Perception of air pollution preventive actions in a low income community in Puerto Rico: A social perspective of governmental and community leaders actions

Background: The social satisfaction of individual and their community are not necessarily aligned with public policy or scientific data and/or priority. Indeed to include community priority, which can be diverse as their environmental perceptions are, could help to be more effective and improve the efficacy/efficiency of the environmental health program. A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate the perceived confidence in governmental, and community group action and public policy issues. in one community of Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico. Methods: A probabilistic model was used to obtain a representative sample of households in the Guayabal community. A face to face interview was designed to obtain information of all residents (n=263) in the selected households. Chi-squares, t-test and ANOVA Oneway were used for data analysis. Results: 56.9% are unaware of state/federal laws that protect the air quality in Puerto Rico. 87.4% consider that an individual or organization can be criminal process in the Puerto Rico justice courts for causing environment damage. On the other hand, 64.9%, 76.4%, 51.0% perceived as poor/none, the municipal - central governmental and community leadership actions, respectively, to attend the community air pollution issues. Statistical differences were observed by gender, income, marital status and education level for the perceived confidence in governmental, community group action and public policy issues. Conclusion: In general, the community perceived poor to none confidence in the actions taken toward air pollution reduction in the community.