Investigation of the environmental sensitivity of social work department students

The Social Work profession considers the integration of social, economic and environmental priorities through policies and programmes. In today's world where environmental problems are gaining more and more global dimension, the importance of social and individual sensitivity to environmental problems is indisputably of great importance. The aim of this research is to examine the environmental sensitivity of the students of the Department of Social Work. The research was conducted between February 2024-March 2024 with a total of 140 Social Work Department students studying at Sinop University, Faculty of Health Sciences. "Socio-Demographic Information Form" and "Environmental Attitude Scale" were used to collect the data. The data obtained were evaluated by means of SPSS 23.0 programme. Mean±standard deviation was used in the representation of descriptive statistics of continuous numerical variables, and number and percentage were used as frequency distribution in the representation of categorical variables. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the scale scores between two independent groups and Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the scores between more than two groups. In statistical decisions, p<0.05 level was considered statistically significant. The average age of the students participating in the study was 21.65±2.513, 57.1% of them were between 21-23 years old and 90.7% of them were female. The majority of the students (97.1%) stated that they were not a member of any environmental or climate change club and did not participate in any training/event on the environment (42.1%). The majority of the participants (82.9%) stated that they did not take part in a social responsibility project on the environment. The mean total score of the students was 82.92±10.558; the mean score of the "Knowledge/Feeling" was 35.60±5.893; the mean score of the "Sensitive Behaviour" was 11.64±1.989; the mean score of the "Careful Behaviour" was 12.70±1.891; the mean score of the "Energy/Product Saving" was 7.75±1.798; and the mean score of the "Recycling" was 15.22±3.402. There was no statistically significant difference between the participants' age, gender, place of residence, income status, graduated high school, class, mother's education level and father's education level and the total score and sub-dimension scores of the "Attitude Towards the Environment Scale" (p˃0.05). As a result of the research, it was determined that the students of the Department of Social Work have a positive attitude towards the environment and their positive attitude levels are high. In line with these results, it is recommended to include more courses/topics/activities that will increase the environmental sensitivity of students in the curriculum programme of Social Work departments and to encourage students to projects related to the subject.