Present Preliminary Findings
From left to right: Sydney O'Shay and Bailey Hughlett
Dr. Xianlin Jin, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Toledo, and Utah State University master’s student Bailey Hughlett shared findings on Utahns’ perceptions of risk and the health behaviors they take in relation to air pollution in the state at the International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference in Orlando, FL in March 2024. The data they presented represents preliminary results from the Utah People and the Environment Poll (UPEP), which was conducted by the Community and Natural Resources Institute at Utah State University. The findings detail how Utahns’ intentions to enact health behaviors to protect against the consequences of air pollution play a significant role in whether they implement these behaviors. Though they are preliminary, these results suggest that efforts to instill these intentions in Utahns may increase the uptake of health behaviors related to air quality, subsequently mitigating the consequences of air pollution in Utah.