Policy brief on climate change and mental health/well-being
Open accessAbstract
Climate change has a significant global impact on individuals' mental health and well-being. However, global health systems are inadequately prepared to address this issue. Studies indicate that climate events such as floods, droughts, tornados, earthquakes, and fires not only exacerbate chronic mental illness, but also impact well-being causing anxiety, stress, and in the worst case, suicide. The World Health Organization estimates that 12.6 million preventable deaths per year can be attributed to environmental factors, all of which are exacerbated by climate change, and an additional 250,000 deaths per year are projected between 2030 and 2050. Nurses must advocate for research, education, and policies that support disaster-resilient infrastructure and human services that allow communities across the globe to effectively mitigate the impact of climate change on human health.
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Various health professionals have already outlined ways to address mental health problems related to climate change within clinical practice and broader policy.
“Various health professionals, including nurses [108], emergency department clinicians [109,110], clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists [111,112], have already outlined ways to address mental health problems related to climate change within clinical practice and broader policy, highlighting the strong willingness to act in the medical community.”
From Climate Change and Mental Health: A Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [110]
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- Authors
- Liu, J., Potter, T., & Zahner, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Liu, Jianghong
- Venue
- Nursing Outlook
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 517-522
- ISSN
- 0029-6554 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7473709
- OpenAlex
- W3083150439
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 1.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nursing Outlook (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- climate change, mental health, well-being, climate-related disasters, anxiety, stress, suicide, chronic mental illness, disaster resilience, health policy, nursing advocacy, environmental health
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Mental Disorders, Female, Health Promotion, Health Status, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nursing Staff, Stress, Psychological, United States, Nurse's Role, Climate Change, Environmental Policy
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