Quandt Sara A, Doran Alicia M, Rao Pamela, Hoppin Jane A, Snively Beverly M, Arcury Thomas A
Department of Public Health Sciences, Piedmont Plaza II, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1063, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2004 Apr;112(5):636-42. doi: 10.1289/ehp.6754.
The collection of environmental samples presents a responsibility to return information to the affected participants. Explaining complex and often ambiguous scientific information to a lay audience is a challenge. As shown by environmental justice research, this audience frequently has limited formal education, increasing the challenge for researchers to explain the data collected, the risk indicated by the findings, and action the affected community should take. In this study we describe the development and implementation of a risk communication strategy for environmental pesticide samples collected in the homes of Latino/a migrant and seasonal farmworkers in a community-based participatory research project. The communication strategy was developed with community input and was based on face-to-face meetings with members of participating households. Using visual displays of data effectively conveyed information about individual household contamination and placed it in the context of community findings. The lack of national reference data and definitive standards for action necessitated a simplified risk message. We review the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach and suggest areas for future research in risk communication to communities affected by environmental health risks.
收集环境样本意味着有责任向受影响的参与者反馈信息。向普通受众解释复杂且往往模糊的科学信息是一项挑战。环境正义研究表明，这类受众通常正规教育程度有限，这加大了研究人员向其解释所收集数据、研究结果所表明的风险以及受影响社区应采取的行动的难度。在本研究中，我们描述了在一个基于社区的参与性研究项目中，针对拉丁裔移民和季节性农场工人家中采集的环境农药样本制定并实施风险沟通策略的过程。该沟通策略是在社区参与下制定的，基于与参与家庭的成员进行面对面会议。通过数据可视化展示有效地传达了有关单个家庭污染的信息，并将其置于社区研究结果的背景下。由于缺乏国家参考数据和明确的行动标准，需要简化风险信息。我们审视了这种方法的优缺点，并提出了未来针对受环境健康风险影响社区进行风险沟通研究的方向。
