Factors that influence environmental health literacy from returning polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure results
Reporting back on personal environmental exposure data has become more common, however there have been few tools developed to assess whether report back increases Environmental Health Literacy (EHL). Our goal in this study was to determine whether sociodemographic or environmental characteristics were associated with both quantitative and qualitative changes in EHL after receiving personal air monitoring results back. This study was conducted in a New York City based pregnancy cohort with personal chemical exposure monitoring conducted for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during the third trimester of pregnancy. Participants (n=168) received their results back 2-5 years after the monitoring and a subset (n=47) subsequently completed a survey asking about their thoughts and actions following the return of results. With the survey responses, we created a quantitative scale of EHL, with higher scores indicative of higher EHL. We found that mothers with a college degree were significantly more likely to be surprised by their results than mothers with less than a high school degree (OR = 5.60, p = 0.05) and that higher Naphthalene levels were associated with a decreased odds of being surprised about receiving the results (OR = 0.37, p = 0.02). There were no observed associations between demographic or exposure characteristics and our dichotomous EHL indicator; however, those with more education and higher income tended to have higher EHL scores. Additionally, participants who reported being surprised by or glad to receive their results had higher EHL scores. Open-ended text responses indicated that while some participants felt worried after receiving their results, semantic analysis indicated somewhat positive feelings. We find that people were glad to have received the report even though several years may have passed.