IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i13p2350-d245218.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perspectives on Heavy Metal Soil Testing Among Community Gardeners in the United States: A Mixed Methods Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Candis M. Hunter

    (Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

  • Dana H. Z. Williamson

    (Department of Behavioral Health Sciences and Education, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

  • Matthew O. Gribble

    (Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
    Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

  • Halle Bradshaw

    (Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

  • Melanie Pearson

    (Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

  • Eri Saikawa

    (Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
    Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory University, 400 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

  • P. Barry Ryan

    (Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

  • Michelle Kegler

    (Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
    Department of Behavioral Health Sciences and Education, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

Abstract

Community gardens offer numerous benefits, but there are also potential risks from exposure to chemical contaminants in the soil. Through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behavior, this mixed methods study examined community gardeners’ beliefs and intentions to conduct heavy metal soil testing. The qualitative component involved five focus groups of community garden leaders in Atlanta, Georgia. Qualitative analysis of the focus group data revealed that heavy metal soil contamination was not frequently identified as a common gardening hazard and several barriers limited soil testing in community gardens. The focus group results informed the development of a questionnaire that was administered to 500 community gardeners across the United States. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the soil testing intention was associated with attitude (aOR = 2.46, 95% CI: 1.34, 4.53), subjective norms (aOR = 3.39 95% CI: 2.07, 5.57), and perceived behavioral control (aOR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.10, 2.99). Study findings have implications for interventions involving community garden risk mitigation, particularly gardens that engage children and vulnerable populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Candis M. Hunter & Dana H. Z. Williamson & Matthew O. Gribble & Halle Bradshaw & Melanie Pearson & Eri Saikawa & P. Barry Ryan & Michelle Kegler, 2019. "Perspectives on Heavy Metal Soil Testing Among Community Gardeners in the United States: A Mixed Methods Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:13:p:2350-:d:245218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/13/2350/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/13/2350/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luke Drake & Laura Lawson, 2015. "Results of a US and Canada community garden survey: shared challenges in garden management amid diverse geographical and organizational contexts," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 241-254, June.
    2. Jason Parker & Robyn Wilson & Jeffrey LeJeune & Douglas Doohan, 2012. "Including growers in the “food safety” conversation: enhancing the design and implementation of food safety programming based on farm and marketing needs of fresh fruit and vegetable producers," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(3), pages 303-319, September.
    3. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    4. Marco Yzer, 2012. "Perceived Behavioral Control in Reasoned Action Theory," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 640(1), pages 101-117, March.
    5. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    6. Lisa Palmer, 2018. "Urban agriculture growth in US cities," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 5-7, January.
    7. Ryan Johnson & Kim Ramsey-White & Christina H. Fuller, 2016. "Socio-demographic Differences in Toxic Release Inventory Siting and Emissions in Metro Atlanta," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-12, July.
    8. Megan Horst & Nathan McClintock & Lesli Hoey, 2017. "The Intersection of Planning, Urban Agriculture, and Food Justice: A Review of the Literature," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(3), pages 277-295, July.
    9. Monica D. Ramirez-Andreotta & Abigail Tapper & Diamond Clough & Jennifer S. Carrera & Shana Sandhaus, 2019. "Understanding the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations Associated with Community Gardening to Improve Environmental Public Health Prevention and Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-15, February.
    10. Kirsten Schwarz & Bethany B. Cutts & Jonathan K. London & Mary L. Cadenasso, 2016. "Growing Gardens in Shrinking Cities: A Solution to the Soil Lead Problem?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-11, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lauren Balotin & Samantha Distler & Antoinette Williams & Samuel J.W. Peters & Candis M. Hunter & Chris Theal & Gil Frank & Taranji Alvarado & Rosario Hernandez & Arthur Hines & Eri Saikawa, 2020. "Atlanta Residents’ Knowledge Regarding Heavy Metal Exposures and Remediation in Urban Agriculture," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-27, March.
    2. Maeve Malone & Kabindra M. Shakya, 2024. "Trace Metal Contamination in Community Garden Soils across the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosa Arroyo & Lidón Mars & Tomás Ruiz, 2018. "Perceptions of Pedestrian and Cyclist Environments, Travel Behaviors, and Social Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Kaplan, Sigal & Moraes Monteiro, Mayara & Anderson, Marie Karen & Nielsen, Otto Anker & Medeiros Dos Santos, Enilson, 2017. "The role of information systems in non-routine transit use of university students: Evidence from Brazil and Denmark," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 34-48.
    3. Dianne H. B. Welsh & Eugene Kaciak & Caroline Minialai, 2017. "The influence of perceived management skills and perceived gender discrimination in launch decisions by women entrepreneurs," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-33, March.
    4. Kurt Wurthmann, 2017. "Implicit Theories and Issue Characteristics as Determinants of Moral Awareness and Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 93-116, April.
    5. Dimo Dimov, 2007. "From Opportunity Insight to Opportunity Intention: The Importance of Person–Situation Learning Match," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(4), pages 561-583, July.
    6. Kaplan, Sigal & Gruber, Johannes & Reinthaler, Martin & Klauenberg, Jens, 2016. "Intentions to introduce electric vehicles in the commercial sector: A model based on the theory of planned behaviour," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 12-19.
    7. López, Rafael & Valarezo, Ángel & Pérez-Amaral, Teodosio, 2021. "Online education adoption in Spain 2008-2019. Drivers and impediments," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238038, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    8. Mansoor Shekarian & Mahour Parast, 2021. "Do Entrepreneurship Skills Improve Project Performance? A Project-Based Learning Perspective," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 30(2), pages 267-305, September.
    9. Austmann, Leonhard M. & Vigne, Samuel A., 2021. "Does environmental awareness fuel the electric vehicle market? A Twitter keyword analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    10. Kaplan, Sigal & Manca, Francesco & Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick & Prato, Carlo Giacomo, 2015. "Intentions to use bike-sharing for holiday cycling: An application of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 34-46.
    11. Zhuling Liu & Janet Z. Yang & Susan S. Clark & Michael A. Shelly, 2022. "Recycling as a planned behavior: the moderating role of perceived behavioral control," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(9), pages 11011-11026, September.
    12. Jesús García & Rosa Arroyo & Lidón Mars & Tomás Ruiz, 2019. "The Influence of Attitudes towards Cycling and Walking on Travel Intentions and Actual Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, May.
    13. Dominik Schreyer, 2019. "Football spectator no-show behaviour in the German Bundesliga," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(45), pages 4882-4901, September.
    14. Maria Andersson & Ola Eriksson & Chris Von Borgstede, 2012. "The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on Source Separation in the Work and Home Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(6), pages 1-17, June.
    15. S. Arunachalam & Sridhar N. Ramaswami & Pol Herrmann & Doug Walker, 2018. "Innovation pathway to profitability: the role of entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capabilities," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 744-766, July.
    16. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2000. "Measurement Error and the Relationship between Investment and q," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 1027-1057, October.
    17. Tran Huy Phuong & Thanh Trung Hieu, 2015. "Predictors of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Undergraduate Students in Vietnam: An Empirical Study," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 5(8), pages 46-55, August.
    18. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2002. "Immigrant earnings: Language skills, linguistic concentrations and the business cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 31-57.
    19. Fors, Gunnar & Zejan, Mario, 1996. "Overseas R&D by Multinationals in foreign Centers of Excellence," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 111, Stockholm School of Economics.
    20. Clara Cardone-Riportella & María José Casasola-Martinez & Isabel Feito-Ruiz, 2014. "Do Entrepreneurs Come From Venus Or Mars? Impact Of Postgraduate Studies: Gender And Family Business Background," Working Papers 14.04, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Financial Economics and Accounting (former Department of Business Administration), revised Sep 2014.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:13:p:2350-:d:245218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.