Planetary health: a pragmatic theoretical framework to guide nursing education, research, and practice
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Date
2025
Authors
Vandenberg, Shannon
Oosterbroek, Tracy
Chircop, Andrea
Kellett, Peter
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
The term Planetary Health has been used in mainstream narrative in the past decades, but the term has only
recently gained traction in nursing literature. Nurses are highly trusted and well-positioned to play an integral
role in planetary health, by addressing the various challenges and health effects associated with planetary health
decline.
Issue: While the traditional scope of nursing practice includes health promotion, and illness, injury, and disease
prevention, planetary health incorporates broader issues such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss,
resource scarcity, and marine degradation. Nurses may lack knowledge and confidence regarding planetary
health issues, which may correlate to inadequate confidence and feelings of unpreparedness in practice.
Therefore, planetary health presents as a pragmatic theoretical framework for nursing education, practice, and
research.
Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to advocate for the applicability of planetary health for nursing
practice, education, and research, incorporating an example of a research study that examined nurses’ percep-
tions toward climate sensitive vector-borne diseases. Planetary health challenges are threatening human health
globally, and nurses must be prepared to preserve human and planetary health.
Description
Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) applies
Keywords
Planetary health , Theory , Framework , Nurses , Climate change , Vector borne diseases , Nursing practice , Nursing education , Nursing research
Citation
Vandenberg, S., Oosterbroek, T., Chircop, A., & Kellett, P. (2025). Planetary health: A pragmatic theoretical framework to guide nursing education, research, and practice. Nurse Education Today, 153, Article 106808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2025.106808