Scholarship & Research
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Item Residential radon exposure : awareness and risk perception in rural Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2014) Warner, Amy Lynn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Wade G. HillRadon is a natural part of the environment representing significant potential health risks within the home. Variations in knowledge and perception of risk related to radon exposure exist among diverse populations and the known link to lung cancer is not known by all that are at risk. Both the World Health Organization and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) conduct large efforts to raise awareness and educate residents how to lower indoor radon to an acceptable level. These efforts show variable efficacy and in some places radon awareness and testing rates remain very low. Montana is classified as a high-risk area for indoor radon concentrations of an unacceptable level according to the USEPA. In order to evaluate the efficacy of current educational efforts, it is important to measure the level of awareness and concern that exists especially in high-risk areas. This study uses data from a nursing-based environmental health hazard intervention to measure the perceived knowledge and risk perception surrounding radon exposure among residents of rural Montana. Findings indicate that awareness is low and the majority of residents lack strong feelings of concern about radon. These findings are discussed in relation to existing literature and studies related to radon and how the role of the advance practice nurse can be used to positively impact public health in relation to radon exposure prevention.Item Rural caregivers risk perceptions of environmental hazards(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2014) Rassi, Rebecca Lynn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Wade G. HillThe mounting scientific evidence linking environmental exposures to human health hazards has increased the need for effective environmental risk communication efforts to the public. One key component of providing effective environmental risk communication is risk perception: understanding how individuals and communities perceive environmental health risks. Risk perception research has shown that environmental risk perceptions are affected by social, cultural, and economic factors as well as other concepts such as power, trust, and mass media. Nested in the larger Environmental Risk Reduction through Nursing Intervention Evaluation project (ERRNIE), the purpose of this study was to describe how rural caregivers perceive the severity of environmental health exposures and to determine which environmental exposures were most concerning to rural caregivers. The study was guided by two aspects of the health belief model, perceived susceptibility and perceived severity. Findings indicated that uncontrollable exposures such as exotic infectious disease, water quality concerns, and radon were perceived as most concerning while common controllable exposures were least concerning. These findings were discussed as it applies to current risk perception theory and to risk communication efforts of nurses and nurse practitioners.