Community Research in Environmental Health

Interest in environmental health research conducted with community participation has increased dramatically in recent years. In this book, Doug Brugge and H. Patricia Hynes relate experience of multiple community collaborations across the United States and highlight the lessons to be learned for those involved in or embarking on community-collaborative research. The volume brings together a variety of cases, examining the nature and form that the collaboration took, the scientific findings from the work and the ethical issues that needed to be addressed. Actual cases covered include lead contaminated soil, asthma and housing conditions, the impact of development on environmental health, the impact of radiation hazards, urban gardening, hog farming and diesel exhaust. The concluding section analyses the experiences of those involved and puts their findings into broader context. Community Research in Environmental Health: Lessons in Science, Advocacy and Ethics provides a valuable guide for all those interested and involved in community research.

Doug Brugge is Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts University School of Medicine, USA. H. Patricia Hynes is Professor of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health, USA.

Contents: Introduction: science with the people, Doug Brugge and H. Patricia Hynes. Housing: Public health and the physical environment in Boston public housing: a community based survey and action agenda, H. Patricia Hynes, Doug Brugge, Julie Watts and Jody Lally; A case study of community-based participatory research ethics: the Healthy Public Housing Initiative, Doug Brugge, and Alison Kole; The Seattle-King County Healthy Homes Project: implementation of a comprehensive approach to improving indoor environmental quality for low-income children with asthma, James Krieger, Tim K. Takaro, Carol Allen, Lin Song, Marcia Weaver, Sanders Chai and Philip Dickey. Open Space: Environmental justice across the Mystic: bridging agendas in a watershed, Julian Agyeman and Dale Bryan; A program to improve urban neighborhood health through lead-safe yard interventions, Jill S. Litt, H. Patricia Hynes, Paul Carroll, Robert Maxfield, Pat McLaine, and Carol Kawecki;. 'We don't only grow vegetables, we grow values': neighborhood benefits of community gardens in Flint, Michigan, Katherine Alaimo, Thomas M. Reischl, Pete Hutchison, and Ashley E. Atkinson. Urban Development and Transportation; An environmental health survey of residents of Boston Chinatown, Doug Brugge, Andrew Leong, Abigail Averbach, and Fu Mei Cheung; Traffic injury data, policy, and public health: lessons from Boston Chinatown, Doug Brugge, Zenobia Lai, Christina Hill, William Rand; Airborne concentrations of PM (2.5) and diesel exhaust particles on Harlem sidewalks: a community-based pilot study, Patrick L. Kinney, Maneesha Aggarwal, Mary E. Northridge, Nicole A.H. Janssen, and Peggy Shepard. Environmental Exposure: Environmental justice and regional inequality in Southern California: implications for future research, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor Jr., Carlos Porras, and James Sadd; Participatory research strategies in nuclear risk management for native communities, Dianne Quigley, Virginia Sanchez, Dan Handy, Robert Goble, and Patricia George; Social responsibility and research ethics in community driven studies of industrialized hog production, Steve Wing. Lessons and Conclusion; Afterword, H. Patricia Hynes and Doug Brugge; Index.