The Development and Reliability Testing of a Tool to Assess Women’s Perceptions and Avoidance of Endocrine Disruptors in Personal and Household Products
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Development of the Questionnaire
2.3. Questionnaire Piloting and Testing
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Literature Review
3.2. Questionnaire Development
3.3. Pilot Sample Characteristics
3.4. Calculating Respondent Scores
3.5. Reliability Testing
4. Conclusions
Strengths and Limitations
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) | Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or human-made chemicals that may mimic, block, or interfere with the body’s hormones |
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Assessed Construct | Scale Item | Reference |
---|---|---|
Risk perceptions/Attitudes | 1. Chemicals in the environment can pose health risks 2. Do you think there is a risk related to exposure to these chemical molecules for yourself? And for your baby? 3. Do you think that exposure to chemicals presents a risk to the health of pregnant women and their unborn babies? | [18] [19] [20] [21] |
Knowledge (product safety) | 1. Do you want to learn more about what makes products safe? | [24] |
Behavior | 1. I try to Buy “Eco-Friendly”, and “Chemical-Free” personal care products 2. I try to Buy “Eco-Friendly”, and “Chemical-Free” Household Products 3. When I buy bath soap, cosmetics, and toiletries, I try to make sure they are “Eco-Friendly, Chemical-Free, or Environmentally Friendly” | [18] [41] |
Modifying Factors Demographic variables
|
Perceived Threat Perceived Susceptibility (Beliefs)
|
Evaluation of Behavior Perceived barriers and benefits (Knowledge—access to resources)
|
Behavior Purchasing behaviors (Avoidance behaviour)
|
Demographic Factors | N% |
---|---|
Age | |
18–25 | 114 (57) |
26–35 | 76 (38) |
Prefer not to say | 10 (5) |
Education | |
High school completed | 58 (29) |
Post-secondary completed | 133 (66) |
Prefer not to say | 9 (5) |
Annual household income | |
Below or equal to Low-income-cut-off | 42 (21) |
Above Low-income-cut-off | 131 (65) |
Prefer not to say | 27 (13) |
Ethnicity | |
White | 84 (42) |
South Asian | 34 (17) |
Chinese | 21 (11) |
African Descent | 15 (8) |
West Asian | 9 (5) |
Mixed race | 12 (6) |
South East Asian | 10 (5) |
First Nation | 4 (2) |
Other | 4 (2) |
Birthplace | |
Canada | 157 (79) |
Other | 38 (19) |
Prefer not to say | 5 (2) |
Diagnosed with chemical sensitivity | |
Yes | 20 (10) |
No | 153 (76) |
Don’t know | 22 (11) |
Prefer not to say | 5 (3) |
Pregnant | |
Yes | 3 (1.5) |
No | 193 (96.5) |
Prefer not to say | 1 (0.5) |
Attempting pregnancy | |
Yes | 9 (5) |
No | 183 (92) |
Prefer not to say | 2 (1) |
Parent to a child under the age of 18 years old | |
Yes | 26 (13) |
No | 171 (86) |
Prefer not to say | 3 (1) |
Toxic Chemical | Mean (SD); Median | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Health Risk Perceptions (7–35) | Beliefs (5–25) | Knowledge (Access to Resources) (6–30) | Avoidance Behavior (6–30) | |
Lead (n = 161) | 29 (4); 28 | 19 (4); 20 | 23 (4); 23 | 19 (7); 18 |
Parabens (n = 44) | 27 (5); 28 | 17 (4); 17 | 23 (4); 23 | 21 (6); 21 |
BPA (n = 76) | 29 (5); 29 | 20 (3); 20 | 24 (4); 24 | 23 (6); 24 |
Phthalates (n = 55) | 28 (5); 28 | 18 (4); 18 | 23 (4); 24 | 22 (6); 22 |
Triclosan (n = 14) | 31 (6); 32 | 22 (3); 23 | 26 (4); 25 | 24 (8); 30 |
PERC (n = 12) | 32 (4); 35 | 22 (4); 23 | 25 (5); 25 | 23 (6); 24 |
EDC | Risk Perceptions (7 Items) | Belief (5 Items) | Knowledge (Resource Access) (6 Items) | Avoidance Behavior (6 Items) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Parabens | 0.87 | 0.82 | 0.77 | 0.93 |
Lead | 0.87 | 0.76 | 0.81 | 0.95 |
Phthalates | 0.92 | 0.82 | 0.81 | 0.96 |
BPA | 0.93 | 0.83 | 0.93 | 0.95 |
Triclosan | 0.90 | 0.96 | 0.87 | 0.98 |
PERC | 0.87 | 0.83 | 0.93 | 0.97 |
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Trifunovski, A.; Rotondi, N.K.; Abbass-Dick, J.; Al Ghali, R.; Barakat, C. The Development and Reliability Testing of a Tool to Assess Women’s Perceptions and Avoidance of Endocrine Disruptors in Personal and Household Products. Environments 2025, 12, 138. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments12050138
Trifunovski A, Rotondi NK, Abbass-Dick J, Al Ghali R, Barakat C. The Development and Reliability Testing of a Tool to Assess Women’s Perceptions and Avoidance of Endocrine Disruptors in Personal and Household Products. Environments. 2025; 12(5):138. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments12050138
Chicago/Turabian StyleTrifunovski, Adrianna, Nooshin Khobzi Rotondi, Jennifer Abbass-Dick, Rola Al Ghali, and Caroline Barakat. 2025. "The Development and Reliability Testing of a Tool to Assess Women’s Perceptions and Avoidance of Endocrine Disruptors in Personal and Household Products" Environments 12, no. 5: 138. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments12050138
APA StyleTrifunovski, A., Rotondi, N. K., Abbass-Dick, J., Al Ghali, R., & Barakat, C. (2025). The Development and Reliability Testing of a Tool to Assess Women’s Perceptions and Avoidance of Endocrine Disruptors in Personal and Household Products. Environments, 12(5), 138. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments12050138