The relationship of communication it to risk perceptions and preventive behavior related to lead in drinking water

    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Dunwoody, Sharon (author), Dybro, Tom (author), Griffin, Robert J. (author), Zabala, Fernando (author), and Center for Mass Media Research, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI; Center for Environmental Communication and Education Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; Center for Mass Media Research, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI; Center for Mass Media Research, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
    Format:
    Conference paper
    Publication Date:
    1994
    Published:
    USA
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 98 Document Number: C08036
    Subject Term:
    behavior, credibility (media), environmental communication, environmental education, information sources, mass media, perceptions, risk communication, water quality, and Wisconsin, USA
    Notes:
    James F. Evans Collection, Mimeographed, 1994. 25 p. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention in Atlanta, GA, August 10-13, 1994., More and more communities are becoming concerned about health risks posed by lead and other health hazards in their supplies of drinking water. Our study, applying the model of innovation diffusion to the adoption of preventive health behaviors, found that reliance on health professional for information about lead in tap water was associated with residents perceiving risk form this hazard and efficacy in dealing with it, and adopting preventive behaviors. Mass media nd pamphlets direct-nailed to residents were relatively ineffective. The relationship of access difficulty and perceived informational usefulness to reliance on media for tap water lead information are also examined. (original)

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