The purpose of this project was to evaluate (a) the knowledge of Latina women who participated in an educational “Healthy at Home” intervention on environmental hazards in the home and (b) the effect of the program on clients' behavior regarding exposure to environmental hazards in the home.
Methods:
Data was collected using a cross-sectional survey administered at two points in time. Latina women participating in the “Healthy at Home” program were surveyed at the first home visit and six months following program completion. Maternity Care Coalition (MCC) in Philadelphia recruited 73 families via their MOMobile Program to participate in the “Healthy at Home” environmental outreach program. Participants included pregnant or newly parenting women from the Latina MOMobile in North Philadelphia.
Results:
On average, the women received high scores in all environmental content areas. Results showed significant increases related to asthma and lead knowledge along with significant behavioral changes related to environmental pests (P = .05), effective cleaning techniques (P = .048), and using cold water for cooking to reduce lead exposure (P = .001).
Conclusions:
Future research should be conducted to (a) better understand the links between knowledge and behavior change in Latino populations; (b) better tailor health education messages for this population; (c) capitalize upon the potential social capital within the Latino community to reach out to pregnant, low-income, urban women; and (d) make environmental justice issues more visible among those working in public health and public policy.
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