A study of energy literacy among nursing students to examine implications on energy conservation efforts in Taiwan

Abstract

Nurses' energy literacy should be developed during schooling to ensure their involvement in sustainable healthcare. In this study, we explored nursing students' energy literacy and the relationships among knowledge, affect, and behavior to understand their implications on energy conservation efforts in Taiwan. A revised Energy Literacy Questionnaire (ELQ) was administered to 1160 students in 13 nursing colleges in Taiwan. The descriptive analysis results revealed that 42.7% of the respondents answered more than half of the energy knowledge related questions correctly. They also indicated that the nursing students still heavily relied on their schools for acquisition of energy knowledge. The multiple regression analysis indicated that energy conservation behavior was closely and positively associated with energy affect in contrast to energy knowledge. Among all demographic factors, only economic status between the “well-off” and the “facing financial difficulty” groups was significant for the students’ energy conservation behavior. According to the results, related policy implications are further discussed.