Heatwaves and their health risks: knowledge, risk perceptions and behaviours of the German population in summer 2022

Parichehr Shamsrizi; Mirjam Annina Jenny; Philipp Sprengholz; Mattis Geiger; Christopher Bruce Jäger; Cornelia Betsch

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckad109

Heatwaves and their health risks: knowledge, risk perceptions and behaviours of the German population in summer 2022

Eur J Public Health. 2023 Oct 10;33(5):841-843. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckad109.

Authors

Parichehr Shamsrizi^{1

2}, Mirjam Annina Jenny^{1

2

3

4}, Philipp Sprengholz^{1

2

5}, Mattis Geiger^{1

2}, Christopher Bruce Jäger¹, Cornelia Betsch^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Health Communication, Implementation Research, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
² Health Communication, Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany.
³ Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Harding Center for Risk Literacy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
⁵ Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany.

Abstract

Heatwaves are becoming more common and impact health. We conducted a representative survey in June 2022 in Germany to determine people's knowledge and protective behaviours on heat days. In data from 953 respondents, we found that a large proportion informed themselves about upcoming heat days, but there are considerable gaps in knowledge. While knowledge was not related to taking up protecting behaviour, other predictors were (e.g. risk perception). Health campaigns should therefore not only aim to improve knowledge but also address risk perceptions, facilitate social learning, communicate social norms and remove barriers that prevent protective behaviours.

Abstract

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