IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i22p7056-d1278671.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health and Psychological Concerns of Communities Affected by Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances: The Case of Residents Living in the Orange Area of the Veneto Region

Author

Listed:
  • Marialuisa Menegatto

    (FISPPA Department, University of Padova, Via Venezia 14, 35131 Padova, Italy)

  • Adriano Zamperini

    (FISPPA Department, University of Padova, Via Venezia 14, 35131 Padova, Italy)

Abstract

Residents of an extensive area of the Veneto Region (Italy) face one of the largest technological disasters due to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). On the basis of a risk gradient of contamination, the affected territories were divided into 4 areas: Red (of maximum exposure, where a human biomonitoring programme (HBM) was activated), Orange, Yellow, and Green. This article presents a case study of residents who live in the Orange Area, the second area in terms of contamination, excluded from the HBM. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 residents engaged in promoting a legal procedure to exercise their right to know. Grounded theory and a thematic analysis method were used. Overall, the findings revealed that experiencing contamination causes a negative psychosocial impact on the residents’ lives; difficulty accessing information; living with uncertainty, caused by the lack of institutional and health support and medical consultation; a sense of abandonment; difficulty managing preventive and protective actions; and the deterioration of relationships, on the basis of the social comparison with residents of the Red Area, to whom HBM was granted and where the concept of health ostracism has emerged. This study demonstrated that biomonitoring may help reduce discomfort in the case of contamination by informing people of their chemical exposure.

Suggested Citation

  • Marialuisa Menegatto & Adriano Zamperini, 2023. "Health and Psychological Concerns of Communities Affected by Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances: The Case of Residents Living in the Orange Area of the Veneto Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:22:p:7056-:d:1278671
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/22/7056/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/22/7056/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marialuisa Menegatto & Sara Lezzi & Michele Musolino & Adriano Zamperini, 2022. "The Psychological Impact of Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Pollution in the Veneto Region, Italy: A Qualitative Study with Parents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Eric E. Calloway & Alethea L. Chiappone & Harrison J. Schmitt & Daniel Sullivan & Ben Gerhardstein & Pamela G. Tucker & Jamie Rayman & Amy L. Yaroch, 2020. "Exploring Community Psychosocial Stress Related to Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Contamination: Lessons Learned from a Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Monica D. Ramirez-Andreotta & Julia Green Brody & Nathan Lothrop & Miranda Loh & Paloma I. Beamer & Phil Brown, 2016. "Improving Environmental Health Literacy and Justice through Environmental Exposure Results Communication," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-27, July.
    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. Diana Rohlman & Jamie Donatuto & Myk Heidt & Michael Barton & Larry Campbell & Kim A. Anderson & Molly L. Kile, 2019. "A Case Study Describing a Community-Engaged Approach for Evaluating Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure in a Native American Community," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Jayajit Chakraborty & Timothy W. Collins & Sara E. Grineski, 2016. "Environmental Justice Research: Contemporary Issues and Emerging Topics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-5, November.
    3. Johanna R. Rochester & Carol F. Kwiatkowski & Iva Neveux & Shaun Dabe & Katherine M. Hatcher & Michael Kupec Lathrop & Eric J. Daza & Brenda Eskenazi & Joseph J. Grzymski & Jenna Hua, 2024. "A Personalized Intervention to Increase Environmental Health Literacy and Readiness to Change in a Northern Nevada Population: Effects of Environmental Chemical Exposure Report-Back," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(7), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Kathryn S. Tomsho & Claire Schollaert & Temana Aguilar & Roseann Bongiovanni & Marty Alvarez & Madeleine K. Scammell & Gary Adamkiewicz, 2019. "A Mixed Methods Evaluation of Sharing Air Pollution Results with Study Participants via Report-Back Communication," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-14, October.
    5. Erin Lebow-Skelley & Sarah Yelton & Brandi Janssen & Esther Erdei & Melanie A. Pearson, 2020. "Identifying Issues and Priorities in Reporting Back Environmental Health Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Arthur Moses & Jean E. T. McLain & Aminata Kilungo & Robert A. Root & Leif Abrell & Sanlyn Buxner & Flor Sandoval & Theresa Foley & Miriam Jones & Mónica D. Ramírez-Andreotta, 2022. "Minding the gap: socio-demographic factors linked to the perception of environmental pollution, water harvesting infrastructure, and gardening characteristics," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 594-610, September.
    7. Andrew R. Binder & Katlyn May & John Murphy & Anna Gross & Elise Carlsten, 2022. "Environmental Health Literacy as Knowing, Feeling, and Believing: Analyzing Linkages between Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status and Willingness to Engage in Protective Behaviors against Health ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-17, February.
    8. Marialuisa Menegatto & Sara Lezzi & Michele Musolino & Adriano Zamperini, 2022. "The Psychological Impact of Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Pollution in the Veneto Region, Italy: A Qualitative Study with Parents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-22, November.
    9. Julie Von Behren & Michelle Wong & Daniela Morales & Peggy Reynolds & Paul B. English & Gina Solomon, 2022. "Returning Individual Tap Water Testing Results to Research Study Participants after a Wildfire Disaster," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-13, January.
    10. Marti Lindsey & Shaw-Ree Chen & Richmond Ben & Melissa Manoogian & Jordan Spradlin, 2021. "Defining Environmental Health Literacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-15, November.
    11. Courtney M. Cooper & Jeff B. Langman & Dilshani Sarathchandra & Chantal A. Vella & Chloe B. Wardropper, 2020. "Perceived Risk and Intentions to Practice Health Protective Behaviors in a Mining-Impacted Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, October.
    12. Kathleen M. Gray, 2018. "From Content Knowledge to Community Change: A Review of Representations of Environmental Health Literacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, March.
    13. Kathryn S. Tomsho & Erin Polka & Stacey Chacker & David Queeley & Marty Alvarez & Madeleine K. Scammell & Karen M. Emmons & Rima E. Rudd & Gary Adamkiewicz, 2022. "Characterizing the Environmental Health Literacy and Sensemaking of Indoor Air Quality of Research Participants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-16, February.
    14. Dorsey B. Kaufmann & Kunal Palawat & Shana Sandhaus & Sanlyn Buxner & Ellen McMahon & Mónica D. Ramírez-Andreotta, 2023. "Communicating environmental data through art: the role of emotion and memory in evoking environmental action," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    15. Leona F. Davis & Mónica D. Ramirez-Andreotta & Jean E. T. McLain & Aminata Kilungo & Leif Abrell & Sanlyn Buxner, 2018. "Increasing Environmental Health Literacy through Contextual Learning in Communities at Risk," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-23, October.
    16. Marialuisa Menegatto & Gloria Freschi & Margherita Bulfon & Adriano Zamperini, 2024. "Collectively Remembering Environmental Disasters: The Vaia Storm as a Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-17, September.
    17. Diana Rohlman & Molly L. Kile & Veronica L. Irvin, 2022. "Developing a Short Assessment of Environmental Health Literacy (SA-EHL)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-15, February.
    18. Jose Ramon Saura & Pedro Palos-Sanchez & Miguel Angel Rios Martin, 2018. "Attitudes Expressed in Online Comments about Environmental Factors in the Tourism Sector: An Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, March.
    19. Erin Polka & Ellen Childs & Alexa Friedman & Kathryn S. Tomsho & Birgit Claus Henn & Madeleine K. Scammell & Chad W. Milando, 2021. "MCR: Open-Source Software to Automate Compilation of Health Study Report-Back," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, June.
    20. Daniel Madrigal & Mariana Claustro & Michelle Wong & Esther Bejarano & Luis Olmedo & Paul English, 2020. "Developing Youth Environmental Health Literacy and Civic Leadership through Community Air Monitoring in Imperial County, California," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-12, February.

    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:20:y:2023:i:22:p:7056-:d:1278671. 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.