Brodie, Lydia (2021) Regional nursing students: The relationships between future orientation, critical thinking and climate change attitudes. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Climate change is having an increasing impact on public health. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationships between future orientation, critical thinking and environmental attitudes. The theory of psychological distancing was examined in line with current literature. It was hypothesised that a) being future orientated would predict positive attitudes about climate change and sustainability, and b) future orientation would have a mediating impact on the relationship between critical thinking and attitudes about climate change and sustainability. An online survey was distributed to nursing students at the University of Southern Queensland via StudyDesk, an online learning management system. The survey was completed by 39 students and included the Consideration of Future Consequences scale, the Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing-II scale, the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale and additional questions on climate change attitudes. Regression analyses found that a correlation of .63 (p <.01) between future orientation and total attitudes on climate change, with an R-squared value of .397 and beta coefficient of 12.19 (p <.001). This indicates that future orientation can help predict climate change attitudes. Results from the PROCESS analysis demonstrated future orientation has a partially mediated role on critical thinking and attitudes on climate change. Future orientation accounted for 50% of the effect of critical openness on attitudes and for 46% of the effect of critical thinking on attitudes. These findings help bridge gaps in current research and have practical implications to policy and nursing curricula development.
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Statistics for this ePrint Item |
| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Gavin Beccaria |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Jul 2025 01:23 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Jul 2025 01:23 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | future orientation ; climate change ; nursing students ; critical thinking ; attitudes ; psychological distancing |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52180 |
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