What do medical students know about sustainable development?

BORLU A., Aslan T., DURMUŞ H., ÖNER N., TAT A. N.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 2024 (SSCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1108/ijshe-11-2023-0532
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, EBSCO Education Source, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Pollution Abstracts, Public Affairs Index
  • Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the level of sustainability consciousness (SC) and sustainable development (SD) awareness of medical students, as well as to identify the factors associated with them.Design/methodology/approachThis cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted among 1,435 medical students. The socio-demographic questionnaire and the sustainability consciousness questionnaire (SCQ-L) were the data collection instruments.FindingsA significant proportion of medical students had not heard of the concept of SD (63.6%), only 7.9% of the participants reported that they could define the SD concept. Female gender and good economic status were associated with significantly higher median SCQ-L total score (p = 0.001). Although all SD goals are closely related to health, almost half of the medical students reported no impact on SD. Besides, 47.8% of the medical students reported that physicians could have an active role in achieving SD.Social implicationsAs the realization of SD and health services are closely linked, it is important to examine the sustainability knowledge, attitude and behavior of health professionals.Originality/valueThis study examined the SD awareness and SC knowledge, attitude and behavior among medical students, the leading health-care professionals of the future.