Collaborative ECHO research led by Amy Padula, PhD, MSc from the University of California, San Francisco and Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH from the University of California, Berkeley found that many ECHO participants are motivated to engage in individual and collective action to protect their families and communities from the negative effects of chemical exposures. These findings may be used to improve report-back of chemical results and shift responsibility of chemical exposures from individuals to policymakers.
“When it comes to chemical exposure results, participants were interested in receiving timely, accessible, and straightforward information on how to reduce chemical exposures at the personal and community level,” said Dr. Padula.
This research, titled “Perspectives of peripartum people on opportunities for personal and collective action to reduce exposure to everyday chemicals: Focus groups to inform exposure report-back,” is published in Environmental Research.
In the summer of 2020, the researchers held three online focus groups with a diverse set of 18 mothers from ECHO pregnancy cohorts in Illinois and California. Focus groups, held in both English and Spanish, involved discussions around knowledge of chemical exposures and their sources, chemical exposure report-back preferences, and participants’ interest and willingness to engage in collective action.
Study results demonstrate the usefulness of chemical exposure report-back tools, like the Digital Exposure Report Back Interface (DERBI), for informing and empowering research participants. “Report-back can provide opportunities for participants to learn more about environmental health and how to lower exposure both in their homes and in their communities,” said Dr. Padula.
The next steps for this research include examining surveys from participants who are using DERBI to learn about their chemical exposures. These surveys may reveal more about how chemical exposure reports influence participant engagement with collective action efforts. Drs. Padula and Morello-Frosch encourage other ECHO cohorts to use DERBI to report back individual chemical results to their participants.
More information about the Digital Exposure Report Back Interface (DERBI) or how to use DERBI in your cohort, please visit the Silent Spring Institute website.