Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Systematic Review
Abstract: Environmental responsibility is a current topic in societal discussion, and recent research has examined the subject regarding individuals’ activities and choices. This study aimed to identify and describe how previous studies have illustrated individual environmental responsibility and which factors have explained these. The integrative review method was used. Literature searches were conducted in scientific databases and supplementary manual searches were performed. Articles were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data (n=11) were analyzed using the constant comparison method. Environmentally responsible health choices focused mainly on nutrition. These choices were described as part of individual lifestyle although individuals also made them randomly. Individual choices were linked to health- and environment-related values, and interpretations of other people’s moral. Environmentally responsible choices were perceived to promote individual and wider social and societal sustainability. A positive link was found between perceptions of expected health- and environmental impacts and individual choices. Accessibility and affordability of environmentally responsible choices promoted environmental responsibility. Decision-makers and food producers were perceived to influence environmentally responsible health choices. Previous knowledge on environmentally responsible health choices has been partly limited to nutrition and privileged populations. Future research should explore the approaches for supporting individuals’ value-based health choices and their impacts on individual, social and environmental health promotion.
DOI: 10.23990/sa.84768
Authors: Tanja Moilanen, Helena Siipi, Mari Kangasniemi
Language: Finnish
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2995745201