Risk perception of heat waves and its spatial variation in Nanjing, China

Abstract

The intensity, frequency, and duration of heat waves are expected to increase with climate change. In this study, we found a significant difference of public perceived effects of heat waves and trust in government among urban, suburban, and rural districts. Rural residents had a significant higher effect perception than urbanites and also showed stronger willingness to have medical insurance or regular physical examinations. Meanwhile, suburban residents had the lowest trust perception in government among these three districts, which may be due to suburban districts' unique social structure and complex social issues. Besides, we assessed the relationship between the factor effect and demographic variables. The results showed that urban respondents' effect perception was significantly related to heat wave experiences. Suburban respondents' effect perception was significantly related to age, income, and heat wave experiences. And rural respondents' effect perception was significantly related to income and chronic diseases. Based on our results, much more attention needs to be paid to rural districts. The government should strengthen infrastructure construction such as cooling centers, improve emergency response plans and mechanisms, and increase reserves of emergency supplies in rural districts. Also, targeted risk communication is of the equal importance to aid the policy-makers improving the relationship with the public and regaining the public's trust and support.

The Malay-Version Knowledge, Risk Perception, Attitude and Practice Questionnaire on Heatwaves: Development and Construct Validation

“…A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify published questionnaires [ 20 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ] related to heatwaves and the relevant measured constructs. HRI-related clinical practice guidelines [ 31 ] were also included, especially for the knowledge construct.…”

“…A valid questionnaire must have the following characteristics: (i) simplicity and viability; (ii) reliability and precision in wording; (iii) be adequate for the problem being measured; (iv) reflect the underlying theory or concept to be measured; and (v) be capable of measuring change [ 19 ]. Several questionnaires have been developed for measuring important domains related to heatwaves, namely knowledge [ 20 , 21 , 22 ], risk perception [ 16 , 20 , 23 , 24 ], attitude [ 25 ] and practice [ 20 , 26 , 27 ]. Two studies [ 20 , 23 ] adopted and adapted previous questionnaires for their item development.…”

The heat wave knowledge, awareness, practice and behavior scale: Scale development, validation and reliability

“…The Copernicus Climate Change Service released new data showing that the last seven years globally were the seven warmest on record by a clear margin [ 3 ]. Climate change has been expected to increase the intensity, frequency, duration and severity of extreme weather events such as heat waves [ 4 ]. Heat waves are extreme climatic events in which the weather is extremely hot for a prolonged time period [ 5 ].…”

Increased moist heat stress risk across China under warming climate

“…A bunch of studies analyzed differences amongst people given impacts by high temperature from viewpoints of population density, gender, age, education, income, housing quality, pre-existing medical conditions, minority status, poverty, social networks, home amenities (e.g., air conditioning) 19,21,23,24 , implying significance of exposure to MHS. Besides, effects of heatwaves can also be alleviated by some factors such as vegetation cover, surface albedo, irrigation, economic development, medical conditions, and warning levels 7,8,[25][26][27] . Therefore, more variables than ever have been studied should be introduced into analysis of MHS.…”