Patient Attitudes Toward Issues
of Environmental Health

From the Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (Dr. Temte), and the School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (McCall).

Objective: Although the place of environmental health in medical education has been cautiously explored, patient attitudes toward environmental issues have been largely ignored in the medical literature. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the baseline level of family practice patient concerns about a variety of environmental issues, including their major sources of information and their level of trust in each source. Patient desire for more environmental education was also assessed.

Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was based on a confidential, 14 question survey administered to a convenience sample of 373 adult family medicine patients at 4 University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Family Medicine affiliated clinics, including 2 urban, 1 suburban, and 1 rural site. Of 496 patients approached, 415 accepted, and 373 returned complete and acceptable questionnaires. The level of patient concern for each environmental issue, patient trust in each source of information, and the amount of education patients felt they had received from their physician were measured.

Results: A high level of concern for environmental issues existed among the study sample patients. Although only 18% of patients reported utilizing their physician as a major source of environmental information, physicians were considered the most trustworthy source. In general, patients felt that they had received an inadequate amount of environmental education from their physician regarding all environmental issues presented.

Conclusions: Patients desire and would be receptive to more environmental education from their physicians.

Key Words: environmental medicine, environmental health, patient education, survey, family medicine