Resident perspectives of environmental health risk exposures after Hurricane Harvey

This study examines what visitors to urban parks in Houston, TX, know about environmental health risks resulting from Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 storm that made landfall in August 2017 and dropped over 60 in. of rain in 8 days making it the most significant rainfall event in US history. Interviews were conducted with adult Houstonians using purposive sampling. In total, 27 interviews were conducted with 36 different participants. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed qualitatively using a phronetic iterative approach. This study found that park visitors lack sufficient knowledge about environmental health risks, yet they have strong desires to learn more about such risks. In particular, participants have clear opinions on what the content of the messages (i.e., concise, manageable, not fear-inducing) should be and how they would like to receive the information (i.e., conveniently accessible, from trusted local sources). Implications for health campaign interventions utilizing uncertainty theories are discussed.