Developing digital educational materials for nursing and sustainability: The results of an observational study

Background: There is limited European literature on nursing and sustainability; nursing students are poorly prepared on the connections between resources, climate change, sustainability, and health, so they must acquire knowledge and develop skills and competencies in this field. The use of digital technologies and teaching via E-learning has grown, and has been widely adopted as a learning method for nursing. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to test and evaluate digital educational materials on environmental sustainability and health, in the context of university nursing education in different European countries. Design: An observational cross-sectional design. Settings: University of Plymouth, University of Jaen, and University of Esslingen for Nursing Degree Studies. Participants: 299 nursing students: 161 students from University of Jaen; 106 from Plymouth; and 32 from Esslingen. 22 professional evaluators with different profiles were recruited: Teachers, Clinical professionals, Delphi Experts, and Technical Experts. Methods: We conducted a piloting and validation process. The materials were designed and adapted to the NurSusTOOLKIT Sustainability Literacy and Competency framework. Evaluation was developed by professionals and students. We used the Spanish Standard for the assessment of Digital Educational Material Quality at University level questionnaire. All students provided informed consent prior to taking part in the learning and evaluation. Results: The overall evaluations of materials by students and professionals were 7.98 +/- 1.28 and 8.50 +/- 1.17, respectively. The Ability to generate learning was scored higher among students (mean difference: 0.84; 0.22-1.47; p = 0.008). In the overall assessment by students, statistically significant differences were found between the three universities (Welch: 11.69, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Students, professionals, and technical experts considered the materials to be very good quality, especially regarding the quality of contents, format, and design. For students, these materials can generate reflection and learning regarding environmental and health issues during nursing training.