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Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water

Environmental health literacy (EHL) is developing as a framework that can inform educational interventions designed to facilitate individual and collective action to protect health, yet EHL measurement poses several challenges. While some studies have measured environmental health knowledge resultin...

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Autores principales: Gray, Kathleen M., Triana, Victoria, Lindsey, Marti, Richmond, Benjamin, Hoover, Anna Goodman, Wiesen, Chris
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8430820/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34501888
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179298
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author Gray, Kathleen M.
Triana, Victoria
Lindsey, Marti
Richmond, Benjamin
Hoover, Anna Goodman
Wiesen, Chris
author_facet Gray, Kathleen M.
Triana, Victoria
Lindsey, Marti
Richmond, Benjamin
Hoover, Anna Goodman
Wiesen, Chris
author_sort Gray, Kathleen M.
collection PubMed
description Environmental health literacy (EHL) is developing as a framework that can inform educational interventions designed to facilitate individual and collective action to protect health, yet EHL measurement poses several challenges. While some studies have measured environmental health knowledge resulting from interventions, few have incorporated skills and self-efficacy. In this study, a process-focused EHL instrument was developed, using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) health literacy instrument as a model and tailoring it for the context of private well contamination with toxic metals. Forty-seven (47) participants, including undergraduate students and residents of communities with contaminated well water, piloted a prototype EHL instrument alongside NVS. Results suggested a moderate degree of correlation between NVS and the EHL prototype, and significant differences in scores were observed between students and residents. Responses to a self-efficacy survey, tailored for drinking water contaminated with arsenic, revealed significant differences between students and residents on items related to cost and distance. In response to open-ended questions, participants identified a range of potential environmental contaminants in drinking water and deemed varied information sources as reliable. This study highlights differences in knowledge and self-efficacy among students and residents and raises questions about the adequacy of EHL assessments that mimic formal education approaches.
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spelling pubmed-84308202021-09-11 Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water Gray, Kathleen M. Triana, Victoria Lindsey, Marti Richmond, Benjamin Hoover, Anna Goodman Wiesen, Chris Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Environmental health literacy (EHL) is developing as a framework that can inform educational interventions designed to facilitate individual and collective action to protect health, yet EHL measurement poses several challenges. While some studies have measured environmental health knowledge resulting from interventions, few have incorporated skills and self-efficacy. In this study, a process-focused EHL instrument was developed, using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) health literacy instrument as a model and tailoring it for the context of private well contamination with toxic metals. Forty-seven (47) participants, including undergraduate students and residents of communities with contaminated well water, piloted a prototype EHL instrument alongside NVS. Results suggested a moderate degree of correlation between NVS and the EHL prototype, and significant differences in scores were observed between students and residents. Responses to a self-efficacy survey, tailored for drinking water contaminated with arsenic, revealed significant differences between students and residents on items related to cost and distance. In response to open-ended questions, participants identified a range of potential environmental contaminants in drinking water and deemed varied information sources as reliable. This study highlights differences in knowledge and self-efficacy among students and residents and raises questions about the adequacy of EHL assessments that mimic formal education approaches. MDPI 2021-09-03 /pmc/articles/PMC8430820/ /pubmed/34501888 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179298 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gray, Kathleen M.
Triana, Victoria
Lindsey, Marti
Richmond, Benjamin
Hoover, Anna Goodman
Wiesen, Chris
Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water
title Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water
title_full Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water
title_fullStr Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water
title_short Knowledge and Beliefs Associated with Environmental Health Literacy: A Case Study Focused on Toxic Metals Contamination of Well Water
title_sort knowledge and beliefs associated with environmental health literacy: a case study focused on toxic metals contamination of well water
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8430820/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34501888
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179298
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