Eco-Anxiety among Undergraduates female medical students at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

Authors

1 Community and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

2 psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Background: The long-term alteration of atmospheric patterns, including wind and temperature, that are mainly affected by human activities is referred to as climate change (CC). Aim: To evaluate CC anxiety levels among female undergraduate preclinical and clinical years medical students at the Faculty of Medicine for Girls (FMGs), Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, to identify at-risk students to offer timely intervention and assistance. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional comparative investigation was performed on 402 undergraduate medical students enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine for Girls (FMGs), Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, during the academic year 2022-2023. A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire was used to survey them, which included demographic characteristics and items from the Climate Anxiety Scale (CAS). To identify the predictors of climate anxiety, data was examined descriptively and with logistic regression. Results: High ecoanxiety was noticed among more than half of overall students. Clinical students had significantly greater severe climate anxiety than those in preclinical years (9.4% vs. 3.7% p < 0.05). Analyses by residents found statistically significant variance in the prevalence of anxiety levels. We observed that clinical females who experienced a higher eco-anxiety score tended to practice more environmentally friendly actions. Furthermore, academic grade only was a significant predictor of eco-anxiety. Conclusions: Climate change has proven to be associated with anxiety among undergraduate female medical students. Medical school leaders should adopt future efforts to reduce eco-anxiety among them, particularly those in a clinical phase, which may eventually improve their behavior against global environmental challenges.

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