Private Well Testing in Peri-Urban African-American Communities Lacking Access to Regulated Municipal Drinking Water: A Mental Models Approach to Risk Communication.

ABSTRACT: Majority African-American neighborhoods on the edges of North Carolina municipalities are less likely than white peri-urban neighborhoods to be served by a community system regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. These households rely on unregulated private wells, which are at much higher risk of contamination than neighboring community water supplies. Yet, risk awareness of consuming well water is low, and no prior research has tested risk communication interventions for these communities. We present a randomized-controlled trial of an oversized postcard to promote water testing among this audience. The postcard design followed the mental models approach to risk communication. To our knowledge, this is the first U.S. randomized-controlled trial of a mailed communication to promote wa

SUBMITTER: MacDonald Gibson J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9292044 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature