Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Heat Is On! Perspectives And Practices Regarding Extreme Heat Risk, Emily D. Esplin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Remembering negative experiences with extreme heat may promote future protective actions and provide insight to improve heat risk awareness and communication practices. This two-part thesis found 1) that experiencing heat-related health symptoms predicted what Americans would do to protect themselves and others during subsequent heat waves; and 2) that Utah professionals regard heat-related experience as an important factor in how they responded to extreme heat events.

In the first study, a US national survey showed that personal experience with heat-related health symptoms was related to the tendency to say that one engaged in different protective behaviors, while other factors like …