ENHANCING ETHIOPAN YOUTHS LITERACY ABOUT THE GENE X ENVIRONMENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO

描述（由申请人提供）：对健康状况的基因-环境贡献者的了解不足可能导致公众误解遗传学本身决定健康结果。这些误解可能会降低公众对改变行为以减少危险健康行为的好处的热情，并参与基因组学研究，因为担心研究结果可能会引起社会耻辱。一种被称为足尘病的疾病是一个很好的具体例子，可以用来确定最佳做法，以提高人们对遗传和环境因素如何影响健康状况的认识。足尘病是一种象皮病，在埃塞俄比亚高原很常见。这种情况是由于遗传易感个体通过赤脚行走和耕作暴露于火山土壤中的刺激性颗粒而引起的。如果易感者在很小的时候就开始穿鞋，并坚持这样做，这种情况是可以预防的。拟议项目的目标是探索方法和环境，以提高对足尘病基因-环境因素的认识，作为其他可预防健康状况的模型。定性结果（例如，观察和访谈）和定量活动（例如，调查），以发展互动学习策略，建立青少年对概念的理解、信心和技能，以便向同龄人、家庭成员和其他社会团体传达有关基因-环境因素如何影响健康的信息。在第一步中，专家和外行对遗传学和环境如何导致健康状况的理解将进行比较，以确定可以改进的误解领域。第二步，将对200名青年进行调查，以确定最常见的误解，并将其列为扫盲活动的重要目标。在第三步，扫盲建设活动将开发和试点与青年样本（N=30），以评估其对青年的影响：了解基因环境因素的podoconiosis，对可预防性的条件，社会距离和其他污名化行为的态度，并有信心向他人传达基因环境的概念。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Poor understanding of gene-environment contributors to health conditions can lead the public to misinterpret that genetics alone determines health outcomes. These misunderstandings could diminish public enthusiasm about the benefits of changing behaviors to reduce risky health behaviors and for participating in genomics research due to concerns that findings might invite social stigma. A condition called podoconiosis is an excellent and concrete example to use to identify best practices for improving literacy about how genetic and environmental factors contribute to health conditions. Podoconiosis is a form of elephantiasis that is common in highland Ethiopia. The condition is caused when genetically susceptible individuals are exposed to irritant particles in volcanic soil via walking and farming barefoot. The condition can be prevented if susceptible individuals wear shoes beginning at an early age and do so consistently. The goal of the proposed project is to explore approaches and settings for improving literacy regarding gene-environment contributors to podoconiosis as a model for other preventable health conditions. Results of qualitative (e.g., observations and interviews) and quantitative activities (e.g., surveys) will be used to develop interactive learnin strategies to build youths' conceptual understanding, confidence and skills to convey information to peers, family members and other social groups about how gene-environment factors influence health. In a first step, expert- and lay-understandings of how genetics and the environment lead to health conditions will be compared to identify areas of misunderstanding that could be improved. In a second step, a survey will be conducted with 200 youth to identify the most common misunderstandings and rank them in importance as targets for the literacy-building activities. In a third step, literacy-building activities will be developed and piloted wih a sample of youth (N=30) to assess their effects on youth's: understanding of gene-environment contributors to podoconiosis, attitudes about the preventability of the condition, social distancin and other stigmatizing behaviors, and confidence to convey gene-environment concepts to others.