Behavioural change for health and water protection

Could you briefly describe the project – its main objectives and what you hope to achieve? 

“This is a focused, one-year communication project that aims to reduce pharmaceuticals in wastewater through targeted communication interventions. It is run by Gästrike Vatten and brings together a rather diverse group of actors working with pharmaceutical and medical issues, with water management and with communication. Even though the aim of the project is very clearly defined, the challenge is complex, with medical, technical, social and environmental dimensions that all interact with each other. The project team reflects these dimensions, and it is fascinating to learn about the work that water providers, public agencies, cross-agency committees and researchers do on these issues.” 

“In concrete terms, the project aims to develop concrete communication interventions that ultimately reduce the amount of pharmaceuticals, such as the painkiller diclofenac, that end up in rivers and lakes. The problem is here that many pharmaceuticals pass more or less unchanged through human bodies as well as sewage treatment plants – and can have ecotoxic effects. But of course, people use medication for good reasons. Reducing the amount of pharmaceuticals that ends up in surface water therefore really requires a collaborative approach.”

How does your research relate to the One Health concept? 

“For me, this project is a prime example of One Health: Ecological aspects, human and more-than-human health are tightly interconnected. The project also raises interesting questions in this respect: Do people evaluate the issue of pharmaceuticals in wastewater differently depending on whether it is portrayed as an ecological or a human health problem?”

What are the main challenges in this field – and where do you see the biggest opportunities? 

“From my perspective, the key challenge is here to identify where communication interventions can really make a difference. In the research and transdisciplinary work that we commonly do in my field, we try to encourage a perspective on communication as multi-actor processes of meaning-making, where structural dimensions and social relationships interact with what people as individuals think and do.” 

“Seen from this perspective, One Health challenges can typically not simply be addressed by straightforward communication interventions, and social change will happen through an interaction between different types of changes, including structural ones. The project gives really interesting insights into those opportunities for change. For example, if we consider the case of diclofenac gel which is sometimes advertised at large sports events, can we combine information campaigns that aim to raise people’s awareness of the One Health effects of diclofenac with more systemic interventions that shift social norms?”