Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University-1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA.
Environmental Sustainability Scientist, CDM Smith-110 Fieldcrest Avenue, PO 8, Floor 6, Edison, NJ 08837, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Dec 15;17(24):9391. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17249391.
Testing residential soil and paint for lead provides actionable information. By showing where and how much lead exists on the residence, it allows one to quantify risk and determine the best ways to reduce exposure along with the corresponding health and financial costs. For these reasons, several federal and state programs offer outreach to audiences on the benefits of testing residential soil and paint for lead. Not all individuals who know about lead's adverse health effects, however, test their residence for lead, potentially limiting the actionable information that could have helped to reduce their exposure. Such individuals represent a challenge to outreach programs and the broader public health objectives. There is, thus, a need to understand who such individuals are and why they behave this way, allowing us to develop a specialized outreach program that addresses the problem by targeting the relevant sub-population. Using survey data, we quantitatively determine the profiles of individuals who, despite knowing about lead's adverse health effects, are unlikely to test their residence for lead, finding statistically significant socio-economic predictors and behavioral covariates. We also find a geographic component to it, further helping outreach professionals learn how to allocate their limited resources.
测试住宅土壤和油漆中的铅含量可以提供有用的信息。通过显示住宅中存在的铅的位置和数量，可以量化风险，并确定减少暴露的最佳方法，以及相应的健康和经济成本。出于这些原因，一些联邦和州的项目向受众宣传测试住宅土壤和油漆中铅含量的好处。然而，并非所有了解铅对健康有害影响的人都会测试他们的住宅是否含有铅，这可能限制了本可以帮助他们减少暴露的有用信息。这些人对推广项目和更广泛的公共卫生目标构成了挑战。因此，有必要了解这些人是谁，以及他们为什么会这样做，以便我们能够制定一个专门的推广计划，通过针对相关的亚人群来解决这个问题。我们使用调查数据，定量确定了那些尽管知道铅对健康有害影响，但不太可能测试其住宅中铅含量的个人的特征，发现了具有统计学意义的社会经济预测因素和行为协变量。我们还发现了其中的地理因素，这进一步帮助推广专业人员了解如何分配他们有限的资源。
