Background: Human activities have significantly contributed to a persistent climate change trend, posing substantial threats to human health. Nurses regularly interact with patients experiencing the consequences of climate change, making their engagement in addressing this issue crucial. Nonetheless, our understanding of nurses' viewpoints regarding climate change remains limited.Aim: This scoping review aims to identify practicing nurses' and nursing students' perceptions of climate change.Design: To fulfil this objective, a documentary search strategy was developed using an iterative process.Methods: The search strategy was tested in four bibliographic databases, as well as in the grey literature. A 2‐stage selection process was conducted, and relevant data were extracted from selected articles for analysis.Results: Twenty‐two scientific articles and 11 documents from nursing associations were selected. The findings suggest that while many nurses and nursing students are concerned about climate change and its effects on their patients' health, their role in addressing the climate crisis is not well understood. Many barriers such as having a heavy workload and the lack of support hindered their ability to adjust their practice in response to the changing climate. Furthermore, many expressed a need for trainings on climate change issues.Conclusions: These results raise a great and urgent demand for these professionals to receive appropriate training to cope with climatic threats to health. Future research should focus on the development of nursing climate leadership, and healthcare organizations should support nursing initiatives and help raise nurses' awareness regarding climate change.

Objective: Access to palliative and end-of-life (EOL) care might be influenced by knowledge, attitudes, and representations of these practices. Socioeconomic factors might then affect what people know about EOL care practices, and how they perceive them. This study aims to compare knowledge, attitudes, and representations regarding EOL practices including assisted suicide, medical assistance in dying, and continuous palliative sedation of adults, according to socioeconomic variables. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based questionnaire study featuring two evolving vignettes and five end-of-life practices was conducted in Quebec, Canada. Three sample subgroups were created according to the participants’ perceived financial situation and three according to educational attainment. Descriptive analysis was used to compare levels of knowledge, attitudes, and representations between the subgroups. Results: Nine hundred sixty-six (966) people completed the questionnaire. Two hundred and seventy participants (28.7%) had a high school diploma or less, and 42 participants (4.4%) were facing financial hardship. The majority of respondents supported all end-of-life options and the loosening of eligibility requirements for medical assistance in dying. Differences between subgroups were minor. While respondents in socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups had less knowledge about EOL practices, those with lower educational attainment were more likely to be in favor of medical assistance in dying, and less likely to favor continuous palliative sedation. Conclusions: People living with situational social and economic vulnerabilities face multiple barriers in accessing health care. While they may have poorer knowledge about EOL practices, they have a positive attitude towards medical assistance in dying and assisted suicide, and a negative attitude towards continuous palliative sedation. This highlights the need for future research and interventions aimed at empowering this population and enhancing their access to EOL care.

Background and Purpose: The consequences of climate change on individuals’ and communities’ health are numerous. Nurses are among the healthcare professionals most confronted with the climate crisis, and have great potential to limit its impact on vulnerable populations. However, our knowledge of educational options for preparing nurses to address climate change remains limited. The aim of this scoping review was to examine how climate change is integrated into the academic curricula or continuing education of nurses. Methods and Procedures: Arksey and O’Malley's (2005) framework was used to conduct this scoping review. Documentary search strategies were developed and tested in four databases, and a search of the grey literature was carried out. A two-stage selection process was implemented. Data from 16 scientific articles were extracted and 11 grey literature references were included in the analyses. A narrative summary allowed to synthesize the findings. Results: Academic and healthcare organizations are increasingly implementing innovative and participatory educational initiatives to raise nurses’ awareness of climate change's health impacts and encourage students and nurses to act in their daily lives and clinical practice. Challenges include a dense curriculum, the absence of a climate competency framework, and theoretical content being presented in an unstimulating manner. Conclusions: The use of innovative, interactive teaching methods, reference to a theoretical model centered on planetary health, and climate change content distributed throughout the curriculum are some ways to stimulate students’ interest in climate issues. Collaborative efforts involving academia and organizations are needed to foster nurses’ awareness and encourage a variety of climate-oriented actions with planetary reach.

Background: Climate change is a major threat to human health. Nurses are in contact with patients suffering from the effects of climate change in their daily work. Therefore, they need to be involved in combating it at both the individual and collective levels. However, there is still very little known about nurses’ perception of climate change and their role toward it. A few recent studies have embarked on the process of examining the perceptions of these health professionals relative to climate change, but no exploratory review of the literature has been conducted on nurses’ perception of this phenomenon.Objective: The purpose of this protocol is to develop a research strategy for an exploratory review of the literature focused on identifying nurses’ perceptions of climate change.Methods: Firstly, with the help of a specialized librarian, we defined keywords and their combinations, using an iterative process, to develop a documentary search strategy. This strategy was tested in the following four bibliographic databases: MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL, Embase, and Web of Science. A search of the grey literature will also be conducted to supplement the results of the bibliographic database search. The next step will be for 2 members of the research team to carry out a 2-stage selection process using the web-based systematic review software Covidence. They will carry out this selection process independently, with the aim of identifying relevant studies that meet the inclusion criteria for our exploratory review. Finally, data on year of publication, authors, geographic area, article type, study objectives, methodology, and key findings will be extracted from selected articles for analysis. The data will be analyzed by the research team based on an in-depth examination of the findings and will be directed toward answering the research question and fulfilling the study’s objective.Results: The results will help in defining nurses’ perceptions of climate change more clearly as well as the role they can play and what they need to be able to bring forward solutions to this phenomenon. The findings should also serve to guide the health sector and nursing faculty’s interventions aimed at preparing health professionals to act on the potential threats associated with climate change.Conclusions: The preliminary search suggests a possible gap between the importance of the nursing role in addressing the health impacts of climate change and the nurses’ lack of knowledge and awareness on this matter. The results will allow for raising nurses’ awareness of their role in the fight against climate change and the ways to address its health effects. This study will also open up new research perspectives on how to equip nurses to better integrate response to climate change issues into their professional practice.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/42516

Background: Informed end-of-life decision-making requires a high level of death literacy. We still know little about the general population’s level of knowledge and its determinants. Aim: To assess knowledge of the general population regarding the legal status and definitions of various end-of-life practices, and to compare the level of knowledge according to individual characteristics known to influence death literacy. Design: A self-administered questionnaire featuring two evolving vignettes was used to assess participants’ knowledge relating to the legal status of various end-of-life practices and whether these practices are Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), which is legal in Canada. The questionnaire also assessed participants’ individual characteristics such as their experience as caregivers for someone who received palliative care, their perception of health, and their financial situation. Setting/participants: Participants were community-based community-based Canadian adults able to read French or English. Results: In total, 27% of the participants associated the description of care withholding with MAiD, 39% incorrectly associated the description of continuous palliative sedation with MAiD, and 34% incorrectly indicated that the described intervention was illegal. Having cared for someone who received palliative care, at a younger age, a higher level of education, and having participated in advance care planning were associated with better knowledge regarding end-of-life practices. Conclusion: Gaps in knowledge about end-of-life practices exist in the general population, they are associated with different individual characteristics and may limit citizens’ capacity to engage in informed end-of-life decision-making. Community-based interventions adapted to different audiences are essential to ensure a quality end-of-life for all.

Background: Palliative care is a key component of the healthcare system, yet structurally vulnerable populations face significant barriers to accessing it and its support in care planning. This study explored beliefs, needs, and concerns related to palliative care and advance care planning among these populations. Methods: Two semi-structured focus groups were conducted in major cities in the province of Quebec, Canada, in May and August of 2022. Participants had to be at least 18 years old and be able to speak and understand French. They also had to attend or use the services of a partnered community organization serving the target population. Data was analyzed according to the thematic content analysis approach. Results: Fifteen (15) persons participated: all were Caucasian, and most were women, born before 1960, single, and retired. Misconceptions and a lack of awareness of the various palliative care options were generally observed among participants. Experience with caring for a dying person, access to a family physician, and access to a legal professional were identified as elements promoting awareness of palliative care. Participants raised an urgent need for more accessible information about palliative care and advance care planning, and for more access to care. Conclusions: A good understanding of palliative care options helps individuals and families make informed decisions and be better prepared for the end of life. Structurally vulnerable people urgently need accessible information to support this preparation. This study supports the development of equity-focused policies and tailored interventions to improve access and planning for this population.