Preparing Future Healthcare Professionals to Respond to Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change: A Review of Evidence and Accreditation Standards

ABSTRACT Future health professionals need to be trained to respond to the health impacts of climate change. The mental health impacts of climate change (MHICC) remain relatively under‐considered in health professional education and there are few published curricular resources available. The current studies review the current scientific evidence base relating to MHICC and audits existing educational accreditation standards and professional registration documents to provide a picture of the state of the evidence for MHICC content and its current inclusion in health professional education. Our systematic review of systematic reviews reporting on MHICC found a substantial volume of synthesized literature on MHICC with a range of established findings relating to both the direct and indirect climate impacts on a broad range of mental health outcomes. Mental health outcomes most frequently considered in this evidence include post‐traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts and behavior. Our narrative review of current professional registration competencies and educational provider accreditation standards across three health professions and five countries found limited direct or a strategic focus on HICC in the accreditation or registration standards across medicine, nursing and clinical psychology, and identifies this as a target area for development. Together, our findings provide a picture of a well‐substantiated evidence base, but limited translation to expected competencies for registration or accreditation to guide the training of future health professionals. These results indicate a clear agenda for further developing health professional education to respond effectively to the mental health impacts of climate change. This article is categorized under: Assessing Impacts of Climate Change > Evaluating Future Impacts of Climate Change Assessing Impacts of Climate Change > Observed Impacts of Climate Change