TY - JOUR
T1 - What does the public know about environmental health? A qualitative approach to refining an environmental health awareness instrument
AU - Ratnapradipa, Dhitinut
AU - Middleton, Wendi K.
AU - Wodika, Alicia B.
AU - Brown, Stephen L.
AU - Preihs, Kristin
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements: This study was made possible by partial funding support from Southern Illinois University. Authors are grateful to all participants and graduate assistants who assisted with this project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 National Environmental Health Association. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/4/1
Y1 - 2015/4/1
N2 - Despite an increased level of interest in environmental health concerns among the American public, awareness of the risks associated with environmental hazards is generally lacking. Assessing population awareness is typically performed through surveys, yet a comprehensive national environmental health questionnaire is currently unavailable. In 2009, a Delphi study using environmental health experts from federal, state, and local government and academia identified 11 core areas of environmental health (air, water, radiation, food safety, emergency preparedness, healthy housing, infectious disease and vector control, toxicology, injury prevention, waste and sanitation, and weather and climate change) and provided content validity for 443 questions covering 25 specific topics for possible inclusion on a national instrument. The authors' study described in this article used the qualitative approach of focus groups to refine the questions. Questions were divided into four sections and randomly assigned to a focus group location; 32 individuals participated. Results indicated that many perceptions are based on misinformation (or lack of information), which may lead to poor environmental health decision making.
AB - Despite an increased level of interest in environmental health concerns among the American public, awareness of the risks associated with environmental hazards is generally lacking. Assessing population awareness is typically performed through surveys, yet a comprehensive national environmental health questionnaire is currently unavailable. In 2009, a Delphi study using environmental health experts from federal, state, and local government and academia identified 11 core areas of environmental health (air, water, radiation, food safety, emergency preparedness, healthy housing, infectious disease and vector control, toxicology, injury prevention, waste and sanitation, and weather and climate change) and provided content validity for 443 questions covering 25 specific topics for possible inclusion on a national instrument. The authors' study described in this article used the qualitative approach of focus groups to refine the questions. Questions were divided into four sections and randomly assigned to a focus group location; 32 individuals participated. Results indicated that many perceptions are based on misinformation (or lack of information), which may lead to poor environmental health decision making.
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M3 - Article
C2 - 25876262
AN - SCOPUS:84929035707
VL - 77
SP - 22
EP - 28
JO - Journal of Environmental Health
JF - Journal of Environmental Health
SN - 0022-0892
IS - 8
ER -