Stirring the sleeping giant? An evaluation of a planetary health political action sequential simulation for nursing students

The need for nurses to be political is as great as ever, however, nursing has a complicated relationship with politics and political action. This paper examines the impact of a sequential simulation learning activity that sought to transform students' values and attitudes towards political action in addressing Planetary Health issues. Adult and adult mental health nursing students from two British universities participated in the Political Action Sequential Simulation which had three scenarios related to either water or air pollution. Scenario one was clinical, while scenarios two and three were community- and policy-based, respectively. We used a pre-post design to gauge attitudes and values both before and after the intervention. Outcomes measures included Nurse Professional Value Scale-3, Political Efficacy - Short Scale, Perceived Political Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form, Social Justice Scale and Internal Environmental Locus of Control scale. Of the 256 students who undertook the activity, 75 completed both pre and post-measures. Significant shifts across all scales except the social justice scale were found, meaning that students' attitudes towards political action, their beliefs in their ability to take political action, and in particular, action related to the environment shifted significantly after the sequential simulation. We discuss these results in the context of the broader literature, reflect on some of the reasons why these shifts occurred and consider the implications for nursing education and practice.