Behavioral Adaptability: Learning About Novel Contamination in the Environment (BALANCE)

On September 23, 2019 CDC and ATSDR announced that they established cooperative agreements with seven partners across the nation to study how drinking water that contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may harm health.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how health behavior changed (i.e., improved or worsened) in the months or years following discovery of biological markers of environmental contamination and to learn which participant characteristics are associated with protective health behavior change. Changes in psychological health have been linked to environmental contamination, and will be further explored here, within the context of behavior change. The information gained through BALANCE will guide future health education efforts and permit the tailoring of messaging to surveillance/research participants as part of routine results reporting that occurs in those projects.