Environmentally sustainable contraception as a clinical entry point for planetary health education: a mixed-methods evaluation of student experiences in interprofessional teaching sessions

Healthcare professionals increasingly face the health consequences of environmental change while simultaneously contributing to environmental harm through healthcare delivery. Despite growing integration of planetary health into health curricula, students consistently report difficulty applying sustainability principles in specific clinical contexts. Environmentally sustainable contraception offers a concrete clinical entry point, given the environmental impact of hormonal contraceptives and the shared responsibility of physicians and midwives in contraceptive counselling. This study aimed to understand how final-year medical and midwifery students engage with an interprofessional teaching session on this topic, and what educational value they perceive in this approach. We conducted a cross-sectional mixed-methods evaluation of five two-hour interprofessional sessions at Amsterdam UMC between May 2024 and March 2025, as part of an ongoing programme. Participants were final-year medical students and midwifery students ( N = 73). Data collection combined post-session questionnaires with independent non-participant observations. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively; qualitative data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The sessions were highly rated for relevance (M = 4.4 on a five-point scale) and overall satisfaction (M = 4.1). Although 79% had received prior sustainability education, the majority (59%) had not previously linked sustainability to contraception. After the sessions, 82% expressed willingness to consider environmental sustainability in future consultations. Qualitative analysis identified three themes: (1) increased awareness and intended clinical integration; (2) need for practical information and professional role reflection; and (3) ethical ambivalence and critical engagement with the session’s framing. Environmentally sustainable contraception is a clinically relevant and practically implementable entry point for planetary health education in an interprofessional setting. While students showed increased awareness and intention to act, translating this into confident clinical action requires concrete environmental data, validated communication tools, and explicit ethical frameworks. This is particularly important to navigate the tension between individual patient interests and broader environmental responsibility that is inherent to sustainable clinical decision-making.