Biomedical subjects

C W Trumbo

Publications and source records attributed to C W Trumbo.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Source credibility in environmental health-risk controversies: application of Meyer's credibility index.

This article applies an existing five-item index for measuring source credibility in the context of environmental health-risk controversy. Survey data were gathered in five upstate New York communities facing environmental health-risk issues. Analysis of the five case studies and a combined dataset (N = 870) show that the credibility index was consistently reliable across all applications. Use of the resulting index is demonstrated through a comparison of the credibility of the New York State Department of Health (active in each case), the industries associated with each case, and the newspaper providing coverage of each case. The credibility index was used to predict risk judgments in a structural equation model. Overall, the analysis demonstrated that the credibility index performed consistently well across the five cases and illuminated important differences in each. As such, the index should be a useful addition to many environmental health and risk communication studies.

Communication↗

PubMed2000

Public requests for cancer cluster investigations: a survey of state health departments.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the frequency of requests that state health departments investigate cancer clusters, the nature of those requests, and the resources available for the investigations. METHODS: A mail survey was sent to state health departments requesting data for 1997. RESULTS: Approximately 1100 cluster investigation requests were made in 1997. Most requests were made by citizens, and no pattern emerged for types of cancer or hazards suspected. States rate this work as average in importance and feel satisfied with the successfullness of their communication efforts. CONCLUSIONS: Few cluster inquiries require further investigation. Nonetheless, this interaction represents resources well spent in terms of public service and education.

Causality↗

PubMed1999

Heuristic-systematic information processing and risk judgment.

The heuristic-systematic information processing model (HSM) holds that individuals will use one or both of these modes of information processing when attempting to evaluate information in order to arrive at a judgment. Systematic processing is defined by effortful scrutiny and comparison of information, whereas heuristic processing is defined by the use of cues to arrive more easily at a judgment. Antecedents to the two processing modes include information sufficiency, motivation, and self-efficacy. Structural equation modeling is used to examine competing configuration of this model and to evaluate the model as appropriate for predicting risk judgment. The model also is evaluated across three groups that vary with respect to their level of concern. These analyses are executed within a case study involving an epidemiological investigation of a suspected cancer cluster. The analysis confirms the HSM's theoretically proposed structure and shows it to be a useful vehicle for evaluating risk judgment. In the overall analysis, antecedent variables generally function as specified by theory. Systematic processing is predicted by greater motivation. Heuristic processing is predicted by information sufficiency. Self-efficacy is a significant predictor of both processing modes. And heuristic processing is shown to be associated with judgment of less risk. However, when the analysis is contrasted across three groups (those concerned about cancer, not concerned and uncertain) it is shown that the model is significantly more robust for the uncertain group. This finding may have implications for the use of the HSM in risk research specifically, and in field research generally.

Analysis of Variance↗