Integrating Information Resources to Promote Environmental Health Literacy in Appalachian Kentucky

项目摘要/摘要 肯塔基州阿巴拉契亚地区的健康差距已经有了很好的记录，许多人患有慢性病 与环境贡献者有关的情况在整个区域都不成比例地发生。 不断恶化的基础设施，不当的废物处理，以及与采矿、农业、 而其他职业活动强调了这些高危人群需要获得明确的、 要支持的有关潜在环境健康威胁的及时、可访问的信息 关于预防和保护行动的重要决定。不幸的是，很容易创建 事实证明，可以理解的资源和工具在以下地区尤其具有挑战性 教育程度远低于全国平均水平，近四分之一的成年人超过 25岁，没有高中文凭，只有大约五分之一的人拥有大专学位或 再高一点。因此，提高该地区的环境健康素养至关重要。EHL使用 来自健康、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。是这样的 理解可以刺激个人和/或社区采取行动，将不必要的暴露降至最低 并减轻与不可避免的暴露相关的疾病。为此，至关重要的是，现有的 评估、整合、改进信息资源，并使其更容易获得帮助 改善EHL并为环境健康决策提供信息。为了满足这些需求，我们的 多学科团队将部署利益相关者参与的研究战略，以实现 以下是具体目标：1)评估目前与环境健康有关的风险图 可从学术、政府和非营利组织获得以确定资源 阿巴拉契亚肯塔基州人的可达性、通航性、可理解性和感知效用；2) 进行需求评估，以确定更多信息和所需的适当框架 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 肯塔基州；3)使用AIMS 1和AIMS 2收集的信息，通过纳入来增强地图 以可访问的格式以及通过潜在的变化来获取与健康有关的重要信息 可视化本身以提高可理解性；以及4)利用利益相关者- 通过研究建立了伙伴关系，以传播修订后的地图和其他 通过社区组织提供环境卫生资源，从而在全国范围内推广EHL 该地区。

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.