Lucas Jack, McGregor R Michael, Kiss Simon, Perrella Andrea M L
Department of Political Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Department of Politics and Public Administration, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Can J Public Health. 2025 Apr;116(2):309-315. doi: 10.17269/s41997-024-00960-z. Epub 2024 Nov 18.
To understand variables associated with support for community water fluoridation among ordinary citizens during periods of heightened issue salience, with a particular focus on how support varies on the basis of demographic characteristics, attitudes toward public health science, and political variables such as ideology, populism, and issue salience.
Statistical analysis of individual-level data from a large-scale survey of eligible voters in the City of Calgary, Alberta in 2021, collected at the time of a community water fluoridation plebiscite.
Survey data (N = 1130) reveal substantively important and statistically significant relationships with fluoridation support in each of our three analysis categories (demographics, public health expertise, and politics). Support for fluoridation tends to be higher among men, university-educated, higher-income; among those with trust in experts and knowledge of fluoride governance; and among those who consider the issue important and have low levels of populist attitudes. Two exceptions to findings in past studies are age and ideology: younger respondents were more likely than older respondents to support fluoridation in Calgary, as were those on the ideological left, as compared to the right.
Incorporating studies of the correlates of public attitudes related to public health policies is important for understanding public health policy failure and success, especially in instances involving public consultation mechanisms, such as plebiscites.
了解在问题关注度较高时期普通公民支持社区水氟化的相关变量，特别关注支持率如何因人口特征、对公共卫生科学的态度以及意识形态、民粹主义和问题关注度等政治变量而有所不同。
对2021年在艾伯塔省卡尔加里市对符合条件选民进行的大规模调查中的个体层面数据进行统计分析，该数据是在社区水氟化公民投票时收集的。
调查数据（N = 1130）显示，在我们的三个分析类别（人口统计学、公共卫生专业知识和政治）中，每一个类别都与支持水氟化存在实质性重要且具有统计学意义的关系。男性、受过大学教育、高收入人群；信任专家且了解氟化物治理的人群；以及认为该问题重要且民粹主义态度较低的人群对水氟化的支持率往往更高。过去研究结果的两个例外是年龄和意识形态：在卡尔加里，年轻受访者比年长受访者更有可能支持水氟化，左翼意识形态的受访者比右翼受访者更有可能支持。
纳入与公共卫生政策相关的公众态度相关性研究对于理解公共卫生政策的失败与成功很重要，尤其是在涉及公民投票等公众咨询机制的情况下。
