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Casey JA, Daouda M, Babadi RS, Do V, Flores NM, Berzansky I, González DJ, Van Horne YO, James-Todd T. Methods in Public Health Environmental Justice Research: a Scoping Review from 2018 to 2021. Curr Environ Health Rep 2023; 10:312-336. [PMID: 37581863 PMCID: PMC10504232 DOI: 10.1007/s40572-023-00406-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW The volume of public health environmental justice (EJ) research produced by academic institutions increased through 2022. However, the methods used for evaluating EJ in exposure science and epidemiologic studies have not been catalogued. Here, we completed a scoping review of EJ studies published in 19 environmental science and epidemiologic journals from 2018 to 2021 to summarize research types, frameworks, and methods. RECENT FINDINGS We identified 402 articles that included populations with health disparities as a part of EJ research question and met other inclusion criteria. Most studies (60%) evaluated EJ questions related to socioeconomic status (SES) or race/ethnicity. EJ studies took place in 69 countries, led by the US (n = 246 [61%]). Only 50% of studies explicitly described a theoretical EJ framework in the background, methods, or discussion and just 10% explicitly stated a framework in all three sections. Among exposure studies, the most common area-level exposure was air pollution (40%), whereas chemicals predominated personal exposure studies (35%). Overall, the most common method used for exposure-only EJ analyses was main effect regression modeling (50%); for epidemiologic studies the most common method was effect modification (58%), where an analysis evaluated a health disparity variable as an effect modifier. Based on the results of this scoping review, current methods in public health EJ studies could be bolstered by integrating expertise from other fields (e.g., sociology), conducting community-based participatory research and intervention studies, and using more rigorous, theory-based, and solution-oriented statistical research methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan A. Casey
- University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA USA
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY USA
| | - Misbath Daouda
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY USA
| | - Ryan S. Babadi
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
| | - Vivian Do
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY USA
| | - Nina M. Flores
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY USA
| | - Isa Berzansky
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
| | - David J.X. González
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
| | | | - Tamarra James-Todd
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
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Schultes OL, Sikder M, Agyapong EA, Sodipo MO, Naumova EN, Kosinski KC, Kulinkina AV. Longitudinal borehole functionality in 15 rural Ghanaian towns from three groundwater quality clusters. BMC Res Notes 2022; 15:114. [PMID: 35317860 PMCID: PMC8939079 DOI: 10.1186/s13104-022-05998-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective In sub-Saharan Africa, 45% of the rural population uses boreholes (BHs). Despite recent gains in improved water access and coverage, parallel use of unimproved sources persists. Periodic infrastructure disrepair contributes to non-exclusive use of BHs. Our study describes functionality of BHs in 2014, 2015, and 2016 in 15 rural towns in the Eastern Region of Ghana sourced from three groundwater quality clusters (high iron, high salinity, and control). We also assess factors affecting cross-sectional and longitudinal functionality using logistic regression. Results BH functionality rates ranged between 81 and 87% and were similar across groundwater quality clusters. Of 51 BHs assessed in all three years, 34 (67%) were consistently functional and only 3 (6%) were consistently broken. There was a shift toward proactive payment for water over the course of the study in the control and high-salinity clusters. Payment mechanism, population served, presence of nearby alternative water sources, and groundwater quality cluster were not significant predictors of cross-sectional or longitudinal BH functionality. However, even in the high iron cluster, where water quality is poor and no structured payment mechanism for water exists, BHs are maintained, showing that they are important community resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivia L Schultes
- School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Mustafa Sikder
- School of Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | - Michelle O Sodipo
- School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elena N Naumova
- School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,School of Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Alexandra V Kulinkina
- Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA. .,Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland. .,University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
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