Nursing education for climate change: historical milestones and pedagogical axes for curricular integration
TL;DR
Five pedagogical axes emerged that provide a foundation for critical and emancipatory nursing education through Freire’s methodologies, promoting awareness of socio-environmental determinants of health and capacity building for advocacy in climate justice with vulnerable populations.
Abstract
ABSTRACT Objectives: to analyze historical and conceptual milestones that support nursing education for addressing climate change, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, and 13, and to propose pedagogical axes for curricular integration. Methods: a qualitative, exploratory, documentary study, grounded in Freire’s critical perspective, which problematizes the relationships between global policies and local realities. Data collection took place between September 2024 and March 2025. Thematic analysis was used, guided by the problematization, dialogicity, and transformative praxis principles. Results: ten documents were analyzed. Five pedagogical axes emerged: historical evolution of the climate-health interface; critical knowledge for facing the climate reality; transformative training in climate and health; recognition and reduction of vulnerabilities; and collaborative and intersectoral action. Final Considerations: the axes provide a foundation for critical and emancipatory nursing education through Freire’s methodologies, promoting awareness of socio-environmental determinants of health and capacity building for advocacy in climate justice with vulnerable populations.