Session: Perception and Communication of Risk

4263.0: Tuesday, November 9, 2004: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM

Oral

Perception and Communication of Risk

To design effective environmental and public health messages, it is imperative to understand how the general public processes and understands alternative ways of characterizing environmental health risk assessments and the role of message structure in influencing perceptions and behaviors. This session explores risk communication: what works, what doesn’t work, and why. Situations in which communication can be challenging will be discussed, including investigation of suspected “cancer clusters,” one of the difficult situations in which to communicate environmental information effectively. Learn how internet resources can assist you in meeting your community’s needs, whether they are interested in that day’s chemical spill from a derailed train, mercury contamination that shuts down the local high school or what health effects might be expected from a recently-discovered groundwater contamination problem.

Learning Objectives: To better understand factors related to successful environmental health messages. Understand the role that risk communication plays in community controversies over environmental health hazards. Identify resources that consumers can use to address urgent information needs at an introductory level, and for more detailed information

Organizer(s):

Susan Lyon Stone, MS
Joy E. Carlson, MPH
Robeena M. Aziz
John Balbus, MD
Max Weintraub, MS
Sacoby M. Wilson, MS

Moderator(s):

Susan Lyon Stone, MS

4:30 PM

Designing effective messages about environmental health risks to promote informed decision-making