The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (2021) sounded an alarm for needed attention on planetary health and global climate change and its impacts. Hundreds of scientists serve on the IPCC to assess the science of climate change and communicate implications and risks to policymakers in an understandable way. In their report, the panel proposed approaches to mitigate detrimental outcomes and adapt to change. Their key message: the Earth is in trouble and if nothing is done to curb the climate catastrophe, humans will suffer the consequences of rising temperatures, and more frequent and more intense weather events.
At the recent biennial International Family Nursing Conference—IFNC15—two presentations specifically addressed planetary health. Why not more? Now is the time to think about how your program of research addresses planetary health. When you adopt a planetary health perspective, you acknowledge that humans are altering the Earth’s ecosystems and that changes in the Earth’s water, land, and atmosphere adversely affect human health and the ability to achieve health and wellbeing. The bottom line: more research is needed on planetary health by family nurse scientists.
Because families and communities around the planet are affected by global climate change, family nurses around the globe are called upon to undertake research that will help families as they face the challenges of the climate crisis and its impacts on loved ones. The large-scale risks to families are hard to fathom and may be intimidating. Yet, we must embrace the challenge, use a planetary health lens, focus research questions on planetary health and family health, generate knowledge, and provide evidence, recommendations, and knowledge to key partners in family nursing.
Start with a critical look at your program of research and identify factors connected to planetary health that can or should be incorporated into your scholarly efforts. Team up with family nursing practitioners and educators. Listen to accounts about families coping with climate change and how they are reacting, responding, mitigating, and adapting to their changing natural environmental. Tap your curiosity and explore environmental issues that seem puzzling. For example, how could global warming contribute to a cold snap in Texas and why were Texans with limited wealth affected disproportionately?
Then take a detailed look at the literature. Examine research about planetary health factors that would fit well into your program of research. Consider testing a hypothesis with a different population. Don’t be discouraged if you discover that a topic of interest is already saturated with high quality studies! This discovery demonstrates you’re on the right path and opens an opportunity to refine your question.
Use the FINER framework to develop strong research questions (Cummings, 2013; Fandino, 2019). The mnemonic stands for Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, and Relevant.
- Develop a question that can be answered within the limitations of your resources; make it feasible.
- Topics on global climate change and planetary health will be interesting given the urgency advanced by the IPCC. Research participants will be drawn to topics that explore how they are affected by climate change. And publishers want to print content that is contemporary.
- Gaps in knowledge about planetary health and family health provide opportunities for developing a novel research question. A thoughtful literature review will inform whether your topic is unique.
- Research must always be ethical and studies that involve human subjects will require approval from your institutional review board or ethics committee.
- Finally, your question should seek to answer a question that is relevant. Given the dire state of the Earth’s ecosystems, develop questions targeting planetary health and family health important to families and policymakers.
Consider the needs and perspectives of these stakeholders:
- Policymakers need evidence of the impact of global climate change on families to support their policy actions that seek strategic, substantial, and sustained reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gasses.
- Health care providers need recommendations on the best ways to provide anticipatory guidance to families about the hazards they face due to global climate change.
- Families need to understand the risks they face as the Earth’s ecosystems are altered and the planet becomes warmer.
Using a planetary health lens to inform your research helps bring topics into focus. Adding a filter emphasizes what you see and allows you to look at the world a little differently. Once you begin exploring how human actions affect the Earth, how the Earth is changing, and how the changes are affecting human health, you may discover many opportunities to explore. A planetary health lens allows you to see more clearly what was always there but was difficult to recognize: how everyday family choices and actions are connected to planetary health; that health care providers need tools to support families affected by global warming; and the gaps in policy addressing the ability of families to respond to climate change. Here are some examples:
- What transportation options do families have? Can they adopt bicycles, buses, or rail transit instead of automobiles with internal combustion engines?
- How do families with vulnerable children and older adults stay safe on high-temperature days with poor air quality? What preventive strategies are available to these populations?
- Are families sufficiently protected from failure of engineered structures such as levies and dams, and natural features such as coastlines, riverbeds, and forests? What actions are policymakers taking to alleviate families’ risks?
- What is the lived experience of families affected by natural disasters such as flooding, fires, drought, crop failure, and famine?
- Because weather events are predicted to be more extreme and frequent, what preventive actions must families take if they live near coastlines or within dense forests?
- How are families adapting to rising outdoor temperatures? How can families prepare for earlier, longer, and hotter hot seasons?
- Do families living in flood-prone areas or forests vulnerable to fire have access to affordable insurance policies to alleviate financial hardship if their property is destroyed?
- Are government-sponsored incentive programs accessible to families seeking to defray the cost of high-efficiency heat pumps that allow families to keep indoor air temperatures comfortable for people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or heart failure?
- Are families that rely on the fishing industry adapting to warming coastal waters, such as in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine?
Nurse scientists with a family nursing focus have an opportunity to contribute to the development of knowledge about planetary health and its impacts on families, communities, nations, and continents. Thinking at a planetary level will enrich your contributions to family nursing education, practice, and research. Formulating new research questions at the intersection of family health and planetary health is within your reach!
Next month, we focus on contributing to the research agenda for planetary health/human health. This blog series is being hosted by the International Family Nursing Association to support implementation of the IFNA Position Statement on Planetary Health and Family Health.
How to cite the position statement (APA 7th edition format)
International Family Nursing Association (IFNA). (2020). IFNA Position Statement on Planetary Health and Family Health. https://internationalfamilynursing.org/2020/04/18/ifna-position-statement-on-planetary-health-and-family-health/
Paula V. Nersesian, PhD, MPH, RN, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Southern Maine. Her scholarship focuses on health and wellbeing among vulnerable populations, their strengths and assets, and psychosocial factors, such as loneliness, that are associated with health outcomes. She chairs the Strategic Communication Subcommittee of the IFNA Research Committee and is the liaison between the IFNA Communications Committee and the IFNA Research Committee. Paula is also a co-author of the IFNA Position Statement on Planetary Health and Family Health. You can follow her on Twitter @PaulaNersesian
References:
Cummings, S. R., Browner, W. S., & Hulley, S. B. (2013). Conceiving the research question and developing the study plan. In S. B. Hulley, S. R. Cummings, W. S. Browner, D. G. Grady, & T. B. Newman (Eds.), Designing clinical research (4th ed., pp. 14–22.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Fandino, W. (2019). Formulating a good research question: Pearls and pitfalls. Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, 63(8), 611–616. https://doi.org/10.4103/ija.IJA_198_19
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2021). United Nations. https://www.ipcc.ch/
Image credits: Pixabay
Stevepb : binoculars
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Kitterphoto: Camera and lens filter
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