Health Risks of Indoor Exposure to Particulate Matter Workshop Summary (2016) / Chapter Skim
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8 Interventions and Risk Communication
8 Interventions and Risk Communication
Pages 93-108
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From page 93... ...
William Hallman of Rutgers University talked about the lessons learned from communicating about other health risks. Lee Ann Kahlor spoke about what could be learned from a benchmark study to gauge public understanding and information seeking related to indoor PM risk.
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From page 94... ...
He suggested that comparing a risk to the risk associated with environmental tobacco smoke might be an approach that would get the public's attention, while comparing the risk of indoor PM exposure to the risks of cooking on a gas stove would lead the public to downplay the risks of indoor PM exposure. It will be important too, Gray said, to communicate the relative contributions of different sources, particularly indoor versus outdoor, and how much of the exposure to these sources is under the individual's control.
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From page 95... ...
INTERVENTIONS AND RISK COMMUNICATION 95 FIGURE 8-1 Risk perception factors influencing public concern. SOURCES: Gray slides 4, 5, and 6.
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From page 96... ...
"Don't just tell me to be scared -- tell me that there is something I can do." He added that mitigation approaches that require changes in personal behavior are hard to sell, either because people benefit from those behaviors or do not feel the risk is big enough to warrant changing those behaviors. Another challenge, Gray said, will involve sorting out the risk tradeoffs, such as ventilation versus energy use, and explaining those to the public in a way that does not cause them to take actions that actually increase risk.
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From page 97... ...
One solution for these communities -- where the ability to get property owners to make changes to HVAC systems is limited, for example -- might be to provide incentives or tax rebates for the purchase of portable HEPA filtration units. The invisibility of PM matters, Hallman said, and it represents a key issue in communicating the risk of indoor PM exposure.
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From page 98... ...
People do not recognize the symptoms of foodborne illness, and few people believe they have made themselves or other sick because the most common mental model is that eating contaminated food will make one sick immediately. "As a result, they do not connect their poor food safety practices with ultimate illness," Hallman said.
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From page 99... ...
Acknowledging that he lacked data because no mental modeling research appears to exist regarding indoor PM2.5, Hallman said that his guess is that the mental models the public might use to understand indoor PM would include the following: • "Bad air" triggers asthma attacks, and since nobody in my family has asthma, I do not have a problem. • "Air pollution" is "outside," and I keep my windows closed, so I do not have a problem.
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From page 100... ...
He said that a quick search yields bad information associated with these products, so the field will need to think about how to counter this misinformation and do so in a way that provides useful holistic advice. Simply warning people does not work, Hallman said, but telling them what to do and helping them do it by providing practical, effective, and affordable advice can work.
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From page 101... ...
Mass communications research can identify the psychological and social psychological factors unique to each audience, and crafting narratives with these factors in mind will help develop a version of the story that resonates in important ways with that unique audience. This kind of research can also identify which of the many information channels that exist are best suited for conveying stories to specific audiences to achieve a desired effect, which can be a change in attitude, knowledge, or behavior.
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From page 102... ...
Such motivations might include social norms in terms of what others in their social circle and community expect them to know about topic; a sense of risk; existing knowledge that provides a mental model through which new information flows; how much knowledge people think they need; beliefs about seeking information and whether useful information exists for them to use; and beliefs about the ability to get and process information. Kahlor has organized these motivations in a model she calls the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (Kahlor, 2010)
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From page 103... ...
. From PRISM: A Planned Risk Information Seeking Model, Kahlor, Health Communication, 2010, Taylor & Francis, reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis Ltd., http://www.tandfonline.com)
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From page 104... ...
Kahlor observed that the data from this survey would provide information on the social norms that would help or hinder getting information out to audiences. It would also reveal patterns in perceived risk and related worry and existing knowledge versus how much knowledge individuals think they need.
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From page 105... ...
Howard Kipen asked if getting hard data on the health effects of exposure to indoor PM -- as opposed to extrapolating from outdoor PM data -- would help address this challenge, and Hallman said that the answer was yes, that those data for indoor PM are essential. Brett Singer asked the panelists to comment on whether the precautionary principle -- the idea that knowing that something could be harmful would warrant action if there is an easy way to reduce risk -- would be a useful framework in the absence of hard data.
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From page 106... ...
Gray and Hallman both said they thought that was a good idea, and Hallman added that providing people with social norm data could also help motivate behavior change, though it could also create anxiety. Paula Olsiewski wondered if it was possible to frame the interventions discussed at this workshop in terms of creating a healthier home.
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From page 107... ...
Richard Corsi remarked that when he gives talks to the general public about indoor PM, members of the public pay attention when he talks about candles, and they then inquire where they can get more information. Corsi said that the EPA and California Air Resources Board websites have good information on them about indoor PM, and he asked the panelists if those sources of information are important and if the public perceives the importance of getting that kind of information.
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From page 108... ...
108 HEALTH RISKS OF INDOOR EXPOSURE TO PARTICULATE MATTER builder because I had control over what went into the building, and it was an easy sell to the homeowner." Since then, he said, he has worked with builders who put up 5,000 houses per year. Making changes at that scale would represent an important step, but doing so would require making changes in standards, which he said is an uphill process, given that for every group involved in the discussions that wants change there is another group that does not.
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