The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study

The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study

Automated phone warning systems are increasingly used by public health authorities to protect the population from the adverse effects of extreme heat but little is known about their performance. To fill this gap, this article reports the result of a study on the impact of an automated phone heat war...

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Main Authors: Kaddour Mehiriz, Pierre Gosselin, Isabelle Tardif, Marc-André Lemieux
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-07-01
Series:International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Subjects:
automated phone warning systems
heat waves warnings
public health
impact evaluation
randomized controlled trial design
climate change adaptation
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1581
id doaj-b79ac9f99b7444a69724e9ecd18ddd96
record_format Article
spelling doaj-b79ac9f99b7444a69724e9ecd18ddd962020-11-25T00:13:46ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1660-46012018-07-01158158110.3390/ijerph15081581ijerph15081581The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled StudyKaddour Mehiriz0Pierre Gosselin1Isabelle Tardif2Marc-André Lemieux3Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, School of Public Administration and Development Economics, P.O. Box: 200592, Zone 70, Al Tarfa Street Al-Daayen, Doha, QatarInstitut National de la Santé Publique and Ouranos, 945 Avenue Wolfe, Québec, QC G1V 5B3, CanadaDirection de Santé Publique de la Montérégie, 1255 rue Beauregard, Longueuil, QC J4K 2M3, CanadaDirection de Santé Publique de la Montérégie, 1255 rue Beauregard, Longueuil, QC J4K 2M3, CanadaAutomated phone warning systems are increasingly used by public health authorities to protect the population from the adverse effects of extreme heat but little is known about their performance. To fill this gap, this article reports the result of a study on the impact of an automated phone heat warning system on adaptation behaviours and health services use. A sample of 1328 individuals vulnerable to heat was constituted for this purpose and participants were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. The day before a heat episode, a phone heat warning was sent to the treatment group. Data were obtained through two surveys before and one survey after the heat warning issuance. The results show that members of the treatment group were more aware of how to protect themselves from heat and more likely to adopt the recommended behaviours. Moreover, a much smaller proportion of women in this group used the health-care system compared to the control group. Thus, the exposure to an automated phone warning seems to improve the adaptation to heat and reduce the use of health services by some important at-risk groups. This method can thus be used to complement public health interventions aimed at reducing heat-related health risks.http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1581automated phone warning systemsheat waves warningspublic healthimpact evaluationrandomized controlled trial designclimate change adaptation
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Kaddour Mehiriz
Pierre Gosselin
Isabelle Tardif
Marc-André Lemieux
spellingShingle Kaddour Mehiriz
Pierre Gosselin
Isabelle Tardif
Marc-André Lemieux
The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
automated phone warning systems
heat waves warnings
public health
impact evaluation
randomized controlled trial design
climate change adaptation
author_facet Kaddour Mehiriz
Pierre Gosselin
Isabelle Tardif
Marc-André Lemieux
author_sort Kaddour Mehiriz
title The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study
title_short The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study
title_full The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study
title_fullStr The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study
title_full_unstemmed The Effect of an Automated Phone Warning and Health Advisory System on Adaptation to High Heat Episodes and Health Services Use in Vulnerable Groups—Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Study
title_sort effect of an automated phone warning and health advisory system on adaptation to high heat episodes and health services use in vulnerable groups—evidence from a randomized controlled study
publisher MDPI AG
series International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
issn 1660-4601
publishDate 2018-07-01
description Automated phone warning systems are increasingly used by public health authorities to protect the population from the adverse effects of extreme heat but little is known about their performance. To fill this gap, this article reports the result of a study on the impact of an automated phone heat warning system on adaptation behaviours and health services use. A sample of 1328 individuals vulnerable to heat was constituted for this purpose and participants were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. The day before a heat episode, a phone heat warning was sent to the treatment group. Data were obtained through two surveys before and one survey after the heat warning issuance. The results show that members of the treatment group were more aware of how to protect themselves from heat and more likely to adopt the recommended behaviours. Moreover, a much smaller proportion of women in this group used the health-care system compared to the control group. Thus, the exposure to an automated phone warning seems to improve the adaptation to heat and reduce the use of health services by some important at-risk groups. This method can thus be used to complement public health interventions aimed at reducing heat-related health risks.
topic automated phone warning systems
heat waves warnings
public health
impact evaluation
randomized controlled trial design
climate change adaptation
url http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1581
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