Public understanding of risk in health impact assessment: a psychosocial approach

Abstract

Development projects inevitably pose risks to the health of humans and the planet. Health impact assessment (HIA) practitioners increasingly evaluate the mental health effects of development but have rarely considered those caused by public understanding of risk (‘risk perception’) itself a determinant of health. This paper proposes a new psychosocial model of public understanding of risk in response to the literature on perceived high risk developments. It exemplifies the psychosocial process that occurs when people respond to industrial threats to health. In doing this, it draws upon literature from psychology, social science and public health. The model is foregrounded in the context of psychosocial health in HIA. The paper also reviews the health and well-being effects that may result. Overall, it is argued that the philosophical and moral underpinnings of HIA compel practitioners and developers to understand the formation and ongoing development of public understandings of risk in light of the cultural, demographic, temporal and other contextual factors shaping them in unique development contexts where HIAs are undertaken, and how understandings of risk actually affect community health. We encourage them to propose mitigation measures and solutions that accord with the values of Planetary Health.