Changes in Attitudes towards and Awareness of A Medical Waste Incinerator during the Facility Siting Process.
The authors investigated the impact of the process of siting a medical waste incinerator on knowledge and attitudes among subgroups within an adjacent community using a model of risk perception that conceptually divided the community into attitudinal and behavioral subgroups based on awareness and concern in relation to the planned facility. The study design was a one-year survey and a three-year postintervention survey conducted during the siting process. The authors also documented the siting process in order to relate siting inputs to attitudinal and knowledge changes within the community. After three years of promotion, 80% of the respondents remained unaware of the site. The authors conclude that it may be very difficult to engender awareness in affected communities and more difficult still to influence attitudes towards the proposed facility.
Ostry
AS
Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, 5804 Fairview Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1W5, Canada.
Hertzman
C
Marion
SA