Lee KitShan, Ramdawar Elisabeth-Abigail, Green Samantha, Adilman Rachel, Mangalji Azzra
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Toronto East Health Network - Michael Garron Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jul 22;13:1614872. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1614872. eCollection 2025.
Climate change is the greatest threat to human health of this century, yet limited formal curriculum exists within postgraduate family medicine (FM) programs across Canada. As outlined by The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) Guides for Improvement of Family Medicine Training (GIFT) report, learners have called for planetary health (including climate change) education and recommended a curriculum framework. This study aimed to understand University of Toronto Department of Family Medicine faculty attitudes around implementing a planetary health curriculum within the FM residency program.
This study used a qualitative descriptive design. Thirty faculty members from various teaching, curriculum, and leadership positions were invited to participate in virtual semi-structured video interviews. Data was collected and analyzed using thematic analysis.
Thirteen interviews were conducted between May-September 2022. Participants perceived planetary health was relevant to FM, but most were unfamiliar with the term. Four overarching themes were developed from the data: (1) curriculum implementation, (2) curriculum development, (3) barriers, and (4) attitudes. Barriers to integrating PH learning objectives include a lack of faculty knowledge and skills, burnout, and an already saturated FM curriculum.
To address the climate crisis, there is need for a planetary health curriculum, yet faculty have a limited understanding of this topic. This knowledge gap is one of multiple barriers to curriculum implementation this study identified. This study provides insight and suggestions for tools that may aid planetary health curriculum development and implementation.
气候变化是本世纪对人类健康的最大威胁，但加拿大各地的研究生家庭医学（FM）项目中正式的课程设置有限。正如加拿大家庭医生学院（CFPC）《家庭医学培训改进指南》（GIFT）报告所概述的，学习者呼吁开展行星健康（包括气候变化）教育，并推荐了一个课程框架。本研究旨在了解多伦多大学家庭医学系教员对在FM住院医师项目中实施行星健康课程的态度。
本研究采用定性描述性设计。邀请了30名来自不同教学、课程和领导岗位的教员参加虚拟半结构化视频访谈。使用主题分析法收集和分析数据。
2022年5月至9月期间进行了13次访谈。参与者认为行星健康与FM相关，但大多数人对这个术语并不熟悉。从数据中提炼出四个总体主题：（1）课程实施，（2）课程开发，（3）障碍，（4）态度。整合行星健康学习目标的障碍包括教员缺乏知识和技能、职业倦怠以及FM课程已经饱和。
为应对气候危机，需要开设行星健康课程，但教员对这一主题的了解有限。这一知识差距是本研究确定的课程实施的多重障碍之一。本研究为可能有助于行星健康课程开发和实施的工具提供了见解和建议。
