Environmental Competencies in Nurses and Undergraduate Nursing Students Related to the Effects of Climate Change on Older People’s Health

Introduction: Climate change is increasingly affecting the health of older people. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of nurses and undergraduate nursing students regarding the effects of climate change on older people’s health. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between January and April 2024 with 708 participants (210 nurses and 498 undergraduate nursing students). The Nursing Competencies Questionnaire on Environmental Health of Older People (NCQ-OPEH) was used to assess environmental competencies. Descriptive values were calculated and interrelationships between knowledge, attitudes, and skills were analysed. Results: A total of 115 nurses (54.75%) and 185 students (37.15%) demonstrated good-excellent knowledge. Similarly, a higher percentage of nurses (50.77%) reported better perceived skills than students (42.52%). However, the majority of both samples (98.97% and 87.85%, respectively) had good to excellent attitudes. These differences were significant for knowledge (p < 0.001) and attitudes (p = 0.013) but not for skills (p = 0.054). Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between prior education on climate change and health and greater knowledge (p = 0.019) and skills (p = 0.027) among nurses and better skills and attitudes (p < 0.001 in both) among nursing students. Conclusions: Nurses have better environmental competencies than undergraduate nursing students. Therefore, it is important to include education on climate change and older people’s health to be included in the academic curriculum of university nursing degrees. Nurses also need to reinforce these competencies through specific educational programmes, ensuring that clinical practice effectively adopts an environmental health approach to the care of older people.