title: Effectiveness of a household environmental health intervention delivered by rural public health nurses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Parents need meaningful and actionable information if they are to reduce household environmental health risks to their children. To address this issue, we tested the effectiveness of a multi-risk social/cognitive intervention on rural low-income parents' (1) environmental health self-efficacy and (2) stage of environmental health precautionary adoption.
  
  
  METHODS
  Biomarker (lead, cotinine) and household samples (carbon monoxide, radon, mold/mildew, and drinking water contaminants) were collected from 235 families (399 adults, 441 children) in Montana and Washington states. Families were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups; intervention families received 4 visits from public health nurses who provided tailored information and guidance to parents; controls received usual and customary public health services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 3 months, the intervention group had significantly higher scores on (1) all 6 risk-specific self-efficacy subscales (P < .01), (2) general environmental health self-efficacy (P < .001), (3) 5 of 6 risk-specific precaution adoption subscales (P < .05), and (4) general environmental health precaution adoption (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The intervention yielded significant improvements in both outcomes. This evidence supported the need for a policy discussion addressing the added value that broadbased public health nurse interventions might bring to children's environmental health.
authors.affiliation: Washington State University College of Nursing, Spokane, WA 99210-1495, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Butterfield
authors.forename: Wade
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Postma
authors.forename: Phillip W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Butterfield
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Odom-Maryon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004782:Environmental Health; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000032:analysis*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009009:Montana; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011637:Public Health Nursing; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014861:Washington
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances