title: Source reduction behavior as an independent measurement of the impact of a public health education campaign in an integrated vector management program for the Asian tiger mosquito.
abstract: The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a public health educational campaign to reduce backyard mosquito-larval habitats. Three communities each, within two New Jersey counties, were randomly selected to receive: (1) both education and mosquito control, (2) education only, and (3) no education or mosquito control. Four separate educational events included a 5-day elementary school curriculum in the spring, and three door to door distributions of educational brochures. Before and after each educational event, the numbers of mosquito-larval container habitats were counted in 50 randomly selected homes per study area. Container surveys allowed us to measure source reduction behavior. Although we saw reductions in container habitats in sites receiving education, they were not significantly different from the control. Our results suggest that traditional passive means of public education, which were often considered the gold standard for mosquito control programs, are not sufficient to motivate residents to reduce backyard mosquito-larval habitats.
authors.affiliation: Center for Vector Biology, Rutgers University, 180 Jones Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. krisb@rci.rutgers.edu
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bartlett-Healy
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Healy
authors.forename: Taryn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Crepeau
authors.forename: Isik
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Unlu
authors.forename: Ary
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farajollahi
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: Randy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gaugler
authors.forename: Gary G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Strickman
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes; D000818:Animals; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007300:Insect Control; D007303:Insect Vectors; D058865:Introduced Species; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009515:New Jersey