Titel

Health as Subjective Access to Environmental Knowledge - Environmental Health Literacy as an Approach to Strengthen Self-Efficacy and Environmental Awareness

Duration: 10/2021 - now
Head: Prof. Dr. Doreen Reifegerste
Collaborators: Annabell Duda

Environmental Health Literacy (EHL) is concerned with the relationship between environmental risks and their impact on human health. It is based on knowledge and awareness of environmental health risks, supplemented by self-efficacy and the ability to find, understand and apply environmental health information. Socioeconomic factors such as education or income are considered to influence EHL, with low socioeconomic status (SES) being associated with lower EHL. People from socially disadvantaged groups are more likely to have a low SES and are more frequently exposed to multiple stressors such as noise, air pollutants and heat. The aim of this PhD project is to raise awareness of environmental health risks in socially disadvantaged groups by analysing and developing target group-oriented communication strategies.

Methodologically, a secondary data analysis of the 2018 Environmental Awareness Study was first conducted to analyse differences in environmental awareness, environmental knowledge and perception of environmental health risks between different social milieus. The results show that precarious milieus in Germany have lower environmental awareness, less environmental knowledge and a different perception of environmental health risks compared to other social groups. This suggests that targeted education and support measures are needed to promote environmental awareness and EHL in socially disadvantaged groups. The next step was to conduct interviews with people from socially disadvantaged groups to investigate access to and understanding of environmental health information.

A scoping review of communication strategies employed to date in EHL research is planned, alongside a workshop involving experts from both research and practice. The aim is to develop target group-specific communication strategies to more effectively engage socially disadvantaged populations.

The project was funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation ("Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt", DBU) through a doctoral scholarship from January 2022 to December 2024.