Measuring Nurses' Knowledge and Awareness of Climate Change and Climate-Associated Diseases: Protocol for a Systematic Review of Existing Instruments.

backgroundClimate change is a health emergency. Each year, it is estimated to cost more than 230 million years of life expectancy, with 4-9 million premature deaths associated with air pollution, and 9 million excess deaths due to non-optimal temperatures, representing 7% more temperature-related deaths since 2015 and 66% more since 2000.

objectiveIdentify and evaluate the reliability, fidelity, and validity of instruments measuring nurses' knowledge and awareness of climate change and climate-associated diseases.

methodsA systematic literature review will retrieve and assess studies examining instruments measuring nurses' knowledge and awareness of climate change and climate-associated diseases. Using predefined search terms for nurses, climate change, literacy and scales or tools, we will search for published articles recorded in the following electronic databases, with no language or date restrictions, from their inception until 31 October 2023: Medline Ovid SP (from 1946), PubMed (NOT Medline[sb], from 1996), Embase.com (from 1947), CINAHL Ebesco (from 1937), the Cochrane Library Wiley (from 1992), Web of Science Core Collection (from 1900), the Trip Database (from 1997), JBI OVID SP (from 1998), and the GreenFILE EBSCO. We will also hand-search relevant articles' bibliographies and search for unpublished studies using Google Scholar, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, and DART-EUrope.eu. This will be completed by exploring the gray literature in OpenGrey and the Grey Literature Report, from inception until 31 October 2023, in collaboration with a librarian. Twelve bibliographic databases will be searched for publications up to 31 October 2023. The papers selected will be assessed for their quality.

resultsThe electronic database searches were completed in May 2023. Retrieved articles are being screened, and the study will be completed by October 2023. After removing duplicates, our search strategy has retrieved 3449 references.

conclusionsThis systematic review will provide specific knowledge about instruments to measure nurses' knowledge, awareness, motivation, attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, skills, and competencies regarding climate change and climate-associated diseases.