Exposure to air pollutants is a significant health risk for individuals with asthma, cardiovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Measures such as limiting time outdoors or performing less strenuous tasks when air quality levels are better can mitigate these risks, but only if people are aware of both these recommendations and how to know when air quality is best, and worst. Formative audience assessment determined that applications developed for mobile devices are the optimal way to provide this information, but knowledge of the existing United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and partners’ AirNow tool was minimal. We developed, field-tested, adapted, and implemented pilot efforts at both the national and local levels to address this knowledge gap, and present findings suggesting a concentrated local effort can heighten use of AirNow, leading to more pro-healthy behavior.

暴露于空气污染物对患有哮喘、心血管疾病和慢性阻塞性肺病的人来说是一个重大的健康风险。诸如限制户外时间或在空气质量水平较好时执行不那么费力的任务等措施可以减轻这些风险，但前提是人们了解这些建议以及如何知道空气质量何时最佳，何时最差。形成性受众评估确定为移动设备开发的应用程序是提供此信息的最佳方式，但对现有美国环境保护署 (EPA) 和合作伙伴的 AirNow 工具的了解很少。我们在国家和地方层面开发、现场测试、调整和实施试点工作，以解决这一知识差距，