The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #41877

Rebecca T. Parkin, PhD, MPH, Env. and Occ. Health, George Washington University, 2300 K St., N.W. #201, Washington, DC 20037 and Grace K. Paranzino, RN, MS, CHES, School of Medicine, MCP Hahnemann University, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129, 215-991-8469, eohrtp@gwumc.edu.

Residents living in and around Oak Ridge, Tennessee, have been expressing concerns about their health, including whether their health may have been affected by the Oak Ridge Reservation. Over the past 50 years, the site has been used for a range of public and private research and production activities, many of which have involved hazardous materials. Federal agencies have been identifying and addressing residents' health issues and priorities. A determination was made that the residents' health education needs should be assessed and an education plan developed to meet their needs. In the past year, we worked with community representatives and conducted a health education needs assessment in the 7-county region including Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We used four approaches to collect data as the basis for designing a comprehensive health education action plan for the region. Documents were reviewed for evidence of past health concerns. Over 70 individual interviews were conducted of health professionals, health care providers and key community people who had knowledge of the communities' health concerns. Then, a random-digit-dialed telephone survey of 400 residents was completed. Finally, 8 focus groups were conducted of resident subpopulations of particular interest. This presentation will focus on the results of these data gathering activities, highlighting the residents' health issues and education needs. Analyses by demographic and other subgroup characteristics will be presented.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify the value of using complementary methods to research community environmental health concerns.
• To describe the current health issues and related education needs of both general and special residential populations in the Oak Ridge area.
• To state how the knowledge gained was used to design a health education plan for the region.

Keywords: Environmental Health, Health Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.