Abstract This scoping review maps nurse scientists’ contributions to climate change and health research, including work about Indigenous Peoples, and identifies gaps and future opportunities. A systematized literature search of multiple databases was conducted between 2018-2023 using the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. Eligible articles were English-language studies published in the past five years, in nursing journals or by nursing faculty, and related to climate change or associated extreme weather events. Abstracted data included: Year, Focus (e.g., multiple hazards, storms, sustainability), Outcomes, Social Determinants of Health, Sample Population/Setting, Study Design, Study Location, and Field of Journal. Studies were categorized by the countries’ Sustainable Development Index to evaluate equity in representation. Two reviewers jointly screened the first 30 abstracts for consistency. Remaining articles were screened independently, with discrepancies resolved through discussion. Overall, 202 articles were included in the review, with 159 reporting primary research. The number of publications focused on climate change increased over time, with 71% focusing on climate hazards and nearly half (42%) conducted in countries with low Sustainable Development Index scores (<0.250). Adults and healthcare providers were the populations most frequently sampled, with few studies of communities, work, or school settings. Nearly half were observational studies (42%), followed by qualitative inquiry (22%), review articles (21%), with little interventional or community-engaged research. Few studies (4%) focused on Indigenous health and 42% addressed at least one social determinant of health. Physical health, mental health, and risk management were the most common outcomes; few examined systems of power in adjusting to climate change. We found many opportunities to strengthen and increase nursing research on climate change, including by emphasizing local and global factors shaping climate vulnerability, engaging diverse ways of knowing, centering Indigenous knowledges, studying sustainability and a just energy transition, and pursuing solutions-oriented, transformative research across more diverse populations and settings.
Richards et al. (Fri,) studied this question.