Section 2.1: Leverage Systems Thinking
Module 2: Maximize Data & Expert Insights
Module 1 introduced systems thinking to identify key stakeholders relevant to environmental and occupational cancer risk reduction needs and opportunities.
Systems thinking can also provide insights into the underlying factors and their interconnections that drive occupational and environmental risks. Employing a systems perspective means seeing the “forest for the trees”—when details start to fade, and patterns of the underlying relationships begin to emerge. Employing a systems perspective prevents reactionary, short-term quick fixes. Instead, it provides the discipline to map the system, revealing solutions that balance short- and long-term strategies to address root causes rather than symptoms.
Understanding Key Trends and Factors that Reveal the Underlying System of the Environmental and Occupational Cancer Problem
If addressing environmental and occupational cancer is a new focus for your cancer coalition, bringing partners together to map the system establishes a strong foundation. Two exercises serve as important first steps in this process: (1) conducting a trend analysis and (2) identifying factors that increase cancer risks and/or impede risk reduction.
What key trends illuminate the environmental and occupational cancer risk your coalition is trying to reduce?
Trend analysis invites coalition partners to collectively identify patterns that are most relevant to understanding the interrelationships between risk reduction needs and opportunities. These trends should be supported by scientific literature and local expertise.
Example: Using stakeholders to identify trends relevant to environmental cancer risk reduction priorities
Air Pollution Trends in Centerville County
A group of diverse stakeholders—including government, academic, and community-based experts—convened to analyze air pollution trends in Centerville County, identifying the following regional trends:
- Centerville County ranks in the top 1 percent of counties in the U.S. for cancer risk from point source air pollution.
- Both diesel particulate and coke oven emissions are significant drivers of regional cancer risk.
- Extensive air monitoring of black carbon in the Centerville County region has resulted in maps revealing high pollution levels concentrated in industrial locations and along heavily traveled roadways. Elevated concentrations are also evident within communities located in river valleys.
- Data from the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) identify several carcinogenic emissions from industrial facilities, including heavy metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene and formaldehyde.
What specific factors influence exposure to environmental and occupational carcinogens in your state?
Examine and describe the landscape of environmental and occupational risk factors and the system dynamics that amplify or impede them. Work with your cancer coalition to prioritize environmental and occupational carcinogens broadly, or narrow your focus to specific risk factors. Examples include air pollution, water contaminants, high-risk occupations, or targeted industries of concern (such as waste incinerators, power plants, oil and gas infrastructure, and dry cleaning facilities).
Exercise: Identify the system that perpetuates a specific environmental risk factor
Example Topic: Air pollution in your state
Group Discussion Question: What factors and key stakeholders influence the dynamics of carcinogenic air pollution in your state?
Process Steps:
- Identify Key Factors: List the core environmental, economic, or behavioral factors driving air pollution in your area.
- Map the Stakeholders: Identify the key individuals, agencies, or organizations associated with each factor.
- Draw Linkages: Diagram the connections and relationships between different factors and stakeholders.
- Analyze System Dynamics: Determine which factors reinforce or perpetuate pollution, and which factors impede those problematic dynamics to support risk reduction.
- Evaluate Plan Alignment: Look for emerging patterns and evaluate how these categories of factors align with your comprehensive cancer control plan.