐sectional correlation and descriptive study consisted of nursing students (N = 609) from two different universities in Istanbul. Data were collected with Personal Information Form, Eco‐Anxiety Scale and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‐21). The data were analysed with SPSS (v.28) by using the Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests, the Spearman correlation test and general linear model. It was determined that 84.2% of the participants were women and 60.8% were 18–20 years old. The participants' total Eco‐Anxiety Scale score was 25.65 ± 7.49, and the total DASS‐21 score was 21.24 ± 14.76. There is a statistically significant and positive relationship between the Eco‐Anxiety Scale and DASS‐21. Mental health nurses can play a key role in planning and raising awareness of interventions for eco‐anxiety.