Urban community gardeners' knowledge and perceptions of soil contaminant risks

Although urban community gardening can offer health, social, environmental, and economic benefits, these benefits must be weighed against the potential health risks stemming from exposure to contaminants such as heavy metals and organic chemicals that may be present in urban soils. Individuals who garden at or eat food grown in contaminated urban garden sites may be at risk of exposure to such contaminants. Gardeners may be unaware of these risks and how to manage them. We used a mixed quantitative/qualitative research approach to characterize urban community gardeners' knowledge and perceptions of risks related to soil contaminant exposure. We conducted surveys with 70 gardeners from 15 community gardens in Baltimore, Maryland, and semi-structured interviews with 18 key informants knowledgeable about community gardening and soil contamination in Baltimore. We identified a range of factors, challenges, and needs related to Baltimore community gardeners' perceptions of risk related to soil contamination, including low levels of concern and inconsistent levels of knowledge about heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants, barriers to investigating a garden site's history and conducting soil tests, limited knowledge of best practices for reducing exposure, and a need for clear and concise information on how best to prevent and manage soil contamination. Key informants discussed various strategies for developing and disseminating educational materials to gardeners. For some challenges, such as barriers to conducting site history and soil tests, some informants recommended city-wide interventions that bypass the need for gardener knowledge altogether

School-Based Mental Health Promotion and Early Intervention Programs in New South Wales, Australia: Mapping Practice to Policy and Evidence

Limited empirical evidence is available regarding the uptake and effectiveness of school-based mental health and wellbeing programs implemented in Australian schools. This study aimed to characterise the delivery of programs in primary (elementary) schools across New South Wales, Australia, and to assess this information against published ratings of program effectiveness. Delivery of programs in four health-promoting domains—creating a positive school community; teaching social and emotional skills; engaging the parent community; and supporting students experiencing mental health difficulties—were reported by 597 school principals/leaders via online survey. Although three quarters of principals reported implementing at least one program, many of these programs were supported by little or no evidence of effectiveness. There was also variability in the use of evidence-based programs across the four domains. Findings indicate a need to provide educators with improved support to identify, implement, and evaluate effective evidenced-based programs that promote student mental health

Open-ended responses to “As a community gardener, do you have any concerns about hazards to your health?”

<p>Open-ended responses to “As a community gardener, do you have any concerns about hazards to your health?”</p

Open-ended responses to “Where do you get information on gardening practices?”

<p>Open-ended responses to “Where do you get information on gardening practices?”</p

Additional gardener demographic information.

<p>* NR  =  No response.</p

Community gardeners' information needs related to soil contamination, as reported by key informants.

<p>Community gardeners' information needs related to soil contamination, as reported by key informants.</p

Open-ended responses to questions about soil contaminant knowledge: “What soil contaminants are you aware of that urban gardeners should be concerned about in general?” and “As a community gardener, do you have any concerns about hazards to your health?”

<p>Open-ended responses to questions about soil contaminant knowledge: “What soil contaminants are you aware of that urban gardeners should be concerned about in general?” and “As a community gardener, do you have any concerns about hazards to your health?”</p

Open-ended responses to questions about reducing exposure in contaminated environments.

<p>“What methods should one use to grow, harvest or handle produce grown in contaminated environments?” and “What would you do if you found out your soil was contaminated?”</p