A Germany-wide survey of caregiving professionals on climate change and mental health of children and adolescents - factors influencing their relevance rating of extreme weather event associated mental health impairments.

INTRODUCTION: Climate change presents a significant risk for the mental and physical health of young people. In order to identify and properly care for potential mental health impairments from extreme weather events, the relevance of these impairments must be assessed as high by the professional groups providing care for children and adolescents. This raises the question of which factors influence the individual relevance assessment of caretaking professionals? METHODS: Data was collected creating and conducting a Germany-wide online questionnaire via LimeSurvey. The questionnaire was addressed to professionals providing care for children and adolescents, in this case medical and therapeutic personnel as well as school and pedagogical personnel. Professional associations, chief physicians and school principals were contacted as multipliers and asked to forward the questionnaire to their members and staff. The data was analyzed using the R statistical software, and multiple linear regressions were performed to test the hypotheses. RESULTS: Overall, 648 questionnaires were taken into analysis. Approximately 70% of the participants considered climate change-induced impacts on the mental health of children and adolescents due to extreme weather events as relevant. Experiencing heat, storm, heavy precipitation, flood/flooding, and/or avalanches/mudflows made a modest yet significant contribution to explaining higher relevance assessments. In contrast, there was no evidence to suggest that an urban working environment increases the relevance assessment. CONCLUSION: The described influence of experiencing extreme weather events should not be regarded as the sole factor leading to higher relevance ratings. A more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing relevance assessments is necessary to address key aspects of risk communication and increase risk awareness.

[Climate change and child health: A nationwide survey among paediatricians in Germany]. / Klimawandel und Kindergesundheit: eine bundesweite Befragung von Pädiater*innen in Deutschland.

BACKGROUND: Children are a vulnerable group affected by climate change. Paediatricians are important actors in protecting children from climate change-related health risks and in identifying and treating relevant health effects. The main objectives of this study were to determine how paediatricians assess the relevance of climate change-related health impacts, through which channels paediatricians can be reached most effectively, how often climate change-specific prevention measures are implemented and how they are assessed. METHODS: Between February and July 2020, an online survey was conducted among paediatricians. The cross-sectional survey was designed to gather knowledge and attitudes about the relevance of climate change, sources of information and prevention measures. All participants who answered only one question or none at all were excluded. Differences between groups were determined using one-factorial analysis of variance. Correlations were determined using Pearson's bivariate correlation analysis and tested for two-sided significance. RESULTS: A total of 408 questionnaires were analysed. Over 95% of the respondents were paediatricians, with just under half of them working in children's hospitals and a good third in paediatric practices. According to paediatricians, climate change has a relevant impact on children's health. The most significant effects on children's health were considered to be longer and stronger pollen seasons, neophytes and neozoa, Lyme disease and TBE (tick-borne encephalitis, summer meningoencephalitis), UV radiation and air pollutants. Certified training options in professional journals and participation in lectures or workshops at relevant congresses were identified as the two preferred types of training. Especially professional journals as the most frequently used source of information could function as a suitable tool to reach as many paediatricians as possible. 76% of the paediatricians have not yet carried out any corresponding prevention activities, although information activities for parents or children were seen as being effective by 80%. Whereas the possibilities of integrating climate change-oriented prevention activities into everyday practice, were perceived less positively. The most frequent reason given was lack of time. DISCUSSION: To satisfy this future need for knowledge, but also for offerings from paediatricians for patients and their parents, concrete further continuous education and consultancy services must be prepared. In the future, further training offers, including the consultancy services, should be integrated into profession-specific training modules, presented at congresses, and then implemented into paediatricians' daily routine. CONCLUSION: The results of the study illustrate that the topic "climate change and health" has a high relevance for paediatricians and that information measures for parents are considered to be effective. Although paediatricians are concerned with the topic, there is an implementation deficit. Support is needed in the form of intensifying awareness-raising projects and educational modules for paediatricians to move from knowledge to action.

Hot days and Covid-19: Online survey of nurses and nursing assistants to assess occupational heat stress in Germany during summer 2020.

Objectives: Our aim was to identify if working during hot days while wearing Covid-19 related personal protective equipment causes occupational heat stress for nurses and nursing assistants in Germany. Design: Using an online survey, we assessed the impact of hot weather on nurses and nursing assistants working with personal protective equipment. Respondents were recruited by distributing the link to the survey via personal communication, email and various social media channels to nursing staff from hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient care. Results: There were in total 428 participants (18.2% male, 82.5% female), mostly (30.5%) aged between 45 and 55 years. Half of respondents (48.3%) had more than 20 years of experience in nursing. Cardiac, pulmonary, or other pre-existing conditions were reported by 46.2%.Nurses and nursing assistants working in personal protective equipment during hot days were exposed to occupational heat stress. Work was found exhaustive by 96.5% of the participants during those days. 93.0% reported breathing problems and 85.8% reported difficulties with focusing on their work. Many workplaces did not provide adequate heat protection, with distinct differences concerning the amount of prophylactic and heat mitigating measures across institutions. There were significant differences across institutions when it comes to the number of drinks served (p < 0.001), the availability of room thermometers (p < 0.001), the use of mobile cooling devices (p < 0.001) and fans (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Results suggest employers must make more of an effort to provide adequate heat protection for their nursing staff. In order to ensure patient care, there is a need for action; in particular, attention must be paid to the pre-existing health conditions of the nursing staff.