Visualizing Air Pollution: Communication of Environmental Health Information in a Chinese Immigrant Community

J Health Commun. 2019;24(4):339-358. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2019.1597949. Epub 2019 Apr 27.

Abstract

This study developed and evaluated a visual approach to promoting environmental health literacy about highway pollution. The Interactive Map of Chinatown Traffic Pollution was the centerpiece of a communication approach designed to make complex scientific information about traffic-related air pollution comprehensible to Chinese immigrants with limited English proficiency. The map enabled visualization of the spatial distribution of ultrafine particles (less than 100 nanometers in diameter), a toxic and invisible form of air pollution, in Boston Chinatown. A university-community partnership enabled design of intergenerational training sessions aimed toward empowering community members to take health-promoting actions that reduce exposure to ultrafine particulate pollution. A mixed methods approach was taken to evaluation. Nine high school youth learned to use the map and then tutored adults recruited from English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and from a community workshop. Seventy-three of these adults completed a pre-post survey measuring change in three domains: pollution knowledge, attitudes toward environmental issues, and self-efficacy in using maps. Adult participants demonstrated statistically significant improvements in all three domains (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, all p < 0.01). Seventeen adults and nine youth participated in interviews. Interview participants reported adjusting daily routines to reduce exposure to pollution.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Air Pollution*
  • Attitude*
  • Boston
  • China / ethnology
  • Community-Institutional Relations
  • Emigrants and Immigrants / psychology*
  • Environmental Health*
  • Female
  • Health Literacy*
  • Humans
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Knowledge
  • Male
  • Maps as Topic*
  • Middle Aged
  • Motor Vehicles
  • Surveys and Questionnaires