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Public Reliance on Risk Communication Channels in the Wake of a Cryptosporidium Outbreak
Author(s) -
Griffin Robert J.,
Dunwoody Sharon,
Zabala Fernando
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1998.tb00350.x
Subject(s) - cryptosporidium , worry , metropolitan area , outbreak , risk perception , environmental health , risk communication , public health , telephone survey , geography , perception , psychology , business , medicine , advertising , biology , ecology , virology , psychiatry , anxiety , nursing , archaeology , neuroscience , feces
In the spring of 1993, about 39% of Milwaukee‐area residents suffered through a nationally publicized illness brought about by cryptosporidium, a parasite that had infested the metropolitan drinking water supply. Our study, based on a telephone survey of 610 local adult residents, indicates that worry about becoming ill in the future with cryptosporidiosis relates more strongly and consistently to public reliance on, and use of, media for cryptosporidium information than do a range of risk perception and experience variables. We propose that more studies should take an audience‐centered approach to understanding risk communication.