The Climate Crisis: Mental Health Providers' Beliefs About Responsibility and Professional Relevance
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Rachel Williamson
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Psychology Department
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Climate change is a global phenomenon that poses an existential threat to individuals worldwide. Research has shown that climate change can negatively impact mental health. However, it is unclear if, and how, mental health providers are engaging with this unique stressor, how much of a personal and professional responsibility they feel regarding the impacts of climate change, and how relevant they feel it is to their profession. 150 mental health professionals across the United States completed a measure of nature connectedness (NR-6), a measure of professional identity (PISC), and several questions assessing their sense of personal and professional responsibility to address the impacts of climate change, and perceived relevance of climate change to the mental health care profession. Correlation analyses suggested that a greater sense of nature connectedness is associated with a stronger notion of personal responsibility (r (148) = .35, p < .001) and professional responsibility (r (148) = .339, p < .001). Additionally, a stronger sense of nature connectedness correlated with beliefs of the professional relevance of pro-environmental attitudes (r (148) = .286, p < .001). There was no significant correlation between professional identity and perceived responsibility to help climate change efforts or relevance of climate change action to their profession. Given the increasing prevalence of climate-related distress, understanding how mental health care providers perceive their role in addressing this crisis and the factors that influence their perspectives is imperative for addressing the mental health impacts of this ongoing crisis.
Category
Humanities
The Climate Crisis: Mental Health Providers' Beliefs About Responsibility and Professional Relevance
UC South Ballroom
Climate change is a global phenomenon that poses an existential threat to individuals worldwide. Research has shown that climate change can negatively impact mental health. However, it is unclear if, and how, mental health providers are engaging with this unique stressor, how much of a personal and professional responsibility they feel regarding the impacts of climate change, and how relevant they feel it is to their profession. 150 mental health professionals across the United States completed a measure of nature connectedness (NR-6), a measure of professional identity (PISC), and several questions assessing their sense of personal and professional responsibility to address the impacts of climate change, and perceived relevance of climate change to the mental health care profession. Correlation analyses suggested that a greater sense of nature connectedness is associated with a stronger notion of personal responsibility (r (148) = .35, p < .001) and professional responsibility (r (148) = .339, p < .001). Additionally, a stronger sense of nature connectedness correlated with beliefs of the professional relevance of pro-environmental attitudes (r (148) = .286, p < .001). There was no significant correlation between professional identity and perceived responsibility to help climate change efforts or relevance of climate change action to their profession. Given the increasing prevalence of climate-related distress, understanding how mental health care providers perceive their role in addressing this crisis and the factors that influence their perspectives is imperative for addressing the mental health impacts of this ongoing crisis.