North American drama therapists’ perceptions of climate change

The consequences of climate change have a significant impact on all aspects of planetary and human life, including mental health, necessitating attention across healthcare provision and training. We may assume that drama therapists agree with prevailing scientific opinion on climate change regarding its detrimental effects on human health and well-being but do not have empirical data to support this claim. The purpose of this study was to identify how North American drama therapists perceive climate change. A secondary aim was to compare these findings to a publicly available national (US) data set. We used the Six Americas Super Short Survey (SASSY!) to gain insight into North American drama therapists’ perceptions of climate change. Seventy-eight respondents (N = 78) met inclusion criteria. Results indicated that respondents fell into four of six possible categories with the proportion of drama therapists categorized as Alarmed (67 per cent) being significantly higher than national findings for the same category (χ² = 12.089, df = 1, p < 0.01) and consistent across racial identification and age groups. While the sample was limited, these findings offer useful indicators for developing climate communication strategies to support drama therapy education in training programs and continuing professional development towards supporting drama therapists and those in their care to adapt to the health impacts of climate change. Further research is needed to support these findings.