Content, Accessibility, and Form of Existing Cryptosporidium Communication Instruments. F. Wu, Carnegie Mellon University, Engineering and Public Policy, Pittsburgh, PA
Communication is vital to enable people to participate in, or be effectively represented in, decisions about risks. The recent concern about Cryptosporidium in drinking water has spawned a number of communication instruments; primarily brochures, pamphlets, and web sites. Information about Cryptosporidium is also required as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, in water utility Consumer Confidence Reports and publicly available databases associated with the Information Collection Rule. Several representative brochures and web sites were analyzed for content and measures of their effectiveness in communicating risk; such as accessibility, reading level, physical appearance, scientific jargon, and tone of voice. These instruments were then presented to laypersons, to determine how much they learned and how effective they perceived the various instruments to be. From these findings, it was determined which combination of features was most effective in communicating risk. This knowledge can be used to create new, more effective Cryptosporidium communication instruments.
American Water Works Association Research Foundation.
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