AUTHOR=Khan Selim M. , Gomes James , Nicol Anne-Marie 

TITLE=Residents' perception and worldview about radon control policy in Canada: A pro-equity social justice lens

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.946652

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.946652

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Radon is a potent indoor air pollutant, especially in radon prone areas and in countries with long winters. As the second top lung carcinogen, radon is disproportionately affecting certain population subgroups. While governments at some levels have taken intermittent measures, the equity issue has remained unaddressed across all policy actions. Attempts to enforcing radon guidelines and enacting building regulations without considering residents’ knowledge, views and differential vulnerability status have proved ineffective. Research linking population sub-groups’ radon risk perception and worldviews regarding radon control policy is lacking in Canada. We applied mixed (quantitative and qualitative) methods in a pro-equity social justice lens to explore the variations in residents’ risk perception and worldviews about the risk management across demographic strata. Triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative findings strengthened the evidence base that resident from different demographics have differential level and types of risk perception, face diverse challenges and suggest varied solutions in addressing the health risk. Enacting radon control policy requires actions from all levels of governments and relevant stakeholders to address the diverse mode of risk perception that will ensure equal opportunities for all residents to take the preventive and adaptive measures. Small sample size limited the scope of findings for generalization. Future studies can examine the differential impact of the determinants of health on the risk distribution in a representative national cohort.