INDAGINE SULL’EFFICACIA DI UN MODELLO DI COMUNICAZIONE DEL RISCHIO CORRELATO ALL’INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN LUOGHI DESTINATI AD ATTIVITÀ FISICA

[Autom. eng. transl.] INTRODUCTION: The influence of environmental factors on human health has long been the focus of the scientific community. In particular, air quality in confined spaces is an important field of research, as the indoor environment, in which the population lives, works and spends its free time, plays an important role on health and well-being, also if the specific impact remains difficult to quantify as it is influenced by numerous potential pollutants, in modest and often synergistic quantities. This study, aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of an information / training tool for Indoor Air Qualiy (IAQ), is designed for gyms, as the beneficial aspect associated with sports activities in confined spaces is inextricably linked to the state of healthiness and the conditions of hygienic-sanitary character and safety of the environment in which these are practiced. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The training tool used, a short video-movie of about 3 minutes, aimed to underline, through the use of new communication strategies, the critical issues, the peculiarities and the environmental problems related to confined spaces in order to increase the knowledge and skills of the participants on a scientific basis. The sequence of images used for each theme (IAQ, Microclimate, Miceti, Carbon Dioxide, Radon, Formaldehyde and Legionella) was aimed at describing: what is it? What health effects can it cause? what can you do to avoid them? (eg Figure 1). The evaluation of the effectiveness of the training intervention was carried out through a questionnaire of 7 multiple choice questions administered before and after viewing the video-movie. The questionnaires were analyzed using the SITA software Version 1.0 (System for Item Analysis) created by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The pre-post comparison was evaluated overall through t-tests for paired data and for individual questions through the CHI2 test. RESULTS: The questionnaire was administered to 179 people (98 females and 81 males, gyms), aged between 16 and 55 years. The population under study, which showed a fairly good basic preparation of the topics covered (mean [DS] = 3.9 [2.2]), showed a significant improvement in knowledge (6.2 [1.0]). Before the training, the most known theme was that related to CO2 (Q4), while the "Formaldehyde risk" (Q6) and the "Legionella risk" (Q7) were less known (Figure2). For all the topics covered, the training intervention was able to significantly increase specific knowledge, with an average percentage increase of around 30%. CONCLUSIONS: The problem of confined spaces destined to sports activities with reduced mobility (gymnasiums, fitness rooms, etc.), is still today wide and often determined by errors in the design choices (design), building (materials) or plant (systems of ventilation / heating) or, even worse, from incorrect determination of the intended uses or their sudden variation. This, unfortunately, is often correlated with the lack of adequate information and general cultural training and / or specifically aimed at health and well-being, able to reduce any risks present in indoor environments. The training model proposed and evaluated in this study appears to be easy to administer, with a wide range of dissemination and high efficacy in the transmission of essential messages for the information of gyms users. If properly implemented and following further studies to demonstrate its impact in terms of real effectiveness, or changes in behavior / habits that can