Evaluation of a Home-Based Environmental and Educational Intervention to Improve Health in Vulnerable Households: Southeastern Pennsylvania Lead and Healthy Homes Program

Deepa Mankikar, Carla Campbell and Rachael Greenberg
Additional contact information
Deepa Mankikar: Public Health Management Corporation, Centre Square East 1500 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
Carla Campbell: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Rachael Greenberg: National Nurse-Led Care Consortium, Centre Square East 1500 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: This evaluation examined whether participation in a home-based environmental educational intervention would reduce exposure to health and safety hazards and asthma-related medical visits. The home intervention program focused on vulnerable, low-income households, where children had asthma, were at risk for lead poisoning, or faced multiple unsafe housing conditions. Home visitors conducted two home visits, two months apart, consisting of an environmental home assessment, Healthy Homes education, and distribution of Healthy Homes supplies. Measured outcomes included changes in participant knowledge and awareness of environmental home-based hazards, rate of children’s asthma-related medical use, and the presence of asthma triggers and safety hazards. Analysis of 2013–2014 baseline and post-intervention program data for a cohort of 150 families revealed a significantly lower three-month rate ( p < 0.05) of children’s asthma-related doctor visits and hospital admissions at program completion. In addition, there were significantly reduced reports of the presence of home-based hazards, including basement or roof leaks ( p = 0.011), plumbing leaks ( p = 0.019), and use of an oven to heat the home ( p < 0.001). Participants’ pre- and post- test scores showed significant improvement ( p < 0.05) in knowledge and awareness of home hazards. Comprehensive home interventions may effectively reduce environmental home hazards and improve the health of asthmatic children in the short term.

Keywords: environmental health; health disparities; housing; health education; childhood asthma; injury prevention; childhood lead poisoning; home health; home safety; healthy homes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/9/900/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/9/900/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:9:p:900-:d:77911

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().