Understanding an Environmental Health Risk: Investigating Asthma Risk Perception in Ontario Youth Sport

Abstract

The environment, broadly defined, plays a significant role in shaping human health. Understanding how environmental health risks are perceived by different people, in different places, and at different times is critical to their management. Using a place-based conceptual framework, this research investigates asthma risk perception determinants and outcomes amongst organized team sport stakeholders in Ontario. Two online surveys (coaches, n = 94; parents of athletes diagnosed with allergic disease, n = 90) were conducted. Binary regression was used to investigate determinants of risk perception. Asthma ranked seventh of 17 health hazards by coaches (23% ranked as high) and parents (34%), and determinants of risk included trigger knowledge, risk exposure, propensity for risk, indicators of trust, and socioeconomic variables (e.g., gender). As policy-makers look to manage health risks in sport, considering the risk profiles of different stakeholders (e.g., coaches, parents of vulnerable athletes), as well as the characteristics of the places in which risk is experienced, is critical to improving environment and health management in organized youth team sports.

Risk Perception of Air Pollution: A Systematic Review Focused on Particulate Matter Exposure

“…An increasing number of studies are interpreting risk perception as a health modifier and it can be considered among the psychosocial determinants of health [ 83 , 84 , 85 ]. The term “social determinants” often evokes factors such as health-related features of neighborhoods, pointing to socioeconomic factors such as income, wealth, and education as the fundamental causes of a wide range of health outcomes [ 86 ].…”

Understanding risk perception from floods: a case study from China

“…Correlation analysis has been applied in most cases (Kellens et al 2011 ; Lechowska 2018 ; Lindell and Hwang 2008a ). Other methods included a Chi squared test (Bradford et al 2012 ; Thistlethwaite et al 2018 ), independent samples t -test (Bradford et al 2012 ), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) (Avram 2009 ), regression analysis (Cardwell and Elliott 2019 ; Cui and Han 2018 ; She et al 2019 ; Wu et al 2018 ).…”

“…These traditional researches on risk perception generally focused on characteristics of specific hazards as determinants of risk perception. At present, researchers recognize that we need to place emphasis on the social, political, and cultural contexts where risk is embedded, and the associations between people, risk perception, and the places where risk is experienced (Cardwell and Elliott 2019 ). In 2018, Lechowska distinguished 22 influencing factors generally considered in risk perception and divided them into six groups according to their nature (Lechowska 2018 ): (1) the cognitive group—worry and direct experience; (2) behavioral group—preparedness, trust in government, and public protection measures; (3) socioeconomic and demographic group—age, gender, incomes, education, household size (children), home ownership, cellar ownership; (4) geographical group—location (hazard), hazard proximity, type of building (living on ground floor); (5) informational group—awareness (knowledge), indirect experience (media); (6) and the contextual group—culture, religion, history, political system, and social bonds.…”