Bridging the divide on climate solutions: Development, implementation, and evaluation of an online workshop for climate volunteers

Abstract

Introduction: A critical component to addressing climate change is effective communication with the public and legislators about urgency for action. Health professionals have a vital role to play in climate advocacy. However, several key barriers to public advocacy have been identified, including limited communication skills to effectively advocate with others. Methods: We describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a novel online workshop, whose goal is to teach volunteers to communicate more effectively on climate change with those holding differing views regarding potential solutions (e.g., role of government vs. private sector). The development phase included seeking input from multiple stakeholders about the workshop's focus and creating specific examples and prompts. The workshop was then pilot-tested, and refinements were made based on evaluations. Volunteers within a climate organization then took the workshop and evaluations were collected. Results: Evaluations from 312 attendees were analyzed, including 14% in healthcare-related fields. On a 10-point scale (10 being highest), volunteers reporting a median score of 8 in their confidence level for setting a constructive tone in conversations with people holding differing views on climate solutions. Qualitative analysis of participants’ responses “Single most important learning?”, “What was most important to share?”, and “What would you like to see changed?” by two independent observers supported almost perfect agreement (kappa of 0.88) in themes that included Learning New Skills, Developing New Ways of Being, Format, and Additional Training/Suggested Enhancements. Discussion: Our workshop increased participant confidence in having conversations on climate change solutions, an important part of climate advocacy.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Communication
• Education