Advancing Environmental Health Literacy Through Community-Engaged Research and Popular Education

Garzón-Galvis, Catalina; Wong, Michelle; Madrigal, Daniel; Olmedo, Luis José Imedio; Brown, Melissa; English, Paul

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-94108-0_5

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The IVAN network is now community operated and maintained. Developed community capacity to run the low-cost network addresses the core of environmental health issues in this primarily Hispanic and monolingual area by providing neighborhood-level data on air quality and increasing local environmental health literacy (Garzón-Galvis et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The validation of prediction results may become unreliable when ground measurements are sparse and the actual quality of predictions is even unknown in the areas without ground measurements. The requirements on ground stations are stricter when PM 2.5 has significant variations at a fine scale especially in the areas with complex terrain and many local sources (Saide et al 2011;van Donkelaar et al 2010;van Donkelaar et al 2006) such as Western United States (Geng et al 2018a;van Donkelaar et al 2006). Additionally, as regulatory monitoring primarily aims to examine the compliance of air quality standards rather than assess exposure, existing ground stations are unlikely to represent concentrations where sensitive subpopulations reside.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contribution of low-cost sensor measurements to the prediction of PM2.5 levels: A case study in Imperial County, California, USA

Stowell

Seto

et al. 2020

Environmental Research

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Regulatory monitoring networks are often too sparse to support community-scale PM 2.5 exposure assessment while emerging low-cost sensors have the potential to fill in the gaps. To date, limited studies, if any, have been conducted to utilize low-cost sensor measurements to improve PM 2.5 prediction with high spatiotemporal resolutions based on statistical models. Imperial County in California is an exemplary region with sparse Air Quality System (AQS) monitors and a community-operated low-cost network entitled Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods (IVAN). This study aims to evaluate the contribution of IVAN measurements to the quality of PM 2.5 prediction. We adopted the Random Forest algorithm to estimate daily PM 2.5 concentrations at 1-km spatial resolution using three different PM 2.5 datasets (AQS-only, IVAN-only, and AQS/ IVAN combined). The results showed that the integration of low-cost sensor measurements is an effective way to significantly improve the quality of PM 2.5 prediction with an increase of crossvalidation (CV) R 2 by ~0.2. The IVAN measurements also contributed to the increased importance *

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of low-cost sensor measurements to the prediction of PM2.5 levels: A case study in Imperial County, California, USA

Stowell

Seto

et al. 2020

Environmental Research

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“…EHL empowers individuals and communities to make informed decisions and take action to protect and improve public health, especially in response to climate change [50]; it promotes a deeper understanding of how environmental factors, including air and water quality, pollution, and exposure to hazardous substances, can impact health. Moreover, it encourages proactive behaviors such as reducing carbon footprints, recycling, and advocating for policies that mitigate climate change [50,51]. However, while the topic is promising, it has been hardly explored and is still a matter of debate.…”

Section: The Environmental Sustainability: the Environmental Health L...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering Sustainable Healthcare: The Role of Health Literacy

Zanobini,

Del Riccio,

Lorini

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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The imperative of sustainability in healthcare is becoming more pressing due to global health crises, climate change, and the rising burden of chronic diseases. Sustainability in healthcare involves social, economic, and environmental dimensions, each important for equitable and robust healthcare delivery. Health literacy may play a central role in embracing all three dimensions, bridging the gap between complex health information and individuals’ capability to understand and use it effectively: In fact, as a factor influencing the link between adverse social and economic conditions and subsequent health issues, health literacy could represent a practical target for mitigating health disparities within various demographic groups, thereby enhancing social sustainability. Furthermore, when people possess a solid understanding of their health conditions and the necessary steps for health management, they can contribute to a reduction in generated healthcare costs. Finally, health literacy and environmental health literacy equips individuals and communities with the knowledge and skills to understand how environmental factors affect health and empowers them to take proactive measures to protect the environment, potentially reducing the environmental impact of healthcare services. Therefore, integrating health literacy into education curricula and healthcare professional training is crucial for promoting sustainability. Despite some known barriers to the advancement and improvement of health literacy, such as limited awareness of its importance, the collaboration between academia, healthcare institutions, and community organizations is a path to follow to overcome these challenges.

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“…Expanding community engagement in opportunities to collect and assess data to inform regulatory activities can help increase trust and effective collaboration between agencies and impacted communities. Meaningful engagement of community residents can also lead to enhanced environmental health literacy (defined as the understanding of the connection between environment and health and the ability to act on this based on that knowledge) [12,13]. The fields of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and citizen science (referred to in this article as community science) emphasize meaningful community participation in research and related decision-making [1,14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Engaged Air Monitoring to Build Resilience Near the US-Mexico Border

Wong

Wilkie

Garzón-Galvis

et al. 2020

IJERPH

Self Cite

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Initiated in response to community concerns about high levels of air pollution and asthma, the Imperial County Community Air Monitoring Project was conducted as a collaboration between a community-based organization, a non-governmental environmental health program, and academic researchers. This community-engaged research project aimed to produce real-time, community-level air quality information through the establishment of a community air monitoring network (CAMN) of 40 low-cost particulate matter (PM) monitors in Imperial County, California. Methods used to involve the community partner organization and residents in the development, operation, and use of the CAMN included the following: (1) establishing equitable partnerships among the project collaborators; (2) forming a community steering committee to guide project activities; (3) engaging residents in data collection to determine monitor sites; (4) providing hands-on training to assemble and operate the air monitors; (5) conducting focus groups to guide display and dissemination of monitoring data; and (6) conducting trainings on community action planning. This robust community engagement in the project resulted in increased awareness, knowledge, capacity, infrastructure, and influence for the community partner organization and among community participants. Even after the conclusion of the original research grant funding for this project, the CAMN continues to be operated and sustained by the community partner, serving as a community resource used by residents, schools, researchers, and others to better understand and address air pollution and its impacts on community health, while strengthening the ability of the community to prepare for, respond to, and recover from harmful air pollution.

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Advancing Environmental Health Literacy Through Community-Engaged Research and Popular Education

Cited by 4 publications

References 31 publications

Contribution of low-cost sensor measurements to the prediction of PM2.5 levels: A case study in Imperial County, California, USA

Contribution of low-cost sensor measurements to the prediction of PM2.5 levels: A case study in Imperial County, California, USA

Empowering Sustainable Healthcare: The Role of Health Literacy

Community-Engaged Air Monitoring to Build Resilience Near the US-Mexico Border

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