IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i18p3254-d264245.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Communicating Risk for a Climate-Sensitive Disease: A Case Study of Valley Fever in Central California

Author

Listed:
  • Melissa Matlock

    (Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, Program in Public Health; Irvine, CA 92697, USA)

  • Suellen Hopfer

    (Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, Program in Public Health; Irvine, CA 92697, USA)

  • Oladele A. Ogunseitan

    (Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, Program in Public Health; Irvine, CA 92697, USA
    School of Social Ecology; University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA)

Abstract

Valley Fever, or Coccidioidomycosis, a fungal respiratory disease, is prevalent with increasing incidence in the Southwestern United States, especially in the central region of California. Public health agencies in the region do not have a consistent strategy for communication and health promotion targeting vulnerable communities about this climate-sensitive disease. We used the behavior adaptation communication model to design and conduct semi-structured interviews with representatives of public health agencies in five California counties: Fresno, Kern, Kings, San Luis Obispo, and Tulare County. While none of the agencies currently include climate change information into their Valley Fever risk messaging, the agencies discuss future communication methods similar to other health risk factors such as poor air quality days and influenza virus season. For political reasons, some public health agencies deliberately avoided the use of climate change language in communicating health risk factors to farmers who are particularly vulnerable to soil and dust-borne fungal spores. The effectiveness of health communication activities of the public health agencies has not been measured in reducing the prevalence of Valley Fever in impacted communities. Given the transboundary nature of climate influence on Valley Fever risk, a concerted and consistent health communication strategy is expected to be more effective than current practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Melissa Matlock & Suellen Hopfer & Oladele A. Ogunseitan, 2019. "Communicating Risk for a Climate-Sensitive Disease: A Case Study of Valley Fever in Central California," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:18:p:3254-:d:264245
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3254/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3254/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucas W. Davis, 2008. "The Effect of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality in Mexico City," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(1), pages 38-81, February.
    2. Hilary Geoghegan & Catherine Leyson, 2012. "On climate change and cultural geography: farming on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 55-66, July.
    3. Roger Kasperson, 2014. "Four questions for risk communication," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(10), pages 1233-1239, November.
    4. Adam Seth Levine & Reuben Kline, 2017. "A new approach for evaluating climate change communication," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 301-309, May.
    5. Hilary Geoghegan & Catherine Leyshon, 2012. "Erratum to: On climate change and cultural geography: farming on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 67-67, July.
    6. Frumkin, H. & Hess, J. & Luber, G. & Malilay, J. & McGeehin, M., 2008. "Climate change: The public health response," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(3), pages 435-445.
    7. Baruch Fischhoff, 1995. "Risk Perception and Communication Unplugged: Twenty Years of Process," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 137-145, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Georgina Endfield & Carol Morris, 2012. "Cultural spaces of climate," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 1-4, July.
    2. Candice Howarth & Laurie Parsons, 2021. "Assembling a coalition of climate change narratives on UK climate action: a focus on the city, countryside, community and home," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 1-19, January.
    3. José Manuel Palma‐Oliveira & Benjamin D. Trump & Matthew D. Wood & Igor Linkov, 2018. "Community‐Driven Hypothesis Testing: A Solution for the Tragedy of the Anticommons," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 620-634, March.
    4. Anna Scolobig & Monika Riegler & Philipp Preuner & JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer & David Ottowitz & Stefan Hoyer & Birgit Jochum, 2017. "Warning System Options for Landslide Risk: A Case Study in Upper Austria," Resources, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-19, August.
    5. Thomas Webler & Seth Tuler, 2021. "Four Decades of Public Participation in Risk Decision Making," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 503-518, March.
    6. Laura N. Rickard, 2021. "Pragmatic and (or) Constitutive? On the Foundations of Contemporary Risk Communication Research," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 466-479, March.
    7. Frederic Bouder & Dominic Way & Ragnar Löfstedt & Darrick Evensen, 2015. "Transparency in Europe: A Quantitative Study," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(7), pages 1210-1229, July.
    8. Richard Grove & Joám Evans Pim & Miguel Serrano & Diego Cidrás & Heather Viles & Patricia Sanmartín, 2020. "Pastoral Stone Enclosures as Biological Cultural Heritage: Galician and Cornish Examples of Community Conservation," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, January.
    9. Dominic Balog‐Way & Katherine McComas & John Besley, 2020. "The Evolving Field of Risk Communication," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(S1), pages 2240-2262, November.
    10. Floris Goerlandt & Jie Li & Genserik Reniers, 2020. "The Landscape of Risk Communication Research: A Scientometric Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-31, May.
    11. Nick Nash & Lorraine Whitmarsh & Stuart Capstick & Valdiney Gouveia & Rafaella Carvalho Rodrigues Araújo & Monika Santos & Romeo Palakatsela & Yuebai Liu & Marie K. Harder & Xiao Wang, 2020. "Local climate change cultures: climate-relevant discursive practices in three emerging economies," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 63-82, November.
    12. Oumar Marega & Philippe Chagnon & Severine Frere & Anne-Peggy Hellequin & Herve Flanquart & Iratxe Calvo-Mendieta & Baptiste Berry & Sophie Cornet, 2024. "Climate Change: What Are the Implications of Worldview, Political Orientation, Values on Climate Belief and Engagement in the French Context?," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(4), pages 112-112, July.
    13. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    14. Jonathan E. Suk & Kristie L. Ebi & David Vose & Willy Wint & Neil Alexander & Koen Mintiens & Jan C. Semenza, 2014. "Indicators for Tracking European Vulnerabilities to the Risks of Infectious Disease Transmission due to Climate Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, February.
    15. Kverndokk, Snorre & Figenbaum, Erik & Hovi, Jon, 2020. "Would my driving pattern change if my neighbor were to buy an emission-free car?," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    16. Stephanie E. Austin & Robbert Biesbroek & Lea Berrang-Ford & James D. Ford & Stephen Parker & Manon D. Fleury, 2016. "Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in OECD Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Proost, Stef & Van Dender, Kurt, 2012. "Energy and environment challenges in the transport sector," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 77-87.
    18. Maureen Cropper & Yi Jiang & Anna Alberini & Patrick Baur, 2014. "Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 57(1), pages 117-143, January.
    19. Li, Tianshu & Song, Shunfeng & Yang, Yanmin, 2022. "Driving restrictions, traffic speeds and carbon emissions: Evidence from high-frequency data," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    20. Ann Bostrom & Ragnar E. Löfstedt, 2003. "Communicating Risk: Wireless and Hardwired," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 241-248, April.

    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:18:p:3254-:d:264245. 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.