A Novel Model of Citizen Science to Build Health Literacy within Our Community

Successful primary prevention, the avoidance of the disease occurring in the first place, is a key step in community health literacy. Yet it is most effective when it promotes awareness in a way that is positive, personally... [ view full abstract ]

Successful primary prevention, the avoidance of the disease occurring in the first place, is a key step in community health literacy. Yet it is most effective when it promotes awareness in a way that is positive, personally relevant and accessible to people’s everyday lives. To bridge the gap between health literacy and a fun and meaningful experience, we established the Genetics of Taste Lab and sought to build a novel model of citizen science in the space of human health.

Museum visitors are our research participants and the work is conducted by volunteer citizen scientists, including taste data collection, DNA extraction and gene analysis. We have three goals: to advance the range of citizen science projects into public health (in this case, nutrition and obesity), to conduct publishable scientific work, and to evaluate the educational potential of the model. Our educational data show that participants learn about themselves and the role of taste in their nutritional choices. Through peer-reviewed publication of the research we added needed knowledge to advance the scientific field this project serves and concurrently validated our model. Finally, we hit these goals in education and research while maintaining high marks with our citizen scientists: reported high satisfaction, value in their role, high retention rates, and importantly, a complete understanding of the study’s design and purpose.

These data serve as evidence that a citizen science married with informal science education can be a foundation for primary prevention of impactful social issues like obesity. This authentic interaction within real research studies promotes awareness though thoughtful execution, while advancing citizen science into the personally relevant arena of human health.