With increased efforts in developing air quality index, there is still a significant lack of effort in effectively communicating air pollution risk information to the general public. Research has shown that there is a magnitude of approaches and theories that make up risk communication, and the method of presenting risk information will be different depending on the method of presenting the information. This study aims to identify the different communication strategies that will be beneficial in air pollution risk communication as well as develop a risk communication tool that can effectively present both short-term and long-term air quality indexes. By referring to research on risk communication and air quality indexes, our objective is to identify the following questions: Wha...[ Read more ]

With increased efforts in developing air quality index, there is still a significant lack of effort in effectively communicating air pollution risk information to the general public. Research has shown that there is a magnitude of approaches and theories that make up risk communication, and the method of presenting risk information will be different depending on the method of presenting the information. This study aims to identify the different communication strategies that will be beneficial in air pollution risk communication as well as develop a risk communication tool that can effectively present both short-term and long-term air quality indexes. By referring to research on risk communication and air quality indexes, our objective is to identify the following questions: What are the hindering factors from achieving effective risk communication towards air pollution in Hong Kong? Furthermore, what is the most effective communication tool in presenting both short-term and long-term air quality health index? In this situation, risk communication is defined as the distribution of information regarding specific risk to the population at risk.

Based on multiple literature reviews on air quality indexes around the world and theories of risk communication and risk perception, a small scale survey was conducted to Hong Kong residents in regards to their knowledge about air pollution, their perception towards air pollution and the current air quality health index (AQHI) in Hong Kong. A newly designed air quality index was also constructed by reviewing several works of literature on identifying factors in an air quality index by considering the differences between short-term and long-term air pollution indexes along with different presentation methods. Analysis of the responses demonstrated that even though the participants are knowledgeable about air pollution, their concern towards air pollution exposure remains low. Such results indicate that much effort in risk communication is needed to increase the level of air quality monitoring before introducing the newly integrated AQHI. Therefore, a community-based approach is recommended in delivering risk information to the public as an essential factor in increasing air quality monitoring efforts.