Multiple psychological factors, from fear to hope, play a role in actions addressing climate change. However, an understanding of how these factors interact to shape such behaviors remains limited. This gap holds significant implications for advancing both research and climate practice. The present study aims to contribute to the overall effectiveness of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts by providing an understanding of the factors influencing individuals' intentions to act against climate change, and casting light upon a less explored dimension - climate change boredom. Climate change boredom highlights a psychological barrier that can hinder climate action. Intention to act is a key step toward a change in behavior and effective environmental efforts. Therefore, we determined the factors that predicted climate change boredom and investigated the influence of climate change boredom on people's intention to act against climate change. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) on data obtained from a survey of a representative sample of Romanian people, the study found that beliefs about climate change, climate change goal commitment, self-efficacy of cooperation, perceived health impacts of climate change, living environment, and age predicted 66.8% of climate change boredom. Results showed that climate change boredom significantly hindered the intention to act against climate change. From a practical perspective, identifying predictors of climate change boredom and intention to act is important in developing strategies, policies, and communication approaches that reinvigorate individuals' and communities' motivations to participate in climate action efforts. Moreover, addressing climate change boredom is essential for ensuring long-term environmental security, as disengagement from climate issues can weaken societal resilience and hinder adaptive strategies in the face of climate threats.

The topic of climate change and humans' role in causing or addressing it often elicits a negative emotional response. Considerable literature supports associations between both general distress and specific negative emotions with climate-relevant outcomes. However, little is known about how individuals' tendency to differentiate specific climate change negative emotions from one another versus experience non-specific, broad negative distress may influence such associations. The current investigation examines Climate Change Distress (CCD) to assess whether specific climate change emotions of anger, anxiety, and sadness, can be distinguished from an overarching emotional distress construct in their associations with climate-relevant outcomes. We include data from the original open-source CCD investigation ( =868). When negative emotions are sufficiently differentiated, they hold distinct influences on climate change experiences, engagement, and pro-environmental attitudes and behavior. Overarching emotional distress displayed the largest associations with responses to climate change (|β|s=.19-.62, s<.001). However, decomposing distress into specific negative emotions independently accounts for smaller, yet significant, variance in key climate outcomes (|β|s=.15-.39, s<.001). Additionally, higher climate change emotion differentiation of these specific emotions is associated with higher pro-environmental attitudes and actual behavior (|β|s=.10-.26, s<.029). Greater climate anger that is more differentiated is associated with greater pro-environmental behavior (β=.13, =.038). In contrast, greater anxiety accompanied by lower emotion differentiation was associated with greater pro-environmental behavior (β=-.18, =.037). Sadness differentiation was not independently associated with included measures (|β|s<.11, s>.164). Results suggest that climate change distress alone is not sufficient to understand individuals' climate-focused attitudes and behaviors. Specific emotions associated with climate change, as well as the clarity with which individuals identify them, play a role, sometimes prompting opposing behaviors that align with those emotions' motivational underpinnings. This knowledge can potentially be leveraged to appeal to those who may be differentially emotionally affected by climate change as both an acute and chronic threat.

Youth mental health is in crisis. Climate change has the potential to tip more young people into depression and anxiety. Knowing how young people with and without depression symptoms view climate change could guide interventions to mitigate against climate induced mental health issues. We carried out in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ( = 27) young people aged 18-25 (M = 20.3 years). Participants were grouped as healthy controls (C, = 16, < 16 score on Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, MFQ) or had high depression symptoms (HD, = 11, ≥ 27, MFQ). Using thematic analysis, we explored participants views on climate change, climate action, climate messaging, climate agency and mental health. From the interviews, eight key themes emerged: (1) Negative environmental events - Climate change was understood as ranging from weather changes to natural disasters. (2) Mental health impacts - Most participants reported increased anxiety and depression, with the HD group being more pessimistic about climate change prevention. (3) Benefits of action - Focus on individual efforts. (4) Non-disruptive vs. disruptive actions - Preference for non-disruptive solutions. (5) Hope and Fear in climate messaging - balance is needed. (6) Local and global action - Emphasis on combining both approaches. (7) Leadership - Responsibility placed on politicians, institutions, and environmentalists. (8) Shared responsibility - Families, educators, governments, and celebrities all have a role in climate action. These findings offer valuable insights into the perspectives of young people with and without existing symptoms of depression. Notably, identifying differences-such as varying levels of climate pessimism-based on depression status highlights the importance of climate communication strategies that not only effectively address climate change but also safeguard youth mental health. This is important as those with existing depression symptoms may be more vulnerable to the psychological impacts of climate change.

Bangladesh faces frequent climate change-related extreme weather events. This study explores Bangladeshi adolescents' emotional responses to climate change and their perceived impact of climate change on their mental health. The supports they currently use and wish to have for coping with climate change related difficult thoughts and feelings are also explored. Adolescents ( = 200; aged 1-18 years old, mean age 17.2 years, SD=1.17) from two English-speaking schools in Dhaka, Bangladesh completed an anonymous survey. Open and close-ended survey measures assessed multiple climate change emotions, climate change worry, perceived mental health impacts of climate change, and current and desired supports. Descriptive analyses were performed, and qualitative responses were examined through thematic analysis. Following a mixed methods convergent parallel design approach, qualitative and quantitative data were integrated together at interpretation. Participants reported that they experienced a wide range of climate emotions, including concern (85 %), sadness (74 %), anger (63 %), guilt (63 %), and fear (63 %). Additionally, 62 % of participants indicated that they perceive their mental health has been impacted by climate change, either a lot or a little. Open-ended responses revealed that adolescents perceive climate change as impacting their mental health in multiple ways, including through negative emotions, physical symptoms, and reduced motivation. The most commonly used supports were self-education (52 %), school-based programs/clubs (51 %), and conversations with others (45 %). Participants expressed wishing they had more access to community-based programs/clubs (58 %) as well as climate action activities they could do independently (52 %). This exploratory study highlights that Bangladeshi adolescents may be experiencing a range of negative emotions and mental health impacts as a result of climate change. These findings are consistent with studies from other regions. While the sample was limited to students in English-speaking schools, the results can inform climate change risk mitigation and adaptation strategies. Future research should prioritize expanding to other settings in Bangladesh.

The climate crisis is not just an environmental issue; it's a profound public health emergency that is deeply affecting the mental well-being of young people, leading to widespread eco-anxiety. As the future frontline of healthcare, physiotherapy students will inevitably have to manage the health consequences of climate change. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how prepared they are specifically, how their own awareness of the crisis connects with their anxiety about the future. This exploratory study aimed to provide preliminary findings on the relationship between global climate change awareness and future anxiety among physiotherapy students in Turkey. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 394 physiotherapy students (mean age 21.3 ± 3.0; 74.6% female) from the state universities. Using an online survey, we gathered data on their demographic and social characteristics, along with their scores on two validated scales: the Awareness Scale of University Students About Global Climate Change (ASUSGCC) and the Future Anxiety Scale for University Students (FASUS). We analyzed the data using Pearson correlation to examine the relationship between climate change awareness and future anxiety, and univariable linear regression analyses to explore factors associated with climate change awareness. Overall, students reported a moderate level of climate change awareness (ASUSGCC mean: 3.4 ± 0.7) and a notable level of future anxiety (FASUS mean: 61.6 ± 8.6). We found a statistically significant, positive, but weak correlation between total climate awareness and total future anxiety (r = 0.168, p < 0.01). The regression analyses showed that several variables were statistically associated with higher awareness scores, although the explained variance was low. Female gender (β = 0.273, p = 0.001), environmental volunteering (β = 0.180, p = 0.019), and more frequent use of social media for climate-related information (β = 0.167, p = 0.001) were associated with higher climate change awareness. Higher total future anxiety was weakly but statistically significantly associated with higher awareness scores (β = 0.013, p = 0.001). In subscale-level analyses, Future Fear was also weakly associated with awareness (β = 0.009, p = 0.015). Previous environmental training was not significantly associated with climate change awareness (p = 0.466). Among physiotherapy students, climate change awareness was weakly but statistically significantly associated with future anxiety. Environmental volunteering and more frequent exposure to climate-related content on social media were also associated with higher awareness scores, whereas previous environmental training was not significantly associated with awareness. However, given the cross-sectional design and possible self-selection into volunteering, these findings should be interpreted as associations rather than evidence that volunteering increases awareness. Future longitudinal or intervention-based studies are needed to examine whether structured environmental engagement can improve climate literacy in physiotherapy education.

To examine the association between climate change awareness, climate anxiety, and carbon footprint awareness among nursing students. A cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational study. The study was conducted with 715 nursing students using self-administered questionnaires to assess their climate change awareness, climate change anxiety, and carbon footprint awareness. Sociodemographic information was also collected. Associations among variables were examined using correlation analysis, and associated factors related to carbon footprint awareness were evaluated through hierarchical regression analysis. Carbon footprint awareness was positively associated with both climate change awareness and climate change anxiety, with anxiety showing a stronger association. Psychosocial variables explained variance in carbon footprint awareness more strongly than sociodemographic characteristics (R = 0.13). Subgroup analyses showed no significant differences in carbon footprint scores according to academic year, previous awareness of the term 'carbon footprint', or place of residence. Climate change awareness was higher among students who had previously heard the term 'carbon footprint' (p = 0.013), whereas climate change anxiety differed significantly by academic year (p < 0.001). The findings suggest that carbon footprint awareness among nursing students is more closely related to psychosocial processes than sociodemographic characteristics. Climate change anxiety, in particular, appears to be an important factor associated with environmentally related awareness. Additional subgroup analyses showed no significant differences in carbon footprint scores across subgroups, whereas climate change awareness and anxiety varied according to certain subgroup characteristics. However, the findings should be interpreted cautiously given the cross-sectional design and the relatively low explained variance of the model. Integrating carbon footprint literacy and climate change into nursing curricula, considering peer education models, and promoting sustainable practices such as reducing the use of single-use materials during clinical education may contribute to increasing environmental awareness and supporting environmentally responsible nursing practice among nursing students. This study adhered to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guideline. No patient or public contribution.

Young people and university students are particularly vulnerable to the mental health effects of climate change due to their prolonged lifetime exposure to, and increased contact with, climate change and related information through learning. Despite this, little research exists on how university students cope with climate change from a psychological perspective. In this large qualitative study, we analysed data from an online survey to investigate how students (N = 823) of a large UK university cope with climate change. This survey covered which climate change situations were triggering for them, preferences for support-seeking, and specific coping strategies. Conceptual content analysis revealed that challenging situations included navigating climate change information, climate justice issues, climatic changes and environmental losses and climate change dismissal. Findings from qualitative framework analysis further showed four ways students coped with these: by reducing the mental load of climate change, doing something constructive, seeking social support and meaning and doomist thinking and behaviour. While many students highlighted the importance of social connections, a small minority considered seeking professional support. These findings partly support and expand on climate change-related coping literature and have implications for how higher education settings communicate about and act on climate change.

Climate change is a global health emergency that affects both physical and mental health due to causes including heat stress, spread of vector-borne diseases, and nutritional deficiencies. As healthcare systems face growing demands, future healthcare professionals must be prepared to respond, adapt and support mitigation. This research aims to explore medical students' perspectives on climate change, perceived climate-health education gaps in medical curricula, and how climate action manifests in their professional identity as future physicians. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews exploring the aforementioned topics of interest was conducted on 20 medical students in Singapore. Participants were recruited across all cohorts of existing students via convenience sampling. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Seven themes were identified: (1) awareness of climate change as a health determinant; (2) psychological responses towards climate change such as climate-related anxiety; (3) perceptions of climate change as important yet distant; (4) marginalisation and absence within medical education; (5) healthcare's dual role as contributor and responder; (6) tensions in professional identity and responsibility; and (7) calls for experiential, clinically integrated climate competence training. Collectively, these themes reflected strong recognition of climate-health links alongside uncertainty about professional roles and limited curricular integration. Medical students view climate change as clinically relevant but underrepresented in training. Embedding applied climate-health education and defining professional responsibilities within the curriculum may better prepare physicians for the evolving health challenges of a warming world.

The Munich Security Conference 2024 highlighted the complex connections between climate change and global security risks. Engaging students in fighting climate change is a stepping stone to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. To investigate the effect of a video-based climate change program on revitalising eco-cognizance, emotional response, and self-efficacy among nursing students in rural communities. A randomised controlled trial research design was adopted. A total of 140 nursing students completed a survey related to the Climate Change Perceptions, the Climate Change Anxiety Scale, and the Environmental Self-Efficacy Scale. The study group engaged in the video-based climate change program, while the comparison group received flyers related to climate change across the globe. The intervention group significantly improved climate change perception and environmental self-efficacy compared to the control group, with large effect sizes. On the other hand, significantly lower levels of cognitive impairment due to climate change anxiety were recorded among the intervention group compared to the control group. Our intervention improved nursing students' climate change literacy, pro-environmental attitudes, environmental self-efficacy, and anxiety. Future research may target a variety of university majors and use RCTs nested in a mixed-method design to capture the student experience with climate change before and after the RCT. This study demonstrated that a comprehensive educational program significantly improved climate literacy, pro-environmental attitudes, and environmental self-efficacy among undergraduate nursing students while reducing climate anxiety. The findings of this study offer valuable insights for enhancing student nurses' ability to translate their scientific understanding into informed decision-making regarding issues like climate change. Drastic natural disasters, including extreme temperatures, flooding, wildfires and snow and sandstorms, significantly affect populations, including nursing students. Early screening and management of climate change anxiety among university students is recommended as a buffer against upcoming mental health issues. Student counselling services are urged to consider the effect of climate change as a mental health parameter that significantly affects students' psychological and, consequently, academic life and progress. A video-based climate change program (VBCCP) is beneficial for equipping students with climate change literacy. The revitalization of the participant's overall eco-emotional response, pro-environmental behaviour and cognizance signalled the potential of VBCCP as a simulation teaching tool that might be integrated into nursing curriculums. Additionally, VBCCP is a cost-effective strategy that complies with International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) requirements. The VBCCP can be delivered in the conventional classroom environment or through the digital platform without incurring additional costs and in alignment with the definition of simulation provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. No public or patient contributions. RCT registration: NCT06223412, on 23rd January 2024.

Although planning and policy instruments are important for climate change adaptation, the implementation of these measures is critical for success. This paper studies different climate change adaptation strategies by analysing the measures adopted by stakeholders in charge of government policy development and implementation to minimise the impacts of climate change in the northern tropical region of Queensland, Australia. Local government organisations are responsible for taking a leading role in climate change adaptation. State and commonwealth government agencies are primarily responsible for developing climate transition policies and guidelines, as well as providing limited financial aid to help support the local government. Interviews were conducted with local government practitioners identified from different local government authorities in the study region. Although all the government bodies made some progress in developing better climate change adaptation policies, the interview participants identified that a lot more needs to be done, especially in implementation, including devising and the application of relevant action plans, economic assessments, stakeholder participations and engagement. From a local government practitioners' viewpoint, both the water sector and local economy will face the highest immediate impacts if climate change adaptation actions are not adequately implemented at local government level in the study region. There are currently no notable legal bindings to address climate change risks in the region. In addition, financial liability assessments due to climate risks and cost-share mechanisms among different levels of stakeholders and government authorities to face and prepare for climate change impacts hardly exist. Although the interview respondents recognise their high importance. As there are uncertainties in the achievements of climate change adaptation plans, from a local government practitioners' standpoint, the local authorities should take appropriate actions to integrate adaptation and mitigation works to face and prepare for climate risks rather than focusing only on adaptation. The respondents informed that some work has been done to identify flood prone areas and a few policy documents exist that accommodate sea level rise in planning practice, but these are done in fragments with no holistic implementation, monitoring or evaluation plans put in place.