A Measurement of the Environmental Literacy of Nursing Students for a Sustainable Environment

Abstract

Environmentally literate citizenship is a lifelong learning process that aims to develop citizens who possess the knowledge, skills, and commitment to make responsible decisions that will affect the quality of the environment. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the environmental literacy levels of nursing students in terms of a sustainable environment by considering the dimensions of environmental literacy. This study was also aimed at understanding the correlation between the dimensions of environmental literacy and revealing the factors affecting the dimensions of environmental literacy. This research was designed as a descriptive study using a survey model. A total of 278 nursing students participated in this research. It was revealed that the students obtained a high score for the use and concern dimensions of environmental literacy, and their attitudes towards the environment were moderate; however, the nursing students had the lowest scores for the environmental knowledge component, which indicates that they need support in improving their environmental knowledge. There were also statistically significant differences in the dimensions of environmental literacy based on gender and whether the students had taken environment-related courses. All the dimensions of environmental literacy were found to be positively correlated with each other, ranging from low to moderate correlations.