Planetary health integration into the medical curriculum: a pilot evaluation of pretest–posttest changes in awareness and attitudes among preclinical students

Background This pilot study aimed to describe changes in self-reported planetary health awareness and attitude scores of medical students before and after a structured Planetary Health education program, in order to provide preliminary data for integrating planetary health into the medical curriculum, and to examine variables associated with post-test scores. Methods This quasi-experimental, single-group pretest–posttest study included 217 first-, second-, and third-year students from one medical school. Participants received a structured Planetary Health education program consisting of two sessions (2 × 45 min). The researcher-developed Planetary Health Awareness and Attitude Questionnaire was administered immediately before the first session and immediately after the second session. In addition, the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale and the Environmental Health Literacy Scale (EHLS) were administered before the education. Results Post-intervention scores were higher than pre-intervention scores (pretest median 42.0 [36.0–46.0]; posttest median 47.0 [41.0–51.0]; Wilcoxon p < 0.001). The descriptive standardized mean difference was dz = 0.93, and scores increased in 82.9% of participants. The uncontrolled design precludes causal attribution. Conclusion In this pilot evaluation, self-reported awareness and attitude scores measured after the two-session structured Planetary Health education were higher than pre-test scores. Because there was no control group, this increase cannot be attributed to the education; the findings provide a preliminary indication and pilot data for future controlled studies. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that systematic integration of planetary health education into the curriculum may be useful; this hypothesis needs to be tested in controlled, long-term studies.