AdVANcEmENtAd VAN c E m EN t of tHEt HE PRActice

 DiRect FRoM cDc ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES BRANCH

Communication as an Essential Component of Environmental Health Science

Ricardo R. Beato, Jana Telfer, MS MA

and community health decisions. The use of Editor's Note: This is the first of two columns this month about the research adds scientific rigor to health commu­ Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER) Awareness nication planning and implementation. Health Level course. NEHA strives to provide up-to-date and relevant information communication professionals are uniquely trained and qualified to conduct communica­ on environmental health and to build partnerships in the profession. In tion research, develop effective and duplicable pursuit of these goals, we feature a column from the Environmental Health health promotion strategies and campaigns, Services Branch (EHSB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and evaluate communication effectiveness. (CDC) in every issue of the Journal. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) included health communica­ In this column, EHSB and guest authors from across CDC will highlight a tion science among the Healthy People 2010 variety of concerns, opportunities, challenges, and successes that we all share objectives. HHS states that during the first de­ in environmental public health. EHSB’s objective is to strengthen the role of cade of the 21st century, health communication state, local, and national environmental health programs and professionals has been an essential contributor to improved to anticipate, identify, and respond to adverse environmental exposures and personal and community health. Public health professionals must continue to build an acces­ the consequences of these exposures for human health. The services being sible, robust reservoir of high-quality, audience- developed through EHSB include access to topical, relevant, and scientific in­ appropriate environmental health information formation; consultation; and assistance to environmental health specialists, tailored to segments of the population, espe­ sanitarians, and environmental health professionals and practitioners. cially the underserved. Additionally, because The conclusions in this article are those of the author(s) and do not neces­ environmental health events often are highly visible and polarizing, environmental health sarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. professionals would benefit from receiving Ricardo Beato is a project officer for the CDC HIV prevention program; training in health and risk communication, ef­ previously, he was a health communication specialist at the National Center fective communication methods, and emerging for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry communication technologies. (NCEH/ATSDR). Jana Telfer is the associate director for Communication The HHS mandate also reflects a growing realization that health communication sci­ Science at NCEH/ATSDR. ence has made substantial contributions to environmental health. Communication sci­ ence has helped to develop such enhance­ he science of health communication public health. When such events occur, health ments to public health practice as is becoming as central to the field of professionals must seek disease control inter­ • a large body of health communication research, T environmental health as the science of ventions but also address audiences’ informa­ • risk communication tools and methods, epidemiology. Within the 21st century, such tion needs. Health communication science is • methods for communicating effectively events as Hurricane Katrina, H1N1 influenza, an essential underpinning for such activities. with news media and other audiences, and concerns about chemical exposure in im­ Health communication science provides • audience segmentation tools to reach cul­ ported drywall have demonstrated the value a research-based foundation for developing turally and linguistically diverse commu­ of communication as a means of protecting strategies to inform and influence individual nities, and

Reprinted with permission from NEHA 24 Volume 73 • Number 1

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• plain language and other tools to improve community would benefit from establishing a and web-based communication. Audience health literacy. culture in which health communication is an segmentation—that is, the ability to divide These contributions have improved public essential component of environmental health an audience into somewhat homogeneous health message delivery and promoted be­ science and communication specialists are as groups—is one tool with which to create havior change. For example, communication indispensible as toxicologists, epidemiolo­ audience-centered communication, thus helped to address successfully a recent out­ gists, or medical officers. improving message effectiveness. break of cryptosporidium in Utah and Texas. Yet before such a goal can be attained, Among lessons learned from practice The practice of communicating with and health communication science must overcome is that early in the team-building process, engaging communities directly makes envi­ a number of challenges. These include, but are health communication specialists should be­ ronmental health unique. Communication of not necessarily limited to, the following: come an integral part of the environmental health interventions and recommendations • the need to develop rapidly an acceptable investigation and response activity. A benefit must reach defined segments within affected level of subject matter expertise in a range of adding a communication specialist to sci­ communities. Environmental health commu­ of diverse technical topics in order to trans­ entific teams is the assurance that essential nicators need to collaborate closely with pub­ late science effectively for lay audiences, messages will reach the target audiences. The lic health scientists to formulate and deliver • the burden of dramatic increases in the development of accurate, clear, timely, and information and recommendations to affected number and nature of communication understandable health messages is not only communities. Messages need to consider lit­ channels (e.g., text messaging, blogs), and cost-effective—it can save lives. eracy and educational levels, audience demo­ • cultural and linguistic differences of an in­ The bottom line is that because health graphics, local beliefs and values, socioeco­ creasingly diverse population. communication specialists provide the com­ nomic issues, and discrimination, as well as Health communication science is pre­ munication expertise and combination of re­ the potential for stigma that may be attached pared to meet such challenges. The mul­ search and practice to ensure that health rec­ to issues. tidisciplinary field of health communica­ ommendations and messages reach the target The evolving science of health communi­ tion synthesizes knowledge from a range audience, they are essential to the success of cation is not without challenges. One such of other disciplines including behavioral environmental health interventions. challenge is the notion that health commu­ science, psychology, and marketing. In nication is a “soft science.” Occasionally, en­ cases of natural disasters, emergencies, Corresponding Author: Ricardo Beato, Health vironmental scientists believe they already and situations with the potential for con­ Communication Specialist, Health Com­ are effective health communicators, and they fusion and outrage, decades of research in munication Science Office, National Center may bypass health communication profes­ risk and high stakes communication pro­ for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic sionals. Such actions have led to difficulties vide guidelines to produce desired public Substances and Disease Registry, CDC, 4770 in message delivery and community interac­ health outcomes. More recent research is Buford Highway, N.E., M.S. F-61, Atlanta, GA tion. The professional environmental health documenting effective uses of social media 30341. E-mail: [email protected].

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Reprinted with permission from NEHA July/August 2010 • Journal of Environmental Health 25

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