Risk Perception Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Ionizing Radiation in the Workplace

Abstract

<p> The purpose of this paper is to examine how lay perceptions of risk influence individual behaviour. The study focuses on health care practitioners who are daily exposed to low levels of ionizing radiation. By using qualitative research methods, the goal was to understand how individuals attach meaning to the environment they work in, when there is a risk involved. It points out that people must go through a risk assessing procedure, in order· to be able to deal with the daily risks to their health. People will develop different mechanism to cope with this daily risk. A model of risk perception was developed from this qualitative data. It is hoped that this model will contribute to the existing literature on risk perception models. </p>