The Eyewitness Community Survey: An Engaging Citizen Science Tool to Capture Reliable Data while Improving Community...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Citizen Science
• Youth Engagement

Background:

• Youth often exhibit limited environmental health knowledge and understanding of local environmental impacts.
• There's a need for tools to enhance environmental health literacy and promote eco-friendly behaviors in young populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Eyewitness Community Survey (ECS) as a tool for data collection.
• To assess the ECS's effectiveness in increasing environmental health knowledge and engaging youth as citizen scientists.
• To evaluate the reliability and usability of the ECS for community environmental assessments.

Main Methods:

• The Eyewitness Community Survey (ECS) was developed iteratively through co-design.
• Two phases of testing involved youths auditing 360° photographs and real-world locations.
• Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were assessed, alongside changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and self-efficacy.

Main Results:

• High inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were observed, with substantial to near-perfect Kappa values.
• Knowledge scores significantly improved after participants used the ECS (p ≤ 0.032).
• 85% of participants found the ECS easy to use, and 70% expressed willingness to use it again.

Conclusions:

• The ECS is a reliable and effective citizen science tool for capturing environmental data.
• The tool provides valuable experiential learning opportunities, enhancing environmental health knowledge and engagement in youth.
• The ECS empowers youth to actively participate in addressing local environmental challenges.