Environmental health literacy (EHL) is developing as a framework that can inform educational interventions designed to facilitate individual and collective action to protect health, yet EHL measurement poses several challenges. While some studies have measured environmental health knowledge resulting from interventions, few have incorporated skills and self-efficacy. In this study, a process-focused EHL instrument was developed, using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) health literacy instrument as a model and tailoring it for the context of private well contamination with toxic metals. Forty-seven (47) participants, including undergraduate students and residents of communities with contaminated well water, piloted a prototype EHL instrument alongside NVS. Results suggested a moderate degree of correlation between NVS and the EHL prototype, and significant differences in scores were observed between students and residents. Responses to a self-efficacy survey, tailored for drinking water contaminated with arsenic, revealed significant differences between students and residents on items related to cost and distance. In response to open-ended questions, participants identified a range of potential environmental contaminants in drinking water and deemed varied information sources as reliable. This study highlights differences in knowledge and self-efficacy among students and residents and raises questions about the adequacy of EHL assessments that mimic formal education approaches.

To address youth and young adult vaping, the Food and Drug Administration and other organizations have launched vaping prevention video ads. However, limited research exists on the objective features of these ads (i.e., observable and systematically codable elements). This study identified and described these features through a content analysis. A total of 302 video ads, released between 2015 and 2024, were collected on the basis of the following criteria: focused on vaping prevention, targeted youth or young adults, 35 seconds or shorter, and in English. Twenty-nine codes were developed to capture objective features in 5 categories: (1) message themes; (2) structural features (genre, visual, audio, and format); (3) tobacco product depictions; (4) audience targeting; and (5) other features, such as source and length. Data were analyzed in 2024. Most ads (49.3%) were from U.S. national organizations, followed by U.S. state governments (43.7%) and international sources (7.0%). Nearly half (46.0%) were 11-20 seconds. Nicotine addiction was the most common primary theme (34.4%), followed by harmful chemicals/metals (16.2%) and mental health (13.9%). Ads predominantly used live action (68.2%), visual effects (54.0%), background music (78.5%), and an acted-out format (57.3%). Vaping imagery appeared in most ads (68.5%). Few ads were explicitly designed for specific racial/ethnic (3.6%) or lesbian, gay, or bisexual (0.3%) communities. This study provides the groundwork for future research to identify which objective ad features most effectively influence vaping-related outcomes. Findings also serve as a practical resource for campaign developers who design ads on the basis of objective features.