April 2-4, 2020 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Intersectionality and Interdisciplinarity in Health Communication Research
Intersectionality and Interdisciplinarity in Health Communication Research
Detail: Environmental Health Literacy: The intersection of environmental public health and health communication
◆ Liam O'Fallon, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
◆ Anna Goodman Hoover, University of Kentucky
◆ Kami Silk, University of Delaware
◆ Kathleen Gray, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
◆ Maria Lapinski, Michigan State University
◆ Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta, University of Arizona
◆ Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Silent Spring Institute
The concept of Environmental Health Literacy (EHL) has been evolving rapidly over the last five years. It is a relatively new subdiscipline that draws upon the robust and interdisciplinary foundations of risk communication, environmental health sciences, health literacy, and communication research. At its most fundamental level, EHL is the basic understanding that environmental exposures may have health consequences. In this session, attendees will learn about the importance and value of environmental health literacy in the context of health communication and what it means for environmental public health. Panelists will describe the ways in which they are working to promote the environmental health literacy of different audiences, as well as the strategies for measuring it. A moderator and six participants from seven different institutions will address topics that include: 1) the emergence of EHL and why it matters (O’Fallon, NIEHS), 2) exposure as it relates to water contamination (Hoover, University of Kentucky), 3) communication strategies to increase EHL as it relates to breast cancer and environmental risk factors (Silk, University of Delaware), 4) approaches to measuring EHL (Gray, University of North Carolina), 5) cultural tailoring of environmental health messages (Lapinski, Michigan State University) 6) the role that citizen science, data sharing, and art can play in achieving EHL (Ramirez-Andreotta, University of Arizona), and 7) the importance of, and tools for, reporting back personal exposure results in strengthening EHL (Ohayon, Silent Spring Institute). The panel will also discuss the challenges and opportunities for the future application and assessment of EHL.