Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2015-10
Attitudes towards urban air pollution: a Q methodology study / Actitudes frente a la contaminación atmosférica urbana: un estudio basado en el método Q
This article assesses the variety of public attitudes towards air pollution. The objective is to analyse how people differently understand and react to air pollution. In particular, we attempt to discern different profiles of people in terms of their attitudes towards air pollution by means of the Q method. The Q method is a qualitative but statistical approach enabling us to discover a variety of attitudinal profiles or discourses concerning an issue from reduced samples. Our results reveal two different attitudinal profiles: annoyed-aware and optimistic-unaware. Nonetheless, there is an important shared discourse among these two groups regarding their behavioural responses to air pollution, levels of worry, self-efficacy and desire for more information. The results have implications for potential health and environmental communication interventions.
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