Outcomes from Returning Individual versus Only Study-Wide Biomonitoring Results in an Environmental Exposure Study...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Biomonitoring
• Public Health Communication

Background:

• Participant engagement with biomonitoring results is crucial for ethical research and public health.
• Quantitative data on participant responses to individual exposure reports are limited.
• Digital tools for reporting back environmental chemical exposure data have not been thoroughly evaluated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess participant responses to personal environmental chemical exposure reports versus aggregate findings.
• To investigate differences in responses among Black participants.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a digital reporting interface.

Main Methods:

• Randomly assigned 295 women to receive personal or aggregate environmental chemical results via the Digital Exposure Report-Back Interface (DERBI).
• Collected data through pre- and post-viewing interviews, analyzing website activity, emotional responses, and future research intentions.
• Employed statistical analyses including Wilcoxon rank sum and regression models.

Main Results:

• Personal report recipients spent twice as much time engaging with their reports compared to the aggregate group.
• 84% of personal report users accessed detailed chemical group information, versus 66% in the aggregate group.
• Both groups reported positive emotions, with a slight increase in worry, particularly among Black participants with high chemical levels.

Conclusions:

• Personalized environmental chemical results motivate participants to seek further information on chemical sources and health impacts.
• Report-back, while associated with a minor increase in worry, can be a catalyst for informed action.
• Digital personal report-back significantly enhanced engagement with exposure data, especially for Black participants.