Epidemiol Prev. 2025 Jul-Aug;49(4):308-320. doi: 10.19191/EP25.4.A863.067.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: when facing growing environmental and social challenges, it is essential to involve citizens and social actors to increase the probability of success of the interventions, after establishing a cohesive and harmonised working group.
OBJECTIVES: to illustrate the tools for risk communication activity developed as part of the ‘One Health Citizen Science’ Project (OHCS), the actions undertaken and the preliminary results that offer an overview of the context and perspectives; to analyse the results of the internal survey of the group of experts working in OHCS on the issues of risk perception and communication in the specific context of citizen science (CS).
DESIGN: description of the actions undertaken in the OHCS communication sector and a transversal study on risk perception and CS.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: within the OHCS project, the following tools were produced during various meetings: information sheets, to be compiled for each of the 7 polluted sites and the 2 regional waste plans, containing useful information for setting up a risk communication programme; a methodological document for risk communication, to be used as a guide for the construction of specific communication plans in each area; an internal questionnaire, consisting of 29 questions to deepen the knowledge of the project partners, administered through the Google Forms platform.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: description of the actions undertaken in the OHCS communication sector and a transversal study on risk perception and CS of the experts, part of the project team; quantitative and qualitative analysis of the information sheets; evaluation of the impact of the methodological document for risk communication; analysis of the data obtained from the internal questionnaire, through descriptive statistical methods and multivariate analysis, implemented with R Software.
RESULTS: the information sheets contain useful information for risk communication, but need to be updated. The methodological document is still only partially used. The internal questionnaire administered to the experts of the project team saw the participation of 46 adults (between 30 and 59 years old: N. 35; 76,09%), mainly female (N. 31; 67,39%), with a high level of education. The results confirm the awareness, expected in sector operators, that dangers involve risks and reinforce the indication to work directly to mitigate them. Over two thirds of respondents have not participated in CS projects, and the majority declared themselves convinced that there are protection and prevention measures that can be implemented immediately, involving the responsible authorities and providing widespread information dedicated to different stakeholders.
CONCLUSIONS: the OHCS project, launched in 2023, has developed useful tools for collecting information and preparing environmental monitoring and biomonitoring activities. The results obtained so far show an improvement in the quality and quantity of the information collected, which is useful for involving social actors. The approaches used promote systematic methodologies that can facilitate the participation of all stakeholders. Internal communication actions within the project have contributed to the consolidation of the project team and the mapping of citizens’ social actors, and have developed awareness of the importance of CS for the planned activities and replicability in other contexts.
PMID:41399890 | DOI:10.19191/EP25.4.A863.067
