# Integrating Information Resources to Promote Environmental Health Literacy in Appalachian Kentucky

> **NIH NIH G08** · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · 2020 · $122,435

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Health disparities in Appalachian Kentucky have been well-documented, with many chronic health
conditions disproportionately experienced across the region linked to environmental contributors.
Deteriorating infrastructure, inappropriate waste disposal, and risks related to mining, agriculture,
and other occupational activities underscore the need for this at-risk population to receive clear,
timely, and accessible information about potential environmental health threats to support
important decisions about preventive and protective actions. Unfortunately, creating easily
understandable resources and tools can prove especially challenging in a region where
educational attainment falls well below national averages, with nearly one-quarter of adults over
age 25 lacking high school diplomas and only about one-fifth holding an associate's degree or
higher. Therefore, improving environmental health literacy (EHL) in the region is critical. EHL uses
information and methods from health, social, and environmental sciences to promote
understanding of the relationship between environmental exposures and human health. Such
understanding can spur individual and/or community actions to minimize unnecessary exposures
and mitigate illness related to unavoidable exposures. To this end, it is critical that existing
information resources be evaluated, integrated, improved, and made more accessible to help
improve EHL and inform environmental health decisions. To address these needs, our
multidisciplinary team will deploy stakeholder-engaged research strategies to achieve the
following Specific Aims: 1) evaluate existing environmental health-related risk maps currently
available from academic, government, and non-profit organizations to determine resource
accessibility, navigability, understandability, and perceived utility for Appalachian Kentuckians; 2)
conduct needs assessments to identify additional information and appropriate framing required to
improve understandability and utility of environmental health-related risk maps for Appalachian
Kentuckians; 3) use information gathered in Aims 1 and 2 to enhance maps through the inclusion
of critical health-related information in accessible formats, as well as through potential changes
to the visualizations themselves to improve understandability; and 4) leverage stakeholder-
partnerships developed through the study to disseminate revised maps and additional
environmental health resources through community organizations, thereby promoting EHL across
the region.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10013287
- **Project number:** 5G08LM013185-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
- **Principal Investigator:** Anna Goodman Hoover
- **Activity code:** G08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $122,435
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-09 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10013287

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10013287, Integrating Information Resources to Promote Environmental Health Literacy in Appalachian Kentucky (5G08LM013185-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10013287. Licensed CC0.

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