Assessing Knowledge of Hacettepe Universıty Faculty of Health Sciences Fourth-Year Students on

Abstract

Kgatlhegang, S.C., Assessing Knowledge of Hacettepe University Faculty of Health Sciences Fourth Year Students on Health Impacts of Climate Change, Hacettepe University, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Public Health Program, Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2024. The study aimed to assess the knowledge of Hacettepe University Faculty of Health Sciences fourth-year students on thealth impacts of climate change. This descriptive study was conducted in the Hacettepe University Faculty of Health Sciences in the Departments of Audiology, Child Development, Nutrition and Dietetics, Ergotherapy, and Speech and Language Development. There was no sampling as it was aimed to include all fourth-year Faculty of Health Sciences students in the study. 414 (72.4%) students took part in this study. Results from this study show that, although students had good knowledge on nature and causes of climate change and general effects of climate change, they portrayed relatively lower knowledge on impacts of climate change on human health. Majority of the students (97.3%) had not received any education on health impacts of climate change. Social media (85.0%) was the most commonly used source of information about climate change health impacts. The main barriers faced in obtaining information about climate change health impacts were insufficient provision of climate change education (32.1%), information pollution (23.2%), and lack of access to climate change information (16.4%). Knowledge of nature and causes of climate change varied according to region and marital status. Region of origin had a significant influence on knowledge about climate change health impacts. Usage of school, seminars and workshops as information sources was positively associated with knowledge of nature and causes of climate change and climate change health impacts. There was a low positive correlation between knowledge scores of nature and causes of climate change and health impacts. A moderate positive association was found between knowledge scores of effects of climate change and health impacts of climate change. Appropriate climate change educational platforms should be availed for health science students and curriculum reforms should be done to include climate change and health topics.