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Workshop Highlights: An interactive workshop designed to bring social and environmental scientists together while improving the content, delivery, awareness, and use of wildfire smoke health risk messages
Citation:
Baghdikian, C., K. Rappazzo, B. Hubbell, S. Stone, K. Schulte, K. Elstein, AND A. Rappold. Workshop Highlights: An interactive workshop designed to bring social and environmental scientists together while improving the content, delivery, awareness, and use of wildfire smoke health risk messages. Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Orlando, FL, November 06 - 10, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Wildfires are increasing in intensity and frequency, meaning more smoke. Information about pollutants (e.g., fine particulate matter and ozone) from wildfire smoke is important to enable protection of cardiovascular and pulmonary health of both healthy and sensitive populations. Low levels of smoke can be intangible and often invisible, resulting in perceived risk that is lower than actual risk. It is therefore critical to improve health risk messaging surrounding wildfire smoke, and provide tools that allow people to make decisions on how to reduce exposures and protect their health.
Description:
Scientists are asked to communicate their research for a variety of reasons, including general transparency of science, completing funding/grant applications, or making contributions to the greater body of research supporting public and environmental health. Conveying messages that are accessible, comprehendible and actionable for a wide audience requires an understanding of the audience. Particularly how the audience acquires and uses science-based information.Wildfires are increasing in intensity and frequency, meaning more smoke. Information about pollutants (e.g., fine particulate matter and ozone) from wildfire smoke is important to enable protection of cardiovascular and pulmonary health of both healthy and sensitive populations. Low levels of smoke can be intangible and often invisible, resulting in perceived risk that is lower than actual risk. It is therefore critical to improve health risk messaging surrounding wildfire smoke, and provide tools that allow people to make decisions on how to reduce exposures and protect their health.In September 2016, the U.S. EPA will host a workshop designed to investigate understanding, communicating, and managing health risks associated with wildfire smoke exposure. This unique workshop will bring together social and environmental scientists with community and institutional stakeholders to deconstruct this complex issue. Through collaborative engagement activities and interactive presentations workshop participants will develop a shared and multidimensional understanding of the nature of the public health problem associated with smoke exposures. This “understanding” should reflect scientific evidence and community attributes and experiences, as well as information and actions related to risk communication and management appropriate for further scientific evaluation.The expected workshop outcomes are: 1) an understanding of the network and players involved in wildfire smoke health risk communication; 2) an integrated “mind map” of the perspectives around the problem; 3) behavioral maps that illustrate step by step behaviors an individual would take to adopt health protective behavior, reasons steps might not occur, and the most influential step to deliver a message; 4) an understanding of what works with current messaging; and 5) integration of insights into a mobile app (“SmokeReady”), to be tested in 2017 using a crowd sourcing method, intended to improve access and delivery of health risk messages.