Citation

Svendsen ER, Whittle NC, Sanders L, McKeown RE, Sprayberry K, Heim M, Caldwell R, Gibson JJ, Vena JE. Arch. Environ. Occup. Health 2010; 65(2): 77-85.

Affiliation

Arnold School of Public Health and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Columbia, SC, USA. svendsee@gwm.sc.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/19338240903390222

PMID

20439226

Abstract

Different approaches are necessary when community-based participatory research (CBPR) of environmental illness is initiated after an environmental disaster within a community. Often such events are viewed as golden scientific opportunities to do epidemiological studies. However, the authors believe that in such circumstances, community engagement and empowerment needs to be integrated into the public health service efforts in order for both those and any science to be successful, with special care being taken to address the immediate health needs of the community first, rather than the pressing needs to answer important scientific questions. The authors will demonstrate how they have simultaneously provided valuable public health service, embedded generalizable scientific knowledge, and built a successful foundation for supplemental CBPR through their on-going recovery work after the chlorine gas disaster in Graniteville, South Carolina.

Language: en