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SURVEY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE AND HEALTH OUTCOMES AT BEACHES FOR THE NATIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGICAL A ND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF RECREATIONAL (NEEAR) WATER STUDY
Citation:
Torre, Karen Della, S. Dietz, K. Patrizi, E A. Sams, K P. Brenner, T J. Wade, A. H. Williams, AND M. Beach. SURVEY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE AND HEALTH OUTCOMES AT BEACHES FOR THE NATIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGICAL A ND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF RECREATIONAL (NEEAR) WATER STUDY. Presented at National Beaches Conference, San Diego, CA, October 13-15, 2004.
Description:
Abstract
Objective
In the of summer 2004, the US EPA and the CDC conducted the National Epidemiological and Environmental Assessment of Recreational (NEEAR) Water Study at Silver Beach and Washington Park Beach. This full-scale study is collecting the data necessary for developing the next generation of water quality indicators for use in managing recreational beach use by correlating new, more rapid water quality test results with health outcomes of beach goers.
Methods
The Study was designed to collect data from beachgoers about self-reported exposures, behaviors, and health outcomes with a series of interviewer administered questionnaire instruments. The objective of the questionnaire design was to collect reliable data with high response rates for a combined Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) and Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) survey of beachgoers. The study design utilized advanced technology to quickly obtain demographic information, environmental exposure parameters, and the activities and behavior of beachgoers.
Interview Administration and Technology
Computerized In-Person Beach Interviews
Two in-person interviews for each household interviewed were conducted at the beach site. Each interview utilized a hand-held computerized device to capture information directly from respondents. The device chosen was a tablet computer. The screen on the computer is about the size of a letter-size piece of paper, allowing the screen to be read easily. The tablet computer also contained an outdoor-viewable screen since data collection often occurred in bright sunlight. The data were transferred electronically to a centralized study database (Step 1).
Computerized Telephone Interviews (Steps 2, 3, and 4)
Contact information necessary to call respondents was extracted from the centralized database (Step 2) and transferred electronically to an automated computerized telephone interviewing system (Step 3). Telephone follow-up interviews were conducted using CATI, and data were transferred electronically to the centralized study database (Step 4). Data from the beach interviews and the telephone follow-up interviews were analyzed and study results produced (Step 5).