Department of Communication, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2010 Jun 1;10:299. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-299.
Climate change is taking a toll on human health, and some leaders in the public health community have urged their colleagues to give voice to its health implications. Previous research has shown that Americans are only dimly aware of the health implications of climate change, yet the literature on issue framing suggests that providing a novel frame--such as human health--may be potentially useful in enhancing public engagement. We conducted an exploratory study in the United States of people's reactions to a public health-framed short essay on climate change.
U.S. adult respondents (n = 70), stratified by six previously identified audience segments, read the essay and were asked to highlight in green or pink any portions of the essay they found "especially clear and helpful" or alternatively "especially confusing or unhelpful." Two dependent measures were created: a composite sentence-specific score based on reactions to all 18 sentences in the essay; and respondents' general reactions to the essay that were coded for valence (positive, neutral, or negative). We tested the hypothesis that five of the six audience segments would respond positively to the essay on both dependent measures.
There was clear evidence that two of the five segments responded positively to the public health essay, and mixed evidence that two other responded positively. There was limited evidence that the fifth segment responded positively. Post-hoc analysis showed that five of the six segments responded more positively to information about the health benefits associated with mitigation-related policy actions than to information about the health risks of climate change.
Presentations about climate change that encourage people to consider its human health relevance appear likely to provide many Americans with a useful and engaging new frame of reference. Information about the potential health benefits of specific mitigation-related policy actions appears to be particularly compelling. We believe that the public health community has an important perspective to share about climate change, a perspective that makes the problem more personally relevant, significant, and understandable to members of the public.
气候变化正在对人类健康造成影响，一些公共卫生领域的领导人敦促同行们关注气候变化对健康的影响。先前的研究表明，美国人对气候变化对健康的影响只有模糊的认识，但问题框架的文献表明，提供一个新颖的框架，如人类健康，可能有助于增强公众的参与度。我们在美国进行了一项探索性研究，研究人们对一篇以公共卫生为框架的气候变化短文的反应。
美国成年受访者（n=70）按六个先前确定的受众群体进行分层，阅读这篇文章，并被要求用绿色或粉色突出显示他们认为“特别清楚和有帮助”或“特别模糊和无益”的文章部分。创建了两个因变量：一个基于对文章中所有 18 个句子的反应的综合句子特定分数；以及受访者对文章的总体反应，这些反应被编码为效价（积极、中性或消极）。我们检验了以下假设：六个受众群体中的五个群体在两个因变量上都会对这篇文章做出积极的反应。
有明确的证据表明，五个群体中的两个对公共卫生论文做出了积极的反应，而两个其他群体的反应则喜忧参半。有限的证据表明第五个群体做出了积极的反应。事后分析表明，六个群体中的五个群体对与缓解相关政策行动相关的健康益处的信息的反应比对气候变化的健康风险的信息更积极。
鼓励人们考虑气候变化与人类健康相关的介绍似乎很可能为许多美国人提供一个有用且引人入胜的新参考框架。关于特定缓解相关政策行动的潜在健康益处的信息似乎特别引人注目。我们认为，公共卫生界对于气候变化有一个重要的视角可以分享，这个视角使问题对公众成员更加个人化、重要和易于理解。
