Change of Air Quality Knowledge, Perceptions, Attitudes, and Practices During and Post-Wildfires in the United States

Authors

• Alessandro Del Ponte, Chapman UniversityFollow
• Lina Ang, National University of Singapore
• Lianjun Li, National University of Singapore
• Noah Lim, National University of Singapore
• Wilson Tam Wai San, National University of Singapore
• Wei Jie Seow, National University of Singapore

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-22-2022

Abstract

Amid worsening climate change, the recurrent wildfires have substantially worsened air quality in the Western United States (U.S.). Understanding the knowledge, attitudes, perception, and practices (KAPP) over time in response to natural disasters such as wildfires is crucial for public health interventions and disaster preparedness. This is the first study to investigate the change in air quality KAPP over time in response to natural disasters. Previous studies have only assessed KAPP at a fixed time point. Using a two-wave panel survey (during and post-wildfires), we assessed the association between KAPP and respiratory health indicators as well as the changes over time in 212 participants in the U.S. Between the two waves, we found a significant 8% increase in knowledge, which was mainly driven by participants in areas unaffected by the wildfires. In addition, we found differential associations between KAPP and respiratory health indicators between areas affected and unaffected by the wildfires. These findings suggest that experiencing wildfires may affect KAPP and more longitudinal studies are warranted, particularly during periodic air quality crises.

Comments

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Science of the Total Environment, volume 836, in 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155432

The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.

Recommended Citation

Del Ponte, A., Ang, L., Li, L., Lim, N., Tam, W.S.W., & Seow, W.J. (2022). Change of Air Quality Knowledge, Perceptions, Attitudes, and Practices Pre- and Post-Wildfires in the United States. Science of the Total Environment, 836, 155432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155432

Peer Reviewed

1

Copyright

Elsevier

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.