Advancing Collaborative Solutions by Understanding Community Experiences and Responses around Wildland Fire Smoke
Citation:
Hano, M., C. Baghdikian, K. Rappazzo, M. Linnenbrink, B. Stearns, B. Hubbell, AND A. Rappold. Advancing Collaborative Solutions by Understanding Community Experiences and Responses around Wildland Fire Smoke. American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, November 10 - 14, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
This project examines individual and community experiences and needs related to wildland fire smoke in general and Smoke Sense in particular. Data to explore these questions will come from a set of semi-structured interviews with thought leaders in communities affected by wildland fire smoke. These interviews were designed and will be analyzed following established qualitative interview protocol and multi-stage coding processes. Findings will help us better understand the spectrum of community experiences with smoke, motivations for engaging in citizen science, as well as how organizations and individuals can effectively collaborate across government to address important and complex public issues.
Description:
Increasingly, scholars across disciplines are working directly with the public to address issues in complex problem domains through research designed to advance knowledge but also bring about meaningful change in those areas. From an environmental public health perspective, this solution-based approach to research means designing studies that both explore the relationship between environment and health, and that is meaningful, accessible, and translatable such that those findings turn into action. Smoke Sense is one way EPA is doing just that. Launched in 2017, Smoke Sense is a crowdsourcing citizen science project that uses a mobile app to help understand (1) the relationship between wildland fire smoke, health, and productivity; (2) strategies individuals take to reduce exposure to smoke; (3) effective health risk communication strategies that protect public health during smoke days (www.epa.gov/air-research/smoke-sense-study-citizen-science-project-using-mobile-app). Not only does Smoke Sense collect data on the relationship between exposure to wildland fire smoke and subclinical health outcomes, this app is an educational tool that provides a cue to action for users and can be used at the community level to increase awareness and inform strategic interventions. Here we are examining individual and community experiences and needs related to wildland fire smoke in general and Smoke Sense in particular. Data to explore these questions will come from a set of semi-structured interviews with thought leaders in communities affected by wildland fire smoke. These interviews were designed and will be analyzed following established qualitative interview protocol and multi-stage coding processes (for example, see: Creswell 2013; Miles, Huberman, and Saldana, 2013; and Patton 2005). Findings will help us better understand the spectrum of community experiences with smoke, motivations for engaging in citizen science, as well as how organizations can effectively collaborate across government to address important and complex public issues. Disclaimer – this abstract does not reflect EPA policy. Learner Outcomes: 1. Attendees will learn about the spectrum of community experiences with smoke and types of community level response to those events 2. Attendees will learn how thought leaders of communities that regularly experience smoke envision improvements in reducing negative outcomes of individual and community exposure to wildland fire smoke