Promoting Environmental Responsibility Toward Climate Change

Promoting Environmental Responsibility Toward Climate Change Among Middle School Students: A Randomized Controlled Study Based on the An Integrated Planned Behavior Theory and Value-Belief-Norm Theory

This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a climate change environmental responsibility development program for middle school students on their environmental responsibility, environmental attitudes, and environmental behaviors. The program to be implemented in the study is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory, is compatible with the new ecological paradigm, and its main focus is to instill environmental responsibility towards climate change.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Health Behavior; Climate Change; Environmental Awareness and Sensitivity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Brochure and standard curriculum; Behavioral: Environmental Responsibility Program

Detailed Description

Climate change is defined as a global public health problem and poses a significant threat. The accelerating rate of climate change negatively impacts human health, animal ecosystems, agricultural diversity, and environmental conditions. The world's climate system has undergone a significant increase in the last century, resulting in various global changes. These include warming of landmasses, rising ocean and sea levels worldwide, thawing of permafrost, earlier onset of plant growth in spring, and changes in the geographical distribution of some plants, animals, and insects. As a result of the changing climate system, extreme weather events such as storms, devastating floods, severe waves, heat waves, and uncontrollable wildfires have begun to increase globally. Climate change also affects human life and health in various ways. It is predicted that malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat-related deaths will increase due to climate change. Furthermore, it threatens fundamental elements of good health such as clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food supply, and safe shelter, hindering decades of progress in global health. Individual, societal, and institutional efforts are being undertaken to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. When the scope of the studies is examined, there are different examples aimed at raising individual awareness, encouraging community participation, and developing positive environmental behaviors. In the field of public health, the focus is on understanding the effects of climate change on human health and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions that focus on individual behavioral change in combating climate change. This includes nature-based education programs, documentary screenings, problem-solving-based or STEM-based interactive education programs.

In the literature, the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory are frequently used to explain behavioral change and mitigate the effects of climate change. Furthermore, when examining models that integrate the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory to explain intentions towards behavior, the importance of the interaction between values, beliefs, norms, attitudes, and intentions is emphasized. The New Ecological Paradigm approach has been found to be important in studies conducted on the Value-Belief-Norm Theory. Although the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Value-Belief-Norm Theory, and the New Ecological Paradigm are frequently used in studies on climate change, these studies are observational and require intervention studies to explain causal relationships. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory in a program to develop environmental responsibility among middle school students using the new ecological paradigm approach. Combining one paradigm and two theories can offer a framework for structured environmentally focused education.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 90
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. being enrolled in the schools where the project is implemented,
2. being 11-13 years old,
3. obtaining parental permission and student consent to participate in the study,
4. volunteering to participate in group work

Exclusion Criteria:

1. the students have a barrier to attending the sessions planned within the scope of the study (allergies such as dust, soil or plant allergies, parental involvement barrier),
2. the parent is unwilling to receive email and text message communications as part of the study,
3. the teacher is unwilling to be part of the program

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control Group; The control group is an active control group that receives standard care and additional information through a brochure. Similar to the experimental group, the control group will follow a curriculum focused on themes covered in the science lessons within the school curriculum.	Behavioral: Brochure and standard curriculum; A brochure containing messages and guidance on climate change, its effects and environmentally friendly behaviour will be distributed to students in the control group. In addition, students are studying units and topics related to the environment in the school curriculum. The experimental group also has this curriculum.
Experimental: Intervention Group; The research initiative is to develop an environmental responsibility program for middle school students, prepared in accordance with the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Value-Belief-Norm Theory, and the New Ecological Paradigm, regarding climate change. The program to be implemented in the study and its main focus is to instill environmental responsibility towards climate change. This program includes intervention activities prepared based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (Perceived Attitude, Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioral Control, and Intention) and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory (Values, Ecological Worldview, Assumed Responsibility, Awareness of Consequences, and Personal Norms) within the framework of the New Ecological Paradigm (an eco-centric belief system); practical training booklet, environmental journal, talking atlas, educational video, cornering technique, ınvitation from my ecological friend, eco-classroom, eco-school program, awareness board, green friendship bag,	Behavioral: Environmental Responsibility Program; The research initiative is to develop an environmental responsibility program for middle school students, prepared in accordance with the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Value-Belief-Norm Theory, and the New Ecological Paradigm, regarding climate change. The program to be implemented in the study and its main focus is to instill environmental responsibility towards climate change. This program includes intervention activities prepared based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (Perceived Attitude, Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioral Control, and Intention) and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory (Values, Ecological Worldview, Assumed Responsibility, Awareness of Consequences, and Personal Norms) within the framework of the New Ecological Paradigm (an eco-centric belief system); practical training booklet, environmental journal, talking atlas, educational video, cornering technique, ınvitation from my ecological friend, eco-classroom, eco-school program, awareness board, green friendship bag, f

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Environmental Responsibility Scale	Developed by Sontay et al., (2015) to assess the environmental responsibility for middle school students. The explained variance of the entire scale is 59.07%, and the contribution of the environmental responsibility dimension to the variance is 21.93%. The Cronbach's alpha value for this dimension is 0.867. The environmental responsibility dimension consists of five items in total. An increase in the score indicates a positive change (Sontay et al., 2015).	Frame: T0 (Pre-test) T1 (15 days after the end of the procedure) T2 (3 months after the end of the procedure)
Environmental Responsibility Behavior Scale	Developed to measure environmentally responsible behaviors in fifth-grade students (Erdogan et al., 2012), this scale is also suggested for use in middle school students (Akıllı & Genç, 2015). The Environmental Responsibility Behavior Scale consists of 26 items and four sub-dimensions. These sub-dimensions are physical conservation behavior, consumption and economic behavior, personal and general persuasion behavior, and political behavior. The Cronbach's alpha values for the sub-dimensions are 0.80 for physical conservation behavior, 0.60 for consumption and economic behavior, 0.79 for personal and general persuasion behavior, and 0.91 for political behavior. The validity of the scale was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis and found to be acceptable. An increase in the scale score indicates a positive change in behavior.	T0 (Pre-test) T1 (15 days after the end of the procedure) T2 (3 months after the end of the procedure)]
Middle Childhood Environmental Attitudes Scale	Developed by Izadpanahi & Tucker (2018) to assess the environmental attitudes of middle school students based on the new ecological paradigm, the Turkish validity and reliability study of this scale was conducted by Koç et al. (2024). The scale consists of three sub-dimensions and 15 questions. The sub-dimensions include attitudes towards the right to a healthy environment, human intervention, and the school environment. The Cronbach's alpha value for the total score is 0.82, while for the sub-dimensions it ranges from 0.65 to 0.72. The validity of the scale for the 13 and 14-year-old age group was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis and it was stated that it showed a good level of fit. An increase in the scale score indicates a positive attitude.	T0 (Pre-test) T1 (15 days after the end of the procedure) T2 (3 months after the end of the procedure)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Suleyman Demirel University
• Collaborators: Selcuk University; The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): February 20, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 27, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 17, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 17, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 24, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 17, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: health behavior; climate change; environmental responsibility
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Immune System Diseases; Behavior; Hypersensitivity; Health Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: 108/6

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No