Abstract:

Aim: This study was done to determine the knowledge levels of Faculty of Health Sciences students, who are the health professionals of future, on global warming. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study involved 407 students who accepted to participate and continue their educating in Nursing, Nutrition and Dietetics, Healthcare Management and Social Service departments of Faculty of Health Sciences of a foundation university. Data were collected by Personal Information Form and Global Warming Knowledge Questionnaire (GWKQ). Findings: Participants’ mean age was 20.21±1.89, 34.9% study nursing, and 30.7% were junior students. Among the students, 98% stated that they heard the global warming concept, 89.9% heard greenhouse effect concept, and 52.5% heard carbon footprint concept. Furthermore, 24.3% of the students stated that they had a education on global warming; 88.2% stated to be concerned about global warming; 94.6% stated global warming negatively affected plant and animal species; 87% thought global warming cause air pollution and 88.7% though it cause food deficiency. Students stated that global warming can cause emergence of respiratory system diseases (89.4%), cardiac diseases (79.1%), infectious diseases (74.9%) and new unknown diseases (88.0%). Students’ mean GWKQ total score was found to be 105.42±12.16. Nursing department students’ mean GWKQ score was found to be significantly higher than other departments (p<0.01). Conclusion: It was determined that, although the ratio of the students who had an education on global warming was low, the students had adequate level of knowledge on global warming.

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