Encouraging and Enabling Lifestyles and Behaviours to Simultaneously Promote Environmental Sustainability, Health and Equity: Key Policy Messages from INHERIT

Advancing sustainable healthcare: a concept analysis of eco-conscious nursing practices

BACKGROUND

As the healthcare sector grapples with its environmental footprint, the concept of Eco-conscious Nursing emerges as a pivotal framework for integrating sustainability into nursing practice. This study aims to clarify and operationalize Eco-conscious Nursing, examining its attributes, antecedents, consequences, and providing operational definitions to guide future research and practice.

METHODS

Utilizing a systematic literature review across PubMed, Google Scholar, and CINAHL Ultimate, this study identifies and analyzes existing theories, frameworks, and practices related to eco-conscious nursing. Through conceptual analysis, key attributes, antecedents, and consequences of Eco-conscious Nursing are delineated, leading to the formulation of comprehensive operational definitions.

RESULTS

The study reveals Eco-conscious Nursing as a multifaceted concept characterized by environmental stewardship, sustainable healthcare practices, and a commitment to reducing the ecological impact of nursing care. Operational definitions highlight the role of education, awareness, and institutional support as antecedents, with improved environmental health and sustainable healthcare outcomes as key consequences.

CONCLUSION

Eco-conscious Nursing represents a crucial ethos for the nursing profession, emphasizing the necessity of sustainable practices within healthcare. The operational definitions provided serve as a foundation for embedding eco-conscious principles into nursing, addressing the urgent need for sustainability in healthcare settings. Future research should focus on the empirical application of these definitions and explore the economic and cross-cultural dimensions of eco-conscious nursing.

Strengthening collaboration within Dutch municipalities for a healthier living environment: experiences and possible improvements according to civil servants

Background

Health is partly determined by the physical environment in which people live. It is therefore crucial to consider health when designing the physical living space. This requires collaboration between the social and physical domains within municipalities. Collaboration is not self-evident, however, and it is difficult to achieve due to barriers relating to culture, language and work processes. Additionally, improvements in collaboration are desperately needed to address complex health issues, and working according to the new Environment and Planning Act in the Netherlands requires more collaboration. One relevant question concerns how civil servants describe the current collaboration between the social and physical domain and the concrete improvements they propose to improve such collaboration to build a healthier living environment.

Methods

In this qualitative study, the Collaborative Governance framework was used to present data from semi-structured interviews with 21 civil servants in five Dutch municipalities. Respondents were asked to reflect on their current experiences with collaboration and suggest concrete opportunities for improving collaboration.

Results

The results indicate that enhancing collaboration between the social and physical domains can be achieved by proceeding from the inhabitants' perspective, as well as by encouraging aldermen and managerial personnel to take a more active and committed role in collaboration. This involves formulating and communicating a joint vision, in addition to guiding and facilitating collaboration through integrated assignments, forming multidisciplinary teams and appointing boundary-spanners. Civil servants see a clear role for themselves in the collaborative process. They recognize their own contributions to and obligations in enhancing collaboration by actively seeking contact, absorbing each other's perspectives and pursuing common ground, starting today.

Conclusion

There are many concrete opportunities to improve collaboration between the social and physical domains. This could be initiated immediately if civil servants, managers and aldermen approach collaboration as an essential part of their jobs and acknowledge the interdependency that exits.

Sustainability and Equity in Urban Development (S&EUD): A Content Analysis of "Bright Spots" from the Accelerating City Equity (ACE) Project

Sustainable and equitable urban development (S&EUD) is vital to promote healthy lives and well-being for all ages. Recognizing equity as core to urban development is essential to ensure that cities are inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. The aim of this study was to identify and assess the elements of equity and sustainability in exemplary bright spots using the ACE Framework and the United Nations' 5 Ps of Sustainable Development. A content analysis process was performed to identify initial case studies, obtain bright spot information, and select final case studies. The exemplary bright spots selected were assessed for drivers of equity and the five pillars of sustainability. Results showed that equity and sustainability have become key considerations in urban development work. Numerous effective strategies and outcomes identified in the exemplary bright spots could be replicated in other contexts.

Climate Change Prevention through Community Actions and Empowerment: A Scoping Review

As society tries to tackle climate change around the globe, communities need to reduce its impact on human health. The purpose of this review is to identify key stakeholders involved in mitigating and adapting to climate change, as well as the type and characteristics of community empowerment actions implemented so far to address the problem. Published and unpublished studies from January 2005 to March 2022 in English and Portuguese were included in this review. The search, conducted on PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, SciELO, and RCAAP (Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal), followed a three-step search strategy. Data extraction was performed by two independent reviewers, using an extraction tool specifically designed for the review questions. Twenty-seven studies were eligible for inclusion: six used interviews as a qualitative method, three were systematic reviews, three were case study analyses, three used surveys and questionnaires as quantitative methods, two used integrative baseline reviews, and three utilized a process model design. Six studies targeted local, public and private stakeholders. Community settings were the context target of fifteen studies, whereas twelve specifically referred to urban settings. Seven types of community actions were acknowledged across the globe, characterised as hybrid interventions and referring to the leading stakeholders: local governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society, universities, public health, and private sectors.

Panel data analysis of energy conservation and emission reduction on high-quality development of logistics industry in Yangtze River Delta of China

With the implementation of Chinese carbon neutrality policy, the Yangtze River Delta calls for great concern. As a benchmark for the development of Chinese logistics industry, it accompanies energy consumption and environmental problems. This study explores how Chinese logistics industry can achieve energy conservation and emission reduction and high-quality development in the context of carbon neutrality. It analyzes the relationship between the logistics industry and economy, energy, as well as environment in Yangtze River Delta. The data is based on China Statistical Yearbook from 2001 to 2019, by means of the entropy method and panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model. The main findings are summarized as follows: firstly, the economy, industrial structure, energy, and environment have significant impact on the development of logistics industry in Yangtze River Delta. Secondly, the development of logistics industry in Yangtze River Delta is not balanced. The provinces including Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Anhui have great differences in economy, industrial structure, demographic dividend, energy consumption, and environmental protection, but they show the possibility of complementary advantages. Thirdly, the economic development and energy consumption have bidirectional effects. Environmental protection is relevant to economic development, industrial structure, energy consumption and logistics supply. Finally, some suggestions are provided on how to realize the high-quality development of logistics industry in Yangtze River Delta. In the context of carbon neutrality, it is necessary to consider energy conservation and emission reduction.

Facilitators and barriers of intersectoral co-operation to promote healthier and more environmentally friendly behaviour: a qualitative evaluation through focus groups for the INHERIT project

BACKGROUND

Tackling challenges related to health, environmental sustainability and equity requires many sectors to work together. This "intersectoral co-operation" can pose a challenge on its own. Research commonly focuses on one field or is conducted within one region or country. The aim of this study was to investigate facilitators and barriers regarding intersectoral co-operative behaviour as experienced in twelve distinct case studies in ten European countries. The COM-B behavioural system was applied to investigate which capabilities, opportunities and motivational elements appear necessary for co-operative behaviour.

METHOD

Twelve focus groups were conducted between October 2018 and March 2019, with a total of 76 participants (policymakers, case study coordinators, governmental institutes and/or non-governmental organisations representing citizens or citizens). Focus groups were organised locally and held in the native language using a common protocol and handbook. One central organisation coordinated the focus groups and analysed the results. Translated data were analysed using deductive thematic analysis, applying previous intersectoral co-operation frameworks and the COM-B behavioural system.

RESULTS

Amongst the main facilitators experienced were having highly motivated partners who find common goals and see mutual benefits, with good personal relationships and trust (Motivation). In addition, having supportive environments that provide opportunities to co-operate in terms of support and resources facilitated co-operation (Opportunity), along with motivated co-operation partners who have long-term visions, create good external visibility and who have clear agreements and clarity on roles from early on (Capability). Barriers included not having necessary and/or structural resources or enough time, and negative attitudes from specific stakeholders.

CONCLUSIONS

This study on facilitators and barriers to intersectoral co-operation in ten European countries confirms findings of earlier studies. This study also demonstrates that the COM-B model can serve as a relatively simple tool to understand co-operative behaviour in terms of the capability, opportunity and motivation required amongst co-operation partners from different sectors. Results can support co-operators' and policymakers' understanding of necessary elements of intersectoral co-operation. It can help them in developing more successful intersectoral co-operation when dealing with challenges of health, environmental sustainability and equity.

Toward Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Equity: How the Psychological Characteristics of College Students Are Reflected in Understanding Sustainable Development Goals

This study aimed to identify how the psychological characteristics of college students are reflected in understanding sustainable development goals (SDGs) by examining college students' psychological characteristics, including attitude, interests, motivations, and self-efficacy, through the Sustainable Development Goals Psychological Inventory (SDGPI). The relationships among SDGs attitude, SDGs interest, SDGs motivation, and SDGs self-efficacy were analyzed by Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. In addition, the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance were used to explore the differences among the college student groups in terms of gender, grade, and major in relation to attitude and personal characteristics. Attitude scores based on regression analysis were used to predict college students' interest, motivation, and self-efficacy in relation to the SDGs. According to the results, (a) the college students considered the three most important SDGs to be good health and well-being (SDG 3) (49.72%), quality education (SDG 4) (41.39%), and no poverty (SDG 1) (32.22%), while the three least important SDGs were decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) (41.11%), partnerships for the goals (SDG 17) (38.06%), and response consumption and institutions (SDG 12) (30.83%); (b) the SDGPI had a high reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.942; (c) there was a significant positive correlation between attitude and the variables of interest, motivation, and self-efficacy; (d) differences in attitudes, interest, and motivation between men and women were distinct and women scored much higher in these three subscales than men; (e) attitude could explain significant variance in interest, motivation and self-efficacy. In addition, attitude, interest, and motivation could account for self-efficacy. This study supports the development of sustainability education (SE) at the college level by providing new insights into college students' psychological characteristics in relation to the SDGs.