Environmental Public Health Research Research Articles

Promoting environmental justice in contaminated areas by combining environmental public health and community theatre practices

Communities affected by contaminated sites are often overburdened by environmental and social fragilities living a depression in their potentialities and destabilisation in health and quality of life. The paradigm of Environmental Justice and the framework of community capacity (community capacities) are at stake in promoting environmental public health in communities affected by contaminated sites. Three community changes foreseeing the following objectives appear as priorities: centralisation in decisions regarding the use of their territories; an active (i.e. participated) role in decision-making processes; a view of a possible future without contamination. These transitions require the activation of technical, scientific, and cultural domains. While environmental public health research, especially if implemented through a community participative approach, has a central role in promoting the community capacity of ‘knowledge’, performing arts have great potential for empowering the other capacities. Different collective theatrical approaches are reviewed and analysed in the cultural domain, identifying those of community theatre as the practices with the greatest participative and transformative impact. A community-based approach for promoting environmental justice in contaminated sites requires the development of interventions integrating technical-scientific with cultural domains.

Bringing Big Data to Bear in Environmental Public Health: Challenges and Recommendations.

Understanding the role that the environment plays in influencing public health often involves collecting and studying large, complex data sets. There have been a number of private and public efforts to gather sufficient information and confront significant unknowns in the field of environmental public health, yet there is a persistent and largely unmet need for findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data. Even when data are readily available, the ability to create, analyze, and draw conclusions from these data using emerging computational tools, such as augmented and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, requires technical skills not currently implemented on a programmatic level across research hubs and academic institutions. We argue that collaborative efforts in data curation and storage, scientific computing, and training are of paramount importance to empower researchers within environmental sciences and the broader public health community to apply AI approaches and fully realize their potential. Leaders in the field were asked to prioritize challenges in incorporating big data in environmental public health research: inconsistent implementation of FAIR principles in data collection and sharing, a lack of skilled data scientists and appropriate cyber-infrastructures, and limited understanding of possibilities and communication of benefits were among those identified. These issues are discussed, and actionable recommendations are provided.

Evaluating community and campus environmental public health programs.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' (NIEHS) Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) program created the Evaluation Metrics Manual as a tool to help grantees understand how to map out their programs using a logic model, and to identify measures for documenting their achievements in environmental public health research. This article provides an overview of the manual, describing how grantees and community partners contributed to the manual, and how the basic components of a logic model can be used to identify metrics. We illustrate how the approach can be implemented, using a real-world case study from the University of Texas Medical Branch, where researchers worked with community partners to develop a network to address environmental justice issues.

Environmental public health research: engaging communities

AbstractEnvironmental public health research is a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional field of endeavor that is changing. New and innovative approaches are vital to researchers and communities. Partnerships and collaborations also are part of the equation. Thus, engaging communities is a necessary component for successful environmental public health research.The federal government has a fiduciary and a moral responsibility to provide ethical research in communities with the same integrity as required for individuals. There is an inherent distrust by many communities, especially minority communities, in light of past public health research failures. Communities targeted by public health researchers may be aware of the need to improve the community's environmental health and quality of life but are unsure of the methods and benefits. This in turn requires competent and attentive collaborations between the community and the researcher(s). Communities are indeed more astute to their physical surroundings, but may still not understand the nature and intent of the research process. Therefore, the collaboration and partnership should start as early in the design, planning, and execution of the project as possible. Future challenges in genetic screening and research will only increase the need for communities to be engaged in public health research.

Future directions of environmental public health research: ATSDR's 2002 – 2010 agenda for six priority focus areas

AbstractAdditional research on human exposures to hazardous substances in community settings and resultant adverse health effects is needed to fill an extensive number of information gaps. For example, information is needed to answer specific public health questions about the toxic effects of specific chemicals, who has been exposed, what the health risks might be, and what interventions are effective. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is the principal federal agency responsible for addressing issues of public health concerning the human health risks associated with hazardous waste sites and unplanned releases of hazardous substances into the environment. Research is a critical component in how effectively the agency can identify persons exposed, determine health risks, and intervene to reduce exposures and adverse health outcomes. ATSDR has recently developed an agenda for public health environmental research for 2002 – 2010, divided into the following six research focus areas: exposure assessment; chemical mixtures; susceptible populations; community and tribal involvement; evaluation and surveillance of health effects; and health promotion and intervention. This article discusses the agenda's development, the research issues within each of the six focus areas, and preliminary implementation plans.