PROPOSED ELEMENTS OF A CURRICULUM FOR INTER-PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AT A SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY

K. Mostert¹, H. Lister², F. Maric^3,3, M. Black¹, A. Holiday¹, S. Jordaan¹, S. Sibiya¹, L. Albanie¹, M. Matloba¹

¹University of Pretoria, Department of Physiotherapy, Pretoria, South Africa, ²University of Pretoria, Department of Occupational Therapy, Pretoria, South Africa, ³UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Health and Care Sciences, Tromsø, Norway

Background: Climate change is one of the largest threats of our time. It threatens to undo the developmental progress of the last 50 years. Healthcare professionals need to be aware of the perils of environmental degradation to the well-being of humans and planet Earth. Knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes are required for informed decisions concerning sustainable healthcare. To ensure and develop the competence of future healthcare professionals the topic of ‘environmental sustainability’ should be included in curricula.

Purpose: To investigate potential content, teaching-and-learning-, and assessment strategies for environmental sustainability in an inter-professional undergraduate course offered at a South African university.

Methods: A brief document analysis was carried out using published elements of curricula. Extracts from the documents were deductively thematically analysed, with subsequent inductive framework analysis, using the Planetary Health Education Framework (PHEF).

Results: Content for a curriculum was described according to the domains of the PHEF: 1) interconnection with nature, 2) the Anthropocene and health, 3) systems thinking/complexity-based approaches, 4) equity and social justice, and 5) movement building and systems change. Students need to learn about the negative impact of the deteriorating environment on human functioning and the dependence of human health on local and global ecological systems. Supporting the importance of interconnection within nature, indigenous knowledge systems are valuable. Some core concepts that need to be included in curricula include knowledge of the geological epoch where the impact of human activity on the earth and its atmosphere is emphasised. For students to be able to cooperatively design and implement transformative solutions to environmental concerns, they should understand the intricate interactions between natural and social systems. Students must be cognisant of the detrimental impact of environmental degradation on humans, and that health is unequally distributed amongst different populations, generations, and geographical areas, and amongst those most responsible for, and those most affected by, environmental deterioration. Students should, furthermore, be able to advocate for environmental sustainability in health. Teaching-and-learning strategies were organised into two themes, ‘active’ and ‘passive’, with a preference for active strategies, like discussions and case studies, projects, presentations, debates, and/or reflective exercises, in addition to objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE) of communicating about environmental sustainability to clients. Suggested assessment strategies were forms of active learning used for assessment, for example, projects and posters.

Conclusions: Potential content, teaching-and-learning and assessment strategies on environmental sustainability are summarised and discussed to contribute to the body of knowledge in this developing field. The findings are applied to a proposed structure to inform a course at the University of Pretoria’s School of Healthcare Sciences, and to healthcare education globally.

Implications: The study provides a basis for curriculum development and integration, through an inter-disciplinary lens, regarding environmental sustainability. Suggested content may be used to develop competencies and learning outcomes. The findings inform a course at a South African university, without adding credits. The proposed structure and ideas for community-based projects, may guide curriculum developers globally. We recommend an investigation to integrate environmental sustainability into the full physiotherapy course, and not only into stand-alone modules.

Funding acknowledgements: None

Keywords:
Environmental sustainability
Planetary health
Inter-professional community-based education

Topics:
Primary health care
Education: continuing professional development
Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of Pretoria

Committee: Research Ethics Committee, Faculty of Health Sciences

Ethics number: 636/2021