TY - JOUR
T1 - Fish consumption
T2 - Efficacy among fishermen of a brochure developed for pregnant women
AU - Burger, Joanna
AU - Shukla, Sheila
AU - Fitzgerald, Megan
AU - Flores, Suzie
AU - Chess, Caron
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to thank K.K. Pflugh, M.H. McDermott, E. Bochenek, M. Perez-Lugo, and the administrators and staff of the WIC Center in Elizabeth for their extensive collaboration during the initial creation of the brochure. Helpful comments on the research or ms were provided by M. Gochfeld, A. Stern and C. Powers. Funding for the initial brochure was provided by the Division of Science, Research and Technology, NJ Department of Environmental Protection. Additional funding for this project was provided by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Center for Environmental Communication, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, NIEHS (P30ES005022, J. Berger) and Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (DOE, DE-FG 26-00NT 40938 DE-FC01-06EW07053). The results, conclusions and interpretations reported herein are the sole responsibility of the authors, and should not in any way be interpreted as representing the views of the funding agencies.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - The risk to human consumers from contaminants in fish is often dealt with by issuing consumption advisories, or in some cases, information brochures. Normally advisories and brochures are developed and tested with anglers. We examine the efficacy of a fish consumption brochure that was developed for pregnant women on people engaged in fishing in the Newark Bay Complex. The brochures were in English and Spanish, and subjects could read and be interviewed in either language. Of the 151 people interviewed, 32% were women, 58% spoke only English, 22% spoke mainly Spanish and the rest felt comfortable with both languages. There were no differences in the percent that were present as a function of preferred language. There were significant differences in the understanding of the brochure, depending upon preferred language (and the language of the brochure). In general, anglers preferring Spanish and who read the brochure in Spanish obtained fewer of the messages correctly than those who preferred English (seven of seven questions). There were also gender differences in efficacy of the brochures; a higher percentage of female anglers thought that the fish were not safe to eat from the port and thought that eating contaminated fish from the port could harm their baby. Although the correct message was obtained by 34-100% of the anglers, depending upon the question, and 60-75% of the anglers believed the pamphlet, only 16% (Spanish-speaking) to 47% (Bilingual) planned on changing the species of fish they eat or the method of cooking. These data suggest that a pamphlet designed for pregnant women is useful for anglers, and they can obtain the 'correct' message from it. However, a relatively small percentage of subjects were persuaded to change their cooking or consumption behavior. In addition to television, subjects felt that the direct approach of distributing brochures face-to-face was an important method of communication of fish consumers.
AB - The risk to human consumers from contaminants in fish is often dealt with by issuing consumption advisories, or in some cases, information brochures. Normally advisories and brochures are developed and tested with anglers. We examine the efficacy of a fish consumption brochure that was developed for pregnant women on people engaged in fishing in the Newark Bay Complex. The brochures were in English and Spanish, and subjects could read and be interviewed in either language. Of the 151 people interviewed, 32% were women, 58% spoke only English, 22% spoke mainly Spanish and the rest felt comfortable with both languages. There were no differences in the percent that were present as a function of preferred language. There were significant differences in the understanding of the brochure, depending upon preferred language (and the language of the brochure). In general, anglers preferring Spanish and who read the brochure in Spanish obtained fewer of the messages correctly than those who preferred English (seven of seven questions). There were also gender differences in efficacy of the brochures; a higher percentage of female anglers thought that the fish were not safe to eat from the port and thought that eating contaminated fish from the port could harm their baby. Although the correct message was obtained by 34-100% of the anglers, depending upon the question, and 60-75% of the anglers believed the pamphlet, only 16% (Spanish-speaking) to 47% (Bilingual) planned on changing the species of fish they eat or the method of cooking. These data suggest that a pamphlet designed for pregnant women is useful for anglers, and they can obtain the 'correct' message from it. However, a relatively small percentage of subjects were persuaded to change their cooking or consumption behavior. In addition to television, subjects felt that the direct approach of distributing brochures face-to-face was an important method of communication of fish consumers.
KW - Communication
KW - Evaluation
KW - Fish consumption
KW - Fisherfolk
KW - Fishing
KW - Risk perception
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=54249137253&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=54249137253&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13669870802261637
DO - 10.1080/13669870802261637
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:54249137253
SN - 1366-9877
VL - 11
SP - 891
EP - 904
JO - Journal of Risk Research
JF - Journal of Risk Research
IS - 7
ER -