Learning and Living with Wildfire Smoke: Creating Clean Air Environments in Schools through Youth Participatory Action Research

Abstract

This proposal seeks to engage high-school aged youth in establishing schools as clean air environments during and beyond wildfire season. This training and research plan will build upon Dr. D’Evelyn’s expertise in air pollution toxicology and community based participatory research (CBPR) and prepare her for a career in environmental health science and implementation science at the nexus of climate, health, and community action.

During the K99 mentored phase, Dr. D’Evelyn will utilize the expertise from her thoughtfully assembled mentorship team and course-based learning to gain training in: 1) best practices in CBPR and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR); 2) qualitative methodology, implementation science and evaluation; and 3) exposure science to address health equity questions in a community setting. This training will provide Dr. D’Evelyn with interdisciplinary skills as she moves toward an academic career in independent research. Over the course of the K99 phase, Dr. D’Evelyn will expand air quality knowledge in schools through implementation of an air quality curriculum and a youth-led air quality monitoring network.

Aim 1 will establish a permanent monitoring network in the school community which will enable students to collect, analyze and disseminate information about their school’s air quality with the goal of increasing education and awareness of the health impacts of exposure to wildfire smoke. This work will build upon Dr. D’Evelyn’s previous experience working with high school students and will enable her to translate her expertise in air pollution toxicology into an understandable, place-based curriculum to improve awareness and student self-efficacy in smoke-impacted communities. Educational and behavioral outcomes from this aim will be measured through observations and a pre/post survey given to students and teachers to evaluate the impact of their involvement in the project.

Upon completion of the K99 phase of this award, Dr. D’Evelyn will move into the R00 phase in which she will complete Aims 2 & 3 that will transition her to an independent researcher. The R00 phase will focus on air quality interventions, implementation science, and evaluation.

In Aim 2, Dr. D’Evelyn will continue to foster youth engagement through co-development of an intervention plan that will address the specific exposure concerns of each school community. She will then work with students and school administrators to support implementation of this plan, utilizing the new implementation science skills and knowledge she gained during the training phase.

Aim 3 will conclude this independent phase with a full evaluation of the effectiveness of a YPAR project to: 1) reduce exposure to wildfire smoke and other airborne pollutants; and 2) improve community health and health equity in schools impacted by wildfire smoke. This project will describe the impact of a YPAR-based environmental health intervention and implementation program, and work toward a program that could be implemented in any school, regardless of the location or resources available.