What do Parents Know about Environmental Health Literacy in relation to Children’s Health?

Background and Objective: Parents are the main target group for environmental health literacy (EHL), because most children under 7 years of age spend a lot of awake time under the care of parents. Children are exposed to toxic contaminants in the home and society, and yet little evidence is known about what parents know about the effect of the environmental contaminants on the children’s health in their care. Therefore, this study tried to better understand how parents conceptualize “environment health literacy” and its impact on the health of children in their care. We also seek to understand what parents’ attitudes, and knowledge regarding the source and effect of environmental pollution that affect their children’s health. Materials and Methods: The qualitative content analysis method was conducted on 35 eligible parents from kindergartens throughout Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran. A semi-structured interview based on openended questions from topics was conducted to better understand what parents know about the effect of EHL on their children’s health. The results were classified into them and contents. Results: parents identified physical environment, social and emotional environment, and intellectual and learning environment as the main characteristics for EHL and they had limited information on the EHL terminology and characterization. Majority of parents had a low level of understanding about source and effect of toxic exposures that affect their children’s health. Conclusion: This study highlights the need to raise parents’ knowledge and awareness toward environmental exposure that influences health of children. Such knowledge and awareness are critical starting point to facilitate movement a continuum of EHL and improve level of action in each community to protect human health, specially children.