Nursing students' knowledge and skills on children's environmental health in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional Study

Children's environmental health encompasses a wide range of factors that impact the well-being of children, including physical, chemical, biological, and social elements in their immediate environment. Safeguarding children from harmful substances is the crucial role of nursing students. Nursing students play a vital role as valuable resources for individuals, families, communities, and policymakers. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and skills of nursing students concerning children's environmental health at academic institutions delivering nursing programs in Nekemte town, Ethiopia.

An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Nekemte town from 1st to 30th August, 2023, among 634 randomly selected nursing students using standardized questionnaires: Children's Environmental Health Knowledge and Skills Questionnaire (ChEHK-Q and ChEHS-Q). Data were entered into Epi Data 3.1 and analyzed in SPSS 25, with linear regression applied to identify predictors of knowledge and skills at 95%CI and p-value<0.05 in multivariable linear regression.

Most nursing students had insufficient and poor knowledge (79%) of children's environmental health, and over a third (34%) showed insufficient skills. The study also found a reciprocal relationship: students' skills (β = 0.03, CI: 1.01-1.04, p = 0.01) and age (β = 0.06, CI: 1.02-1.10, p = 0.001) predicted their knowledge, while knowledge (β = 0.06, CI: 1.01-1.11, p = 0.01) and age (β = 0.05, CI: 1.02-1.09, p = 0.002) predicted their skills.

The study concludes that nursing students possess limited knowledge and skills in children's environmental health. It is suggested to integrate children's environmental health into nursing curricula, strengthening pediatric and neonatal education, and conduct further research to address the gap.