A Community-Based Approach to Developing a Mobile Device for Measuring Ambient Air Exposure, Location, and Respiratory Health

Abstract

In west Eugene (Oregon), community research indicates residents are disproportionately exposed to industrial air pollution and exhibit increased asthma incidence. In Carroll County (Ohio), recent increases in unconventional natural gas drilling sparked air quality concerns. These community concerns led to the development of a prototype mobile device to measure personal chemical exposure, location, and respiratory function. Working directly with the environmental justice (EJ) communities, the prototype was developed to (1) meet the needs of the community and; (2) evaluate the use in EJ communities. The prototype was evaluated in 3 community focus groups (n=25) to obtain feedback on the prototype and feasibility study design to evaluate the efficacy of the device to address community concerns. Focus groups were recorded and qualitatively analyzed with discrete feedback tabulated for further refinement. The prototype was improved by community feedback resulting in 8 alterations/additions to software and instructional materials. Overall, focus group participants were supportive of the device and believed it would be a useful environmental health tool. The use of focus groups ensured that community members were engaged in the research design and development of a novel environmental health tool. We found that community-based research strategies resulted in a refined device as well as relevant research questions, specific to the EJ community needs and concerns.

A Review of the Human Health Impacts of Unconventional Natural Gas Development

“…Future studies of the health effects of UNGD would greatly benefit from using more granular estimates of exposure or conducting more individualized exposure assessments. This could include the use of portable sampling equipment [29] as well as the measurement of biomarkers of exposure in biospecimens collected from study participants (e.g., measuring PAH- or benzene-DNA adducts in blood). These methods would allow us to develop a more complete picture of what types and concentrations of contaminants affected communities are actually exposed to and enable us to link health outcomes with specific agents.…”

“…These methods would allow us to develop a more complete picture of what types and concentrations of contaminants affected communities are actually exposed to and enable us to link health outcomes with specific agents. GIS methods can also aid in estimating personal exposures to UNGD, such as the use of global positioning system technology to integrate study population activity data with measured concentrations of environmental contaminants [29,30]. …”

Discovery of common chemical exposures across three continents using silicone wristbands

“…Since 2014, researchers have deployed wristbands around the world to evaluate personal chemical exposure. To date, researchers have used wristbands to detect chemical exposure in communities ranging from preschoolers in Oregon, U.S. to farming families in Senegal, Africa, and wristband results are described in 14 peer-reviewed manuscripts [18,21–33].…”

Development of an environmental health tool linking chemical exposures, physical location and lung function

“…The Exposure, Location and lung Function (ELF) tool (previously called the Mobile Exposure Device) is an example of an innovative approach to community-defined research needs [1]. As described previously [1], the ELF combines a portable spirometer, a customizable app (ELF Tracker) on an Android smart phone [2] and lightweight silicone wristbands [3]. This allows the ELF to simultaneously record daily chemical exposure for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), geospatial coordinates of participants, and lung function measurements.…”

“…The ELF was developed and refined in collaboration with two community groups with similar air quality concerns [1]. In each community, researchers worked with established community groups and built off community-led research initiatives.…”