Table 4.
Preventive actions taken and/or considered, and barriers to action.
| Preventive Action Variables | Responses % (#) 1 |
|---|---|
| Pregnant persons can reduce risk by reducing exposures (n = 1839) | |
| Agree to strongly agree | 90.6 (1661) |
| Strongly disagree to neutral | 9.4 (178) |
| Have enough knowledge to take protective actions (n = 1913) | |
| Definitely or to some extent | 52.2 (1026) |
| Not really or not at all | 47.8 (887) |
| Take protective actions in day-to-day life (n = 1911) | 56.2 (1097) |
| Most commonly reported protective actions (n = 1729) 2 | |
| Opting for less/non-toxic and natural everyday products | 32.2 (556) |
| Avoiding/reducing exposure to pollutants/toxicants | 21.6 (373) |
| Choosing healthy/toxicant-free food | 16.7 (288) |
| Using masks and other PPE 3 | 6.4 (110) |
| Acting to reduce personal environmental impact | 4.3 (74) |
| Trying to be better informed | 4.0 (69) |
| Changing workplace/living arrangements/daily practices | 4.0 (69) |
| Using safer plastics/avoiding plastics | 3.9 (67) |
| Taking steps to improve the quality of drinking water | 3.2 (55) |
| Other | 3.9 (68) |
| Want to take protective actions but unable (n = 1910) | 39.6 (754) |
| Barriers to taking protective action (n = 750) | |
| Costs | 52.7 (395) |
| Unaware of safer options | 39.5 (296) |
| Time | 22.3 (167) |
| Lack of partner support | 11.3 (85) |
| Exposure is out of my control | 9.7 (73) |
| Lack of employer support | 6.9 (52) |
| Lack of landlord support | 6.5 (49) |
| Action will do more harm | 4.0 (30) |
| Other 4 | 1.7 (13) |
1 Note: Percentages derived from weighted data, n from unweighted data. 2 n is greater than the n for this question due to the possibility of multiple responses. 3 PPE: personal protective equipment. 4 “Other” reported barriers to taking action include lack of government support, vaccination mandates, and lack of support from neighbors.