TY - JOUR
T1 - “They Kept Going for Answers”
T2 - Knowledge, Capacity, and Environmental Health Literacy in Michigan’s PBB Contamination
AU - Lebow-Skelley, Erin
AU - Fremion, Brittany B.
AU - Quinn, Martha
AU - Makled, Melissa
AU - Keon, Norman B.
AU - Jelenek, Jane
AU - Crowley, Jane Ann
AU - Pearson, Melanie A.
AU - Schulz, Amy J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the members of the Michigan PBB Research Registry whose stories at PBB community meetings inspired this effort and for reaching out and entrusting us to document your stories. We express our gratitude to the PBB Citizens Advisory Board, the Pine River Citizen Superfund Task Force, and the Mid-Michigan District Health Department for their contributions to build knowledge to inform action in the aftermath of this large-scale chemical contamination, and specifically to the PBB Leadership team who provided guidance throughout the PBB Oral History Project. We also thank the Emory University Michigan PBB Research Team, led by Michele Marcus, who works collaboratively with community partners to understand the long-term health outcomes of PBB exposure. We acknowledge the leadership of the Emory University (HERCULES) and University of Michigan (M-LEEaD) Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers for their support of this work. We also thank Lalita Subramanian for assistance with the initial coding of the interviews and Emory Graduate Research Assistants Alina Merceron and Isabella Martin for analysis support. Additionally, we are grateful for the time and support of undergraduate students in Central Michigan University’s Public History, History, and History-Education Programs, who helped to transcribe the oral histories, as well as the contributions of graduate students in the Cultural Resource Management MA Program, particularly Nicole Brabaw and Candy DeForest, who helped conduct interviews, compiled metadata, and presented their work for the Michigan PBB Oral History Project in public and academic forums. The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at CMU, as well as the Museum of Cultural and Natural History and the Department of History, World Languages, and Cultures, also provided space, equipment, personnel, and financial support for student work on the project.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science grant numbers R01ES022616, R01ES032389, P30ES017885, P30ES019776, 5R24ES028528, R01ES025775, and a grant from the Fred A and Barbara M Erb Family Foundation. The APC was funded by the journal. The results presented here are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of NIEHS, its directors, officers, or staff.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - The Michigan PBB Oral History Project documented community residents’ descriptions of a large-scale chemical contamination—the PBB contamination—that occurred in Michigan in 1973. These oral histories document residents’ and others’ experiences during and after the contamination. We conducted a grounded theory qualitative analysis of 31 oral histories to examine the experiences of community members, researchers, lawyers, and others who actively sought out and contributed essential information about the contamination and its impacts. Our findings highlight several challenges encountered in the development of this knowledge including four central themes—contested knowledge, community skills, inaction, and uncertainty. Integrating environmental health literacy, community capacity, and contested illness frameworks, we examine the contributions of community residents, scientists (from inside and outside the community), and others to the development of knowledge to inform decisions and sustain action regarding this large-scale contamination. We close with a discussion of lessons learned regarding efforts to build environmental health knowledge within uncertain and often contested contexts and for promoting environmental health and action related to large-scale chemical contaminations. Our findings suggest the importance of integrated frameworks for examining and promoting the critical role of community skills, leadership, participation, sense of community, and community power in promoting environmental health.
AB - The Michigan PBB Oral History Project documented community residents’ descriptions of a large-scale chemical contamination—the PBB contamination—that occurred in Michigan in 1973. These oral histories document residents’ and others’ experiences during and after the contamination. We conducted a grounded theory qualitative analysis of 31 oral histories to examine the experiences of community members, researchers, lawyers, and others who actively sought out and contributed essential information about the contamination and its impacts. Our findings highlight several challenges encountered in the development of this knowledge including four central themes—contested knowledge, community skills, inaction, and uncertainty. Integrating environmental health literacy, community capacity, and contested illness frameworks, we examine the contributions of community residents, scientists (from inside and outside the community), and others to the development of knowledge to inform decisions and sustain action regarding this large-scale contamination. We close with a discussion of lessons learned regarding efforts to build environmental health knowledge within uncertain and often contested contexts and for promoting environmental health and action related to large-scale chemical contaminations. Our findings suggest the importance of integrated frameworks for examining and promoting the critical role of community skills, leadership, participation, sense of community, and community power in promoting environmental health.
KW - PBB
KW - community capacity
KW - community engagement
KW - community mobilization
KW - contested illness
KW - contested knowledge
KW - environmental health literacy
KW - oral histories
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144583694&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph192416686
DO - 10.3390/ijerph192416686
M3 - Article
C2 - 36554573
AN - SCOPUS:85144583694
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 24
M1 - 16686
ER -