Attitudes Toward Digital Planetary Health Before and After a Lecture Series on Environmental Awareness and Future Visions: Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey Study Regarding Twin Transformation.
Julia Nitsche, Theresa Sophie Busse, Sonja Schmalen, Ina Otte, Jan Peter Ehlers
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Abstract
Background: The focus on sustainability in university teaching and education about the climate catastrophe is constantly increasing and is essential for creating change. The chances offered by digital technological innovations are decisive in spotlighting planetary health education. Alongside welfare economies and social movements, they are among the areas with great potential to drive sustainable development.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate attitudes toward digital planetary health before and after a fully digital planetary health lecture series. This included assessing environmental health awareness, climate-related health risks, and perceptions of the need to integrate digital and planetary health education into university curricula.
Methods: A repeated, pseudonymous, nonexperimental, cross-sectional online survey was conducted before (T1) and after (T2) a fully digital lecture series on digital planetary health during the 2022-2023 winter term. Because participant matching across time points was unsuccessful, descriptive analyses were conducted at the group level.
Results: A total of 180 participants completed the T1 survey, and 79 participants completed the T2 survey. The mean age in the T1 survey was 27.92 (SD 10.95) years, with a minimum age of 18 years and a maximum age of 77 years. The mean age in T2 was 29.22 (SD 12.78) years, with a minimum age of 18 years and a maximum age of 78 years. In the T2 survey, 70.9% (56/79) of the participants rated it as "(very) important" (mean 5.38, SD 1.15) to incorporate climate-related health impacts and digital health issues into their studies. In the T2 survey, 51.9% (41/79) of the participants stated that the range of educational events on digital health at universities was inadequate. Qualitative responses highlighted perceived benefits of digitalization for collaboration, knowledge dissemination, and health care access, while concerns regarding resource consumption and ethical challenges were also described.
Conclusions: Participants who attended the lecture series perceived digital planetary health as highly relevant to university education. The findings provide exploratory insights into attitudes toward the integration of planetary health and digital health topics into higher education curricula.
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