The Power of Perception: Health Risk Attributed to Air

Describes a multi-stakeholder process designed to assess the potential health risks associated with adverse air quality in an urban industrial neighborhood. The paper briefly describes the quantitative health risk assessment conducted by scientific experts, with input by a grassroots community group concerned about the impacts of adverse air quality on their health and quality of life. Rather than accept the views of the scientific experts, the community used their powers of perception to advantage by successfully advocating for a professionally conducted community health survey. This survey was designed to document the health risk perceptions community members associated with exposure to adverse air quality in their neighborhood. The paper describes the institutional and community contexts within which the research is situated as well as the design, administration, analysis, and results of the community health survey administered to 402 households (Ss aged 18+ yrs) living in an urban industrial neighborhood. Results indicated substantial levels of concern and a broad range of determinants of (perceived) health and daily life effects of exposure to air pollution in general, and black soot/fallout in particular.