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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Better Engaging Communities: Moving Beyond Cardinal Rules, Anna G. Hoover
Better Engaging Communities: Moving Beyond Cardinal Rules, Anna G. Hoover
Anna G. Hoover
“Cardinal rules” and best practice approaches have guided governmental risk communication efforts at chronic risk sites for more than two decades, playing an important role in how those most affected by contamination make sense of risk. In addition to providing information, however, communication approaches themselves can affect community perceptions indirectly, through stakeholder interpretations of the processes by which risk information is shared. It is increasingly necessary to evaluate not only whether risk communication approaches have been effective for increasing knowledge but if, in fact, the ways in which information is shared has had unintended consequences that change how stakeholders perceive …
Engaging Communities To Identify And Address Environmental Health Literacy Gaps, Anna G. Hoover
Engaging Communities To Identify And Address Environmental Health Literacy Gaps, Anna G. Hoover
Anna G. Hoover
Frequently, decisions about the informational components and delivery mechanisms required to promote effective environmental health literacy are made by such technical experts as toxicologists, chemists, and communication scientists. However, because sensemaking processes are both retrospective and collective, context must be a central component for understanding the particular information needs of communities and stakeholder groups. Individual assessments of and tolerance for environmental health risks are rooted in past and present experiences that are understood, refined, and reinforced through dialogue with others who have shared similar experiences. Thus, the promotion of environmental health literacy requires formative engagement with communities and stakeholders to …