Principal components analysis to identify influences on research communication and engagement during an environmental disaster

Our plain-English summary of Principal components analysis to identify influences on research communication and engagement during an environmental disaster, by C.A. Winters, C.F. Moore, S.W. Kuntz, et al (BMJ Open, 2016).

The study

• Authors: C.A. Winters, C.F. Moore, S.W. Kuntz, C. Weinert, T. Hernandez, B. Black
• Journal: BMJ Open
• Published: 2016;6(8):e012106
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Objectives: To discern community attitudes towards research engagement in Libby, Montana, the only Superfund site for which a public health emergency has been declared.

Study Design: Survey study of convenience samples of residents near the Libby, Montana Superfund site.

Participants: Residents of the Libby, Montana area were recruited from a local retail establishment (N=120, survey 1) or a community event (N=127, survey 2).

Measures: Two surveys were developed in consultation with a Community Advisory Panel.

Results: Principal components of survey 1 showed four dimensions of community members' attitudes towards research engagement: (1) researcher communication and contributions to the community, (2) identity and affiliation of the researchers requesting participation, (3) potential personal barriers, including data confidentiality, painful or invasive procedures and effects on health insurance and (4) research benefits for the community, oneself or family. The score on the first factor was positively related to desire to participate in research (r=0.31, p=0.01). Scores on factors 2 and 3 were higher for those with diagnosis of asbestos-related disease (ARD) in the family (Cohen's d=0.41, 0.57). Survey 2 also found more positive attitudes towards research when a family member had ARD (Cohen's d=0.48).

Conclusions: Principal components analysis shows different dimensions of attitudes towards research engagement. The different dimensions are related to community members' desire to be invited to participate in research, awareness of past research in the community and having been screened or diagnosed with a health condition related to the Superfund contaminant.

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In plain English

This study surveyed residents of the Libby, Montana area about their attitudes toward health research. Libby is a Superfund site where vermiculite from the WR Grace/Zonolite mine was contaminated with amphibole asbestos. It was not designed to estimate exposure levels or disease rates; respondents self-reported vermiculite work and asbestos-related disease screening and diagnosis. Survey 1 was run at a grocery store in 2009; 109 of 120 respondents were analysed. Shorter survey 2 reached 127 people at six community meetings in 2010. In survey 1, answers fell into four groups: attitudes toward researchers, who runs the study and what it is about, potential barriers, and research benefits. More favourable attitudes toward researchers went with a stronger wish to be invited into research (r=0.31). In survey 1, people reporting an asbestos-related disease diagnosis in themselves or family scored higher on the second and fourth groups. In survey 2, they scored higher on attitudes toward researchers. In both surveys, past research participation was significantly associated with having been screened for asbestos-related disease. The authors cited convenience sampling and the Libby setting as limitations.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Two community surveys of convenience samples (cross-sectional), analysed with principal components analysis; survey 2 was a shorter follow-up meant to confirm key survey 1 results
• Who was studied: Residents of the Libby, Montana (Lincoln County) area. Survey 1: recruited at a grocery store, 28 April to 10 June 2009; 120 began and 109 were analysed. Survey 2: 127 people at six community meetings, 12 April to 19 June 2010. Overlap between the two surveys is unknown.
• Exposure: Community-wide contamination from vermiculite ore contaminated with naturally occurring amphibole asbestos. The study did not measure exposure levels. It asked about vermiculite work and self-reported asbestos-related disease (ARD) screening and diagnosis, and compared attitudes by these. 7% of survey 1 and 6% of survey 2 had worked as vermiculite workers. In survey 1, 25% reported an ARD diagnosis.
• Main results:
  • Survey 1: answers grouped into four factors (attitudes towards research and researchers; who and what; potential barriers; research benefits), which together accounted for 63% of the variance
  • Survey 1: desire to be invited to participate in research was positively related to the attitudes towards research/researchers factor (r=0.31, p<0.01). The other three factors were not related (p>0.65).
  • Survey 1: respondents reporting an ARD diagnosis in themselves or a family member scored higher than those without on the who and what factor (means 7.59 vs 6.79, p<0.04) and on the research benefits factor (means 9.10 vs 8.10, p<0.01)
  • Survey 2: respondents reporting an ARD diagnosis in themselves or a family member scored higher than those without on attitudes towards research and researchers (means 7.26 vs 6.06, p<0.02)
  • Survey 2: the ARD-diagnosis groups did not differ significantly on the research topic and benefits factor (p=0.13)
  • Survey 1: past research participation in Lincoln County was associated with having been screened for ARD (odds ratio 9.50, p less than 0.0001)
  • Survey 2: past research participation was associated with having been screened for ARD (odds ratio 13.28, p less than 0.0001)
  • Survey 1: those who knew health research had been done in Libby scored higher on attitudes towards research than those answering false or don't know (means 6.93 vs 5.55, p<0.01)
  • Survey 2: 85% said they usually read news about health research, but 38% remembered either of two example newspaper articles
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that different aspects of attitudes towards research and researchers are related to the desire to be invited to participate in research, to awareness of past research and research news, and to having been screened or diagnosed with a condition related to the Superfund contaminant
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Convenience samples were used
  • Responses were anonymous, so the authors could not tell whether the two surveys included some of the same people
  • Survey 2 was shorter, so the factor structure from survey 1 could not be tested exactly for replication
  • The results are tied to the specific context of the Libby Superfund clean-up; the authors describe the study as an illustrative case study

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Superfund.

Related studies

• Social Support Functions During a Slowly-Evolving Environmental Disaster: The Case of Amphibole Asbestos Exposure in Libby, Montana — R.J. Cline, H. Orom, et al. (2015)
• Community-level social support responses in a slow-motion technological disaster: the case of Libby, Montana — R.J. Cline, H. Orom, et al. (2010)
• Determining satisfaction with access and financial aspects of care for persons exposed to Libby amphibole asbestos: rural and national environmental policy implications — C.A. Winters, W. Hill, et al. (2011)
• Directions and needs in asbestos research: new insights: conference summary — J.C. Pfau, M. Pershouse, et al. (2008)
• Conference summary. Directions and needs in asbestos research: new insights — J.C. Pfau, M. Pershouse, et al. (2006)
• Rural public health policy models to address an evolving environmental asbestos disaster — S.W. Kuntz, C.A. Winters, et al. (2009)

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