Phoenix Healthy Homes

The goal of the Phoenix Healthy Homes project was to reduce the amount of hazards in the home and improve self-reports of home safety and respiratory health by using health education, disbursement of devices used to improve respiratory health and home safety, and actual home improvements.

Participants were referred from various organizations such as the PCH Breathmobile and Phoenix Head Start and were eligible if there was one child under 18 living in the home, the household income was 80% or less of the area median income, and they signed a consent form. The intervention was delivered by a health educator, bilingual home assessor, injury prevention specialist, and a pediatric pulmonary nurse practitioner.

The home assessor first visited the home and collected data on household characteristics, administered an asthma screening questionnaire, and conducted a standardized visual assessment that was repeated again 3-4 months post-intervention. After the initial visit, a scope of work for the housing structure intervention was compiled with special attention given to repairs that would improve respiratory health, such as replacing carpets with hard, cleanable flooring. This scope of work was reviewed with the homeowner and completed upon homeowner consent. The health educator then completed an in-home family needs assessment and worked with each family to provide them with the knowledge, skills, motivation, supplies, and equipment needed to maintain a healthy and safe home. Again, special attention was paid to providing necessary items to improve respiratory health, such as mattress and pillow dust mite covers.

The goal of the Phoenix Healthy Homes project was to use a multi-factorial approach to reduce hazard prevalence and improve self-reports of home safety and respiratory health.

The Phoenix Healthy Homes project showed that a tailored healthy homes improvement package significantly improves self-reported respiratory health and safety, reduces respiratory health and injury hazards, and can be implemented in concert with a mobile clinical setting.

Ninety-seven percent of the 62 caregivers who completed the questionnaire reported that their homes were safer after participating in the intervention. Most respondents reported that children with asthma had improved health, with 82% saying the health was “much better” and another 16% saying it was “better”. Per home, the average number of structural injury hazards dropped from 2.7 pre-intervention to 0.4 post-intervention, a significant decrease (p<0.001). Also, the average number of respiratory health hazards dropped from 3.3 at baseline to 0.9 post-intervention, another significant improvement (p<0.001).