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. 2023 Sep 14;23(1):1780.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16684-7.

Mother's knowledge for environmental risks and self-awareness for the presence of pollutants in her living area in West and Central Anatolia: a cross-sectional survey

Sıddika Songül Yalçin  1 , Gamze Gezgen Kesen  2 , Bahar Güçiz Doğan  3 , Suzan Yalçin  4 , Songül Acar Vaizoğlu  5
Affiliations

Mother's knowledge for environmental risks and self-awareness for the presence of pollutants in her living area in West and Central Anatolia: a cross-sectional survey

Sıddika Songül Yalçin et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Environmental risk awareness is a key concept to raise awareness and plan future programs for environmental protection. A cross-sectional household survey aimed to find out the presence of environmental hazards next to living area and the mother's knowledge levels about environmental risk factors with their related factors according to district development ranking, and Western and Central Anatolian regions with sampling from rural and urban residence.

Method: The study was designed with household sampling weighted according to population density in 2008. Data on the demography and health status, dwelling characteristics of the residents are also collected in 2009. In addition, open-ended questions "What does environmental risk/hazard mean?" and "Which environmental risks/hazards are present in your environment?" were asked. The data collected from the survey were analyzed using multivariate binary logistic regression.

Results: The sample included 3489 mothers living either in urban or rural areas. Of the mothers, 19.3% did not know what an environmental risk is and 75.7% stated that there was at least one environmental pollutant in their environment. The most commonly perceived risk factor was air pollution (23.0%), which was reported to be present in their living areas by 12.4%. Regions, residence, settlement features of the house, and health status of family members were associated with the perception of environmental risk at a statistically significant level.

Conclusion: The neighborhood conditions and health status of family associated with the mother's awareness for environmental risk factors. Communication and cooperation between local governments, health institutions, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders should be strengthened to increase risk awareness.

Keywords: Environmental hazards; Mothers; Risk perception.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
West and Central Anatolia regions with 11 cities in TÜRKİYE
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