Perspectives of Peripartum People on Opportunities for Personal and Collective Action to Reduce Exposure to Everyday Chemicals: Focus Groups to Inform Exposure Report-back

Overview

Journal Environ Res

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2022 Mar 30

PMID 35351450

Authors

Catherine Oksas

Julia Green Brody

Phil Brown

Katherine E Boronow

Erin DeMicco

Annemarie Charlesworth

Maribel Juarez

Sarah Geiger

Susan L Schantz

Tracey J Woodruff

Rachel Morello-Frosch

Amy M Padula

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Participants in biomonitoring studies who receive personal exposure reports seek information to reduce exposures. Many chemical exposures are driven by systems-level policies rather than individual actions; therefore, change requires engagement in collective action. Participants' perceptions of collective action and use of report-back to support engagement remain unclear. We conducted virtual focus groups during summer 2020 in a diverse group of peripartum people from cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program (N = 18). We assessed baseline exposure and collective action experience, and report-back preferences. Participants were motivated to protect the health of their families and communities despite significant time and cognitive burdens. They requested time-conscious tactics and accessible information to enable action to reduce individual and collective exposures. Participant input informed the design of digital report-back in the cohorts. This study highlights opportunities to shift responsibility from individuals to policymakers to reduce chemical exposures at the systems level.

Citing Articles

Associations Between Daily-Use Products and Urinary Biomarkers of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Adults of Reproductive Age.

Foley J, Kwiatkowski C, Rochester J, Neveux I, Dabe S, Lathrop M Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025; 22(1).

PMID: 39857552 PMC: 11764522. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph22010099.

Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Gene-Environment Interaction Research.

Calluori S, Heimke K, Caga-Anan C, Kaufman D, Mechanic L, McAllister K Genet Epidemiol. 2024; 49(1):e22591.

PMID: 39315585 PMC: 11662202. DOI: 10.1002/gepi.22591.

Development and Outcomes of Returning Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure Results in the Washington Heights, NYC Community.

Riley K, Burke K, Dixon H, Holmes D, Calero L, Barton M Environ Health Insights. 2024; 18:11786302241262604.

PMID: 39055113 PMC: 11271165. DOI: 10.1177/11786302241262604.

Moving Forward with Reporting Back Individual Environmental Health Research Results.

Korfmacher K, Brody J Environ Health Perspect. 2023; 131(12):125002.

PMID: 38095662 PMC: 10720702. DOI: 10.1289/EHP12463.

The ethical aspects of exposome research: a systematic review.

Safarlou C, Jongsma K, Vermeulen R, Bredenoord A Exposome. 2023; 3(1):osad004.

PMID: 37745046 PMC: 7615114. DOI: 10.1093/exposome/osad004.

References

Gillman M, Blaisdell C . Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes, a Research Program of the National Institutes of Health. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2018; 30(2):260-262. PMC: 6020137. DOI: 10.1097/MOP.0000000000000600. View

Morello-Frosch R, Brody J, Brown P, Altman R, Rudel R, Perez C . Toxic ignorance and right-to-know in biomonitoring results communication: a survey of scientists and study participants. Environ Health. 2009; 8:6. PMC: 2654440. DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-8-6. View

Sjodin A, Jones R, Gunier R, Wong L, Holland N, Eskenazi B . Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, and 2,2-Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethene in 7- and 9-Year-Old Children and Their Mothers in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas Cohort. Environ Sci Technol. 2018; 52(4):2287-2294. PMC: 5894514. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05460. View

Brown P, Brody J, Morello-Frosch R, Tovar J, Zota A, Rudel R . Measuring the success of community science: the northern California Household Exposure Study. Environ Health Perspect. 2011; 120(3):326-31. PMC: 3295345. DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1103734. View

Morello-Frosch R, Cushing L, Jesdale B, Schwartz J, Guo W, Guo T . Environmental Chemicals in an Urban Population of Pregnant Women and Their Newborns from San Francisco. Environ Sci Technol. 2016; 50(22):12464-12472. PMC: 6681912. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b03492. View

Calafat A, Wong L, Kuklenyik Z, Reidy J, Needham L . Polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the U.S. population: data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004 and comparisons with NHANES 1999-2000. Environ Health Perspect. 2007; 115(11):1596-602. PMC: 2072821. DOI: 10.1289/ehp.10598. View

Dodson R, Nishioka M, Standley L, Perovich L, Brody J, Rudel R . Endocrine disruptors and asthma-associated chemicals in consumer products. Environ Health Perspect. 2012; 120(7):935-43. PMC: 3404651. DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1104052. View

Brandt J, Eichelberger K, Wong M . Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: Commitment to excellence in obstetrical care, research, and education for people with diverse sexual and gender identities. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2021; 226(4):B10-B12. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2021.11.1344. View

Bonevski B, Randell M, Paul C, Chapman K, Twyman L, Bryant J . Reaching the hard-to-reach: a systematic review of strategies for improving health and medical research with socially disadvantaged groups. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2014; 14:42. PMC: 3974746. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2288-14-42. View

10.

Morello-Frosch R, Varshavsky J, Liboiron M, Brown P, Brody J . Communicating results in post-Belmont era biomonitoring studies: lessons from genetics and neuroimaging research. Environ Res. 2014; 136:363-72. PMC: 4262542. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.10.001. View

11.

Altman R, Morello-Frosch R, Brody J, Rudel R, Brown P, Averick M . Pollution comes home and gets personal: women's experience of household chemical exposure. J Health Soc Behav. 2009; 49(4):417-35. PMC: 2720130. DOI: 10.1177/002214650804900404. View

12.

Brody J, Dunagan S, Morello-Frosch R, Brown P, Patton S, Rudel R . Reporting individual results for biomonitoring and environmental exposures: lessons learned from environmental communication case studies. Environ Health. 2014; 13:40. PMC: 4098947. DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-13-40. View

13.

Eick S, Goin D, Cushing L, DeMicco E, Smith S, Park J . Joint effects of prenatal exposure to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances and psychosocial stressors on corticotropin-releasing hormone during pregnancy. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2021; 32(1):27-36. PMC: 8492777. DOI: 10.1038/s41370-021-00322-8. View

14.

Kaufman D, Murphy J, Scott J, Hudson K . Subjects matter: a survey of public opinions about a large genetic cohort study. Genet Med. 2008; 10(11):831-9. DOI: 10.1097/GIM.0b013e31818bb3ab. View

15.

Murphy J, Scott J, Kaufman D, Geller G, LeRoy L, Hudson K . Public expectations for return of results from large-cohort genetic research. Am J Bioeth. 2008; 8(11):36-43. PMC: 2682364. DOI: 10.1080/15265160802513093. View

16.

Buckley J, Barrett E, Beamer P, Bennett D, Bloom M, Fennell T . Opportunities for evaluating chemical exposures and child health in the United States: the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2020; 30(3):397-419. PMC: 7183426. DOI: 10.1038/s41370-020-0211-9. View

17.

Ramirez-Andreotta M, Brody J, Lothrop N, Loh M, Beamer P, Brown P . Improving Environmental Health Literacy and Justice through Environmental Exposure Results Communication. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016; 13(7). PMC: 4962231. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph13070690. View

18.

Dodson R, Perovich L, Covaci A, Van den Eede N, Ionas A, Dirtu A . After the PBDE phase-out: a broad suite of flame retardants in repeat house dust samples from California. Environ Sci Technol. 2012; 46(24):13056-66. PMC: 3525011. DOI: 10.1021/es303879n. View

19.

Halcomb E, Gholizadeh L, DiGiacomo M, Phillips J, Davidson P . Literature review: considerations in undertaking focus group research with culturally and linguistically diverse groups. J Clin Nurs. 2007; 16(6):1000-11. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01760.x. View

20.

Perovich L, Ohayon J, Cousins E, Morello-Frosch R, Brown P, Adamkiewicz G . Reporting to parents on children's exposures to asthma triggers in low-income and public housing, an interview-based case study of ethics, environmental literacy, individual action, and public health benefits. Environ Health. 2018; 17(1):48. PMC: 5963109. DOI: 10.1186/s12940-018-0395-9. View