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A systematic review of the effectiveness of environmental awareness interventions
M Campbell1, D Buckeridge, J Dwyer
1Health Promotion & Environmental Protection, Toronto Public Health, ON. mcampbe2@city.toronto.on.ca
Purpose:
To evaluate and summarize evidence on the effectiveness of interventions available to public health staff regarding the protection of the public from environmental risks.
Method:
This systematic review involved a comprehensive literature search, screening for relevance, quality assessment of relevant studies, data extraction and synthesis.
Results:
Fourteen of 65 relevant studies were of 'moderate' or 'strong' quality. Intervention types in these 14 studies included: mass campaign, counselling, school curriculum, educational sessions, and distribution of printed materials. Short-term improvements in awareness or knowledge were observed in 13 of the 14 studies. Eight of 13 studies that examined behavioural outcomes observed short-term improvements in self-reported behavioural outcomes.
Conclusions:
Positive short-term changes in health-protective awareness, knowledge and self-reported behaviour appear to be associated with relatively intensive interventions that use multiple methods and settings, and/or are delivered over multiple sessions.