Prevalence of chronic fatigue and chemical sensitivities in Gulf Registry Veterans.

More than 68000 of the 700000 veterans of the Gulf War have become members of the Veteran Affairs' Gulf War Registry. In 1995, we undertook a questionnaire study of the symptoms and medical histories reported by a randomly selected subsample of 1935 of these veterans to characterize their complaints. All results reported were based on questionnaire responses without face-to-face evaluation or physical examinations. Inasmuch as initial registry symptoms overlapped those of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, we also included standard questions for these syndromes in the questionnaire. A total of 1161 (60%) individuals responded, and there were no major demographic biases; therefore, 15.7% of registry veterans qualified for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in accordance with the 1994 Centers for Disease Control definition. In addition, 13.1% qualified for multiple chemical sensitivities in accordance with a widely used definition, and 3.3% of the respondents had both conditions. There were no effects of gender, race, branch, duty status (active or reserve), or rank, although Multiple Chemical Sensitivities was somewhat more prevalent in women and African Americans. The data gleaned in this study suggested that the unexplained symptom syndromes of Chronic Fatigue and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities may characterize an appreciable portion of the complaints of those who volunteered for the Veterans Affairs' Gulf War Registry, and further investigation is warranted.

Citizen participation and empowerment: the case of local environmental hazards.

Local environmental hazards place millions of citizens at risk of physical, emotional, and financial harm. While the discovery of such hazards can be fundamentally disempowering for individuals and communities, few scholars have examined the dynamics of empowerment in this context. We explore the relationships among forms of empowerment, citizen participation, and local environmental hazards, and offer a model of the processes of empowerment and disempowerment appropriate to a broad range of citizen issues. On the basis of this analysis we recommend a partnership approach to community decision making that is designed both to reduce the likelihood that local environmental hazards will develop and to minimize the disempowering impact of any threats that do occur.

Tick bite victims and their environment: the risk of Lyme disease.

The authors surveyed 308 New Jersey tick bite victims. Education concerning landscape ecology, wildlife control, tick and wildlife habitat reduction, tick control using acaricides, and how to keep pets tick-free is especially needed to reduce human exposure to tick bites and Lyme disease.

Measuring chemical sensitivity prevalence: a questionnaire for population studies.

Because no information exists on the prevalence of chemical sensitivity syndromes such as multiple chemical sensitivities, a questionnaire for use in population studies was developed and tested to assess the presence or absence of chemical sensitivity. Seven hundred five individuals attending clinics answered a questionnaire asking whether each of 122 common substances caused symptoms. Results showed that patients with multiple chemical sensitivities and asthma had average total scores that were significantly different from each other and from those of each of the other diagnostic categories. Higher total scores were also reported by female patients. The instrument described here may facilitate meaningful prevalence studies of multiple chemical sensitivities. It will also allow study of chemically induced symptoms in other conditions such as asthma.

Living near a hazardous waste facility: coping with individual and family distress.

Residents near a hazardous waste facility were interviewed about their level of distress and their involvement in a community organization concerned about toxic exposure. Specific beliefs about living near such a facility were related to individual and family distress and to participation in the organization. Implications for research and for clinical practice are discussed.

How residents cope with living near a hazardous waste landfill: an example of substantive theorizing.

It is hard to be a community or environmental psychologist and not be interested in newspaper stories on global warming, oil spills, or toxic wastes in your own backyard. To the general public, these issues tend to be viewed as environmental, technological, toxicological, or governmental, but not psychological. As psychologists, we see many ways in which psychology does play a role in understanding these events. We have been engaged in a study of residents living near a hazardous waste landfill in which many subdisciplines of psychology have played an illuminating role. Wicker's (this issue) article on substantive theorizing outlines an approach to theory and research that helps communicate the structure and process of doing research on a complex area. We use his article to help us describe key aspects of our research that are not usually discussed in research articles. We believe that the type of research Wicker describes occurs more often than people realize. Unfortunately, however, journal conventions cause investigators to omit discussions of substantive theorizing aspects of their work. We hope that reading this article increases your understanding of substantive theorizing and our research as much as writing it increased our own.