Environmental health promotion interventions: considerations for preparation and practice.
Interventions to address current, future, and potential public health dilemmas, such as air pollution, urban sprawl, brown field reclamation, and threats of intentional toxic exposures would benefit from a synergy between the disciplines of environmental health and health education. A comparison between the Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health and the PRECEDE-PROCEED model used in health education illustrates some similarities and differences in terminology, assessment procedures, intervention design, and types of evidence used by the two disciplines. Promising intervention strategies draw on the expertise of both fields and include social action, policy and media advocacy, coalition building, organizational change, lay health advisers, risk communication, and tailored educational messages. Appropriate targets of change can range from the equitable distribution of resources to individual behavior change. Significant interdisciplinary evaluation research is necessary to accelerate the identification of successful models for reducing the burden of environmental health problems in communities.
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30033, USA. mkegler@sph.emory.edu
Michelle Crozier
MC
Kegler
Kathleen
K
Miner
D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods; D004782:Environmental Health; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D015980:Public Health Practice