Smoke Sense Initiative Leverages Citizen Science to Address the Growing Wildfire‐Related Public Health Problem

摘要

Smoke Sense is a citizen science project with investigative, educational, and action‐oriented objectives at the intersection of wildland fire smoke and public health. Participants engage with a smartphone application to explore current and forecast visualizations of air quality, learn about how to protect health from wildfire smoke, and record their smoke experiences, health symptoms, and behaviors taken to reduce their exposures to smoke. Through participation in the project, individuals engage in observing changes in their environment and recording changes in their health, thus facilitating progression on awareness of health effects of air pollution and adoption of desired health‐promoting behaviors. Participants can also view what others are reporting. Data from the pilot season (1 August 2017 to 7 January 2018; 5,598 downloads) suggest that there is a clear demand for personally relevant data during wildfire episodes motivated by recognition of environmental hazard and the personal concern for health. However, while participants shared clear perceptions of the environmental hazard and health risks in general, they did not consistently recognize their own personal health risk. The engagement in health protective behavior was driven in response to symptoms rather than as preventive courses of action. We also observed clear differences in the adoption likelihood of various health protective behaviors attributed to barriers and perceived benefits of these actions. As users experience a greater number and severity of symptoms, the perceived benefits of taking health protective actions exceeded the costs associated with the barriers and thus increased adoption of those actions. Based on pilot season data, we summarize key insights which may improve current health risk communications in nudging individuals toward health protective behavior; there is a need to increase personal awareness of risk and compelling evidence that health protective behaviors are beneficial. Plain Language Summary An observed increase in wildfire smoke exposure highlights the need for best practices in promoting protective health behaviors during wildfire smoke events. Understanding perceptions, motivations, and barriers to behavioral change (physical, social, or financial) among impacted individuals can provide insights into how to improve health risk communication and achieve better public health outcomes during smoke events. However, almost nothing is known about how current recommendations are perceived, adopted, and adhered to by individuals impacted by smoke. Smoke Sense is a citizen science project which aims to engage participants by encouraging them to observe their environment and record changes in their health, thus facilitating progression on awareness of health effects of air pollution and adoption of desired health‐promoting behaviors. We examined the feasibility of engaging smartphone users in a citizen science study and investigated the range of behavioral responses taken when experiencing smoke and health symptoms. Based on pilot season data, we suggest that to nudge individuals toward adopting health protective behaviors, we need to increase health risk awareness and provide compelling evidence that health protective behaviors are beneficial. Key Points With Smoke Sense, citizen scientists become human sensors of their own behavior in relation to their environment Smoke Sense reaches participants when and where they experience wildfire smoke Increasing personal awareness of risk and providing compelling evidence of health benefit is needed