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Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community

Background: Reliance on natural resources brings Native American communities into frequent contact with environmental media, which, if contaminated, represents an exposure route for environmental pollutants. Native American communities vary in their perspectives on research and relatively little is...

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Autores principales: Gonzales, Melissa, King, Elanda, Bobelu, Jeanette, Ghahate, Donica M., Madrid, Teresa, Lesansee, Sheri, Shah, Vallabh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6025825/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29857506
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061129
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author Gonzales, Melissa
King, Elanda
Bobelu, Jeanette
Ghahate, Donica M.
Madrid, Teresa
Lesansee, Sheri
Shah, Vallabh
author_facet Gonzales, Melissa
King, Elanda
Bobelu, Jeanette
Ghahate, Donica M.
Madrid, Teresa
Lesansee, Sheri
Shah, Vallabh
author_sort Gonzales, Melissa
collection PubMed
description Background: Reliance on natural resources brings Native American communities into frequent contact with environmental media, which, if contaminated, represents an exposure route for environmental pollutants. Native American communities vary in their perspectives on research and relatively little is known about the range of perspectives regarding the use of biological samples for environmental exposure assessment. Methods: Thirty-one members of Zuni Pueblo (median age = 40.0 years, range = 26–59 years) participated a series of four focus groups. Qualitative themes emerging from the focus group discussion transcripts were identified by content analysis. Results: Emergent themes included adequate informed consent, traditional beliefs, and personal choice. Conclusions: The discussions reinforced the central role of traditional values in the decision to participate in research involving biological samples for environmental exposure assessment. Decision-making required a balance between the perceived value of the proposed project and its purpose, with cultural perspectives surrounding the biological sample requested. We examine the potential for study bias and include recommendations to aid in the collaborative identification and control of unintended risks posed by the use of biological samples in environmental health studies in native communities.
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spelling pubmed-60258252018-07-16 Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community Gonzales, Melissa King, Elanda Bobelu, Jeanette Ghahate, Donica M. Madrid, Teresa Lesansee, Sheri Shah, Vallabh Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Reliance on natural resources brings Native American communities into frequent contact with environmental media, which, if contaminated, represents an exposure route for environmental pollutants. Native American communities vary in their perspectives on research and relatively little is known about the range of perspectives regarding the use of biological samples for environmental exposure assessment. Methods: Thirty-one members of Zuni Pueblo (median age = 40.0 years, range = 26–59 years) participated a series of four focus groups. Qualitative themes emerging from the focus group discussion transcripts were identified by content analysis. Results: Emergent themes included adequate informed consent, traditional beliefs, and personal choice. Conclusions: The discussions reinforced the central role of traditional values in the decision to participate in research involving biological samples for environmental exposure assessment. Decision-making required a balance between the perceived value of the proposed project and its purpose, with cultural perspectives surrounding the biological sample requested. We examine the potential for study bias and include recommendations to aid in the collaborative identification and control of unintended risks posed by the use of biological samples in environmental health studies in native communities. MDPI 2018-05-31 2018-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6025825/ /pubmed/29857506 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061129 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gonzales, Melissa
King, Elanda
Bobelu, Jeanette
Ghahate, Donica M.
Madrid, Teresa
Lesansee, Sheri
Shah, Vallabh
Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community
title Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community
title_full Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community
title_fullStr Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community
title_full_unstemmed Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community
title_short Perspectives on Biological Monitoring in Environmental Health Research: A Focus Group Study in a Native American Community
title_sort perspectives on biological monitoring in environmental health research: a focus group study in a native american community
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6025825/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29857506
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061129
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