Grantee Research Project Results
2022 Progress Report: Enhancing Communication to Reduce Health Risks of Wildland Fire Smoke Exposure Due to Prescribed Burns
EPA Grant Number: R840241Title: Enhancing Communication to Reduce Health Risks of Wildland Fire Smoke Exposure Due to Prescribed Burns
Investigators: Adetona, Olorunfemi , Ihekweazu, Chioma , Lordo, Robert , Naeher, Luke , Wapner, Andy
Current Investigators: Adetona, Olorunfemi , Ihekweazu, Chioma
Institution: The Ohio State University , Battelle Memorial Institute , University of Georgia
Current Institution: The Ohio State University , Battelle Memorial Institute
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2024
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 2021 through September 30,2022
Project Amount: $999,995
RFA: Interventions and Communication Strategies to Reduce Health Risks of Wildland Fire Smoke Exposures (2021) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Wildfires , Air Quality and Air Toxics
Objective:
- Understand the barriers and facilitators that institutions face in developing risk communication for surrounding community members during prescribed burn events.
- Collate best practices in developing and disseminating risk communication that may be applied to prescribed burn events.
- Facilitate the uptake of risk communication messaging, materials, and mechanisms that best meet the needs of both institutional and community stakeholders.
Progress Summary:
A. Outputs
- Co-investigators and key research personnel continue to meet via monthly Zoom videoconferences (third Thurs of the month at 10:00 – 11:00 am EST). Subgroups of the research team continue to meet as needed outside of this regular meeting time.
- Quality documents (Quality Management Plan and Quality Assurance Project Plan) were completed and approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).
- The Institutional Review Board (IRB) application for human subject research was submitted to the IRB of the participating research institutions and approved with The Ohio State University as the reviewing institution and Battelle Memorial Institute and University of Georgia as relying institutions. The IRB approval was submitted to and has been approved by the U.S. EPA.
- The project website that will host information regarding the research study, as well as the health risk communication toolkit was launched and will continue to be updated as the project progresses.
- Stakeholder mapping is being conducted. A preliminary list of organizational stakeholders and their contacts for research activities has been compiled and prioritization of stakeholders is currently underway. The stakeholder mapping results will be reviewed and validated by an expert panel that is being formed, and the results will inform recruitment efforts for the key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
- A review of the peer-reviewed literature and an environmental scan of the grey literature has been conducted to gather information about current best practices, barriers, and facilitators of health risk communication about prescribed burn smoke to inform the development of the toolkit.
- The guides for the key informant interviews have been completed and the research logistics company that will do the key informant recruitment and set up the platform for the virtual interviews has been contracted and included in the IRB
B. Outcomes
- The project website (https://u.osu.edu/cphp/prescribed-burn-project/) was launched.
- One article about the literature review is in preparation.
- Two EPA STAR grantee meeting presentations were made.
Future Activities:
- Conduct key informant interviews with at least 12 community members and at least 36 representatives of stakeholder organizations across 3 states including Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia.
- Develop the health risk communication toolkit based on the information gathered from the literature review, environmental scan, and key informant interviews.
- Conduct 9 focus groups (3 of community members and 6 of stakeholder organizations) each comprising of at least 8 persons to validate the development and dissemination of the toolkit.
- Revise the toolkit based on information obtained from the focus groups.
- Conduct a workshop to discuss project findings and to launch and disseminate the health communication toolkit.
- Assess the effectiveness of the toolkit using a longitudinal survey of organizational stakeholders who attend the workshop.
Supplemental Keywords:
Health risk, risk communication, prescribed burn, prescribed fire, wildland fire smoke, wildfire smokeRelevant Websites:
CENTER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.