Integrating Information Resources to Promote Environmental Health Literacy in Appalachian Kentucky

项目总结/摘要 在阿巴拉契亚肯塔基州的健康差距已被充分记录，许多慢性健康 整个区域不成比例地经历了与环境因素有关的条件。 基础设施恶化，废物处理不当，以及与采矿、农业、 和其他职业活动，强调需要为这一风险人口得到明确的， 及时、可获得的有关潜在环境健康威胁的信息， 关于预防和保护行动的重要决定。不幸的是， 可理解的资源和工具在一个地区尤其具有挑战性， 受教育程度福尔斯远低于全国平均水平，近四分之一的成年人超过 25岁的年轻人没有高中文凭，只有大约五分之一的人拥有副学士学位， 高因此，提高该地区的环境卫生素养至关重要。EHL用途 健康、社会和环境科学的信息和方法，以促进 了解环境暴露与人类健康之间的关系。等 了解可以激励个人和/或社区采取行动，以尽量减少不必要的接触 并减轻与不可避免的暴露有关的疾病。为此，至关重要的是， 评估、整合、改进信息资源，并使其更容易获得， 改进EHL并为环境健康决策提供信息。为了满足这些需求，我们 多学科团队将部署研究人员参与的研究战略，以实现 具体目标如下：1）评估目前与环境健康有关的风险图 可从学术，政府和非营利组织，以确定资源 可达性，可导航性，可理解性，以及阿巴拉契亚州的实用性; 2） 进行需求评估，以确定所需的额外信息和适当框架， 提高阿巴拉契亚地区环境健康相关风险地图的可理解性和实用性 3）利用目标1和2中收集的信息， 以无障碍格式以及通过可能的变革， 可视化本身，以提高可理解性;以及4）利用利益相关者- 通过研究建立伙伴关系，以传播订正地图和其他 通过社区组织提供环境卫生资源，从而在全世界推广EHL 本地区

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Health disparities in Appalachian Kentucky have been well-documented, with many chronic health conditions disproportionately experienced across the region linked to environmental contributors. Deteriorating infrastructure, inappropriate waste disposal, and risks related to mining, agriculture, and other occupational activities underscore the need for this at-risk population to receive clear, timely, and accessible information about potential environmental health threats to support important decisions about preventive and protective actions. Unfortunately, creating easily understandable resources and tools can prove especially challenging in a region where educational attainment falls well below national averages, with nearly one-quarter of adults over age 25 lacking high school diplomas and only about one-fifth holding an associate's degree or higher. Therefore, improving environmental health literacy (EHL) in the region is critical. EHL uses information and methods from health, social, and environmental sciences to promote understanding of the relationship between environmental exposures and human health. Such understanding can spur individual and/or community actions to minimize unnecessary exposures and mitigate illness related to unavoidable exposures. To this end, it is critical that existing information resources be evaluated, integrated, improved, and made more accessible to help improve EHL and inform environmental health decisions. To address these needs, our multidisciplinary team will deploy stakeholder-engaged research strategies to achieve the following Specific Aims: 1) evaluate existing environmental health-related risk maps currently available from academic, government, and non-profit organizations to determine resource accessibility, navigability, understandability, and perceived utility for Appalachian Kentuckians; 2) conduct needs assessments to identify additional information and appropriate framing required to improve understandability and utility of environmental health-related risk maps for Appalachian Kentuckians; 3) use information gathered in Aims 1 and 2 to enhance maps through the inclusion of critical health-related information in accessible formats, as well as through potential changes to the visualizations themselves to improve understandability; and 4) leverage stakeholder- partnerships developed through the study to disseminate revised maps and additional environmental health resources through community organizations, thereby promoting EHL across the region.