Exploring Nurses’ Perspectives on Climate Change Using Q Methodology

Background: As the negative effects of climate change on health increase, interest in responding to the climate crisis within the health care community is rising. Nurses, who comprise the majority of health care professionals, have significant potential to mitigate the health effects of climate change and can play a key role in addressing this global challenge. Objectives: This study aimed to explore nurses’ perspectives on climate change and propose strategies to enhance their ability to respond to climate issues based on the results. Methods: Q methodology—which combines qualitative and quantitative research methods—was used. Thirty-seven Q statements were selected from 197 statements derived from literature reviews, newspaper articles, books, and interviews. Forty-four nurses in South Korea, who were expected to hold diverse perspectives on climate change, were purposively recruited and participated in Q sorting. The data were collected in July and August 2024 and analyzed using principal component analysis with varimax rotation in PQMethod software. Results: Four perspectives of climate change were identified among the nurses: being crisis-conscious and solidarity response-oriented, emphasizing the irrelevance to nursing and being corporate response-oriented, recognizing the relevance to nursing and having a strong will to act, and being critically indifferent and passive response-oriented. Discussion: The findings reveal that nurses’ perspectives on climate change can be categorized based on the presence of a professional perspective in viewing the climate issue and the level of climate change response considered desirable. To encourage nurses’ active participation in responding to climate change, it is necessary to develop appropriate strategies according to their various perspectives on this issue. The results of this study could be used to formulate solutions that enable nurses to contribute positively to climate change in countries with similar backgrounds to South Korea and those that have achieved rapid economic growth.