Environmental Justice and Community‐Based Research in Texas Borderland Colonias

Abstract

Objective An innovative academic-community partnership studied daily decisions in communities of mostly Spanish-speaking, low-income residents of colonias in Hidalgo County, TX, about risk of exposure to fish contaminated by PCBs at an Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site. Design and Sample The team used focus group interviews with colonia residents and content analysis to assess knowledge of risk related to the Superfund site, the Donna Reservoir and Canal System. Results (1) many lacked knowledge of the Superfund site contamination; (2) a few participants fished at the lake, knew people who did so, and consumed the catch, but most participants feared going there; (3) some participants remember receiving messages saying not to fish at the site, although they recalled nothing about contamination, but most participants knew of no such messages; (4) many use cell phones to get local information through personal networks and several Spanish-language news sources, but they have no consistent, culturally tailored local information source. Conclusions The findings indicate the need for further efforts to design culturally tailored means of communication and messages to inform local communities widely about the dangers related to the Superfund site and thus decrease health disparities resulting from consuming fish from the site.

Participatory Research for Environmental Justice: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

“…Additionally, EJ community members held leadership roles in all studies resulting in structural change ( Table 2 ), though in diverse ways, including: a ) project management by a community-based organization or group (e.g., Heaney et al. 2007 , 2011 ); b ) community members hired as paid project staff (e.g., Cantu et al. 2016 ; Evans-Agnew et al.…”

Nurses Heal Environmental Injustice Through Community Partnerships

“…A review of the literature reveals the growing extent of the involvement of nurses around EJ, and this is comprehensively documented in a recent scoping review by LeClair et al 11 In the literature, nurses are exhorted to address environmental and climate health impacts and EJ in their practice. 12 Numerous examples of nurses doing so exist, including those published by Amiri and Zhao 13 and Cantu et al 14 However, these authors find in the literature no comparable training programs for nurses around EJ. Some pertinent examples exist that have important differences; an example of an educational EJ framework for social workers, described by Teixeira and Krings, 15 includes facets potentially relevant to future programming for nurses and holds relevance due to being directed toward a specific profession.…”

Nursing strategies for environmental justice: A scoping review

“…When evaluating their PAR method, researchers learned that engaging in conversation with a few key people of an Indigenous population would have offered a better way to assess environmental and health concerns than a mailed survey (Severtson et al, 2002). Interdisciplinary research and communication were also noted to be necessary for providing a comprehensive basis for EJ research (Cantu et al, 2016;Dixon & Dixon, 2002). In one study (Cantu et al, 2016), Spanish-speaking promotoras (community health workers) worked on the research team to guide question development for focus groups using language representing local Spanish idioms, developed rapport with community participants, and gained trust from community participants to elicit valuable information in focus group meetings.…”

“…Interdisciplinary research and communication were also noted to be necessary for providing a comprehensive basis for EJ research (Cantu et al, 2016;Dixon & Dixon, 2002). In one study (Cantu et al, 2016), Spanish-speaking promotoras (community health workers) worked on the research team to guide question development for focus groups using language representing local Spanish idioms, developed rapport with community participants, and gained trust from community participants to elicit valuable information in focus group meetings. Postma (2008) noted that balancing power, developing knowledge, and creating research agendas collaboratively requires understanding how community participants discuss empowerment, and how they translate that talk into collective action.…”