Investigating awareness of the sustainable development and ecological footprint among physiotherapy and rehabilitation students

TL;DR

This study examines the awareness of sustainable development and ecological footprint among physiotherapy and rehabilitation students, finding that while many have heard of these concepts, their understanding of their professional relevance is limited.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the knowledge gaps of environmental concepts among future physiotherapists and suggests educational interventions to address these gaps.

Findings

Over 50% of students had heard of sustainable development and ecological footprint but struggled to connect them to their profession.

Students rated their knowledge of these concepts as low, with average scores of 1.65 for sustainable development and 2.64 for ecological footprint.

Only 10.7% and 12.3% of students could define the relationship between sustainable development and ecological footprint with their professional roles.

Abstract

The term environmental physiotherapy is now widely used, and it is emphasised that raising awareness of the environment and health from university education will be important for the transfer of knowledge on this subject into clinical practice in the future. Thus the aim of our study was to determine the awareness of Sustainable Development (SD) and Ecological Footprint (EFP) among students of physiotherapy and rehabilitation department (DPR; 512 − 76.19%). The socio-demographic data and the students’ views on the concepts of SD (8 questions) and EFP (7 questions), and the level of SD and EFP awareness (with SD and EFP Awareness Questionnaires) were recorded. Participants felt that they had insufficient knowledge of these concepts (SD (0–10): 1.65 ± 2.13-EFP (0–10): 2.64 ± 2.34). Although more than 50% of the students had heard of both concepts and had higher awareness scores, they were insufficiently able to define the relationship with their professions (SD: 10.7% and EFP: 12.3%). Physiotherapy students’ awareness of SD and EFP concepts in relation to their professional roles should be improved. It is also important to ensure that they have access to reliable sources of information via social media and the internet, as well as courses to be included in the curriculum.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-10399-y.