Participatory science for social impacts and structural change in polluted industrial regions: Case study in France

Abstract

Over multiple years, we developed and conducted a community-based participatory health study in the industrial zone of Marseille, France. We focused on documenting health issues among residents living in two towns in the industrial core and one town on the periphery that had a larger agricultural sector and an identical transportation/logistics sector. Our study, called EPSEAL (Etude Participative en Santé Environment Ancrée Localement; Locally-Anchored Participatory Study of Environmental Health, English trans.), was designed to answer residents’ questions about the health experiences of living in industrial zones. Our multidisciplinary Franco-American team conducted health surveys in these three towns and held focus groups with residents and other stakeholders to discuss the findings. The main social impacts we achieved included: 1) empowerment of local residents with evidence they could use for advocating for health interventions; 2) substantial media coverage that drew regional, national, and international attention to the scope of the issue; 3) policy and regulatory changes; and 4) interest from other French communities for conducting similar community-driven health studies. Our study demonstrates that there is substantial interest among residents in doing participatory studies that answer their questions about health. Additionally we show that collaboratively-produced, epidemiologically rigorous studies have substantial social and policy impacts.