title: Changes in smoke alarm coverage following two fire department home visiting programs: what predicts success?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Door-to-door canvassing and installation of smoke alarms have been found to be effective at increasing the number of homes protected. This analysis reports on how smoke alarm coverage changes six months after a home visiting program in a large urban sample, and how this change varies by characteristics of the residents and characteristics of the services delivered during the home visit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fire department Standard and Enhanced home visiting programs were compared. During the home visit, fire fighters installed lithium battery smoke alarms. Residents in the Enhanced program received tailored education about fire safety. Six months after the home visit, participating residences were visited to complete a follow-up survey and to have the installed alarms checked.
  
  
  RESULTS
  81% of the 672 homes that had a working smoke alarm on every level of the home at the end of the home visit remained safe at follow-up, and 87% of the residents found the home visit was very useful, and these rates did not differ between the Enhanced and Standard programs. The degree to which firefighters delivered their services varied, although households in which the resident's engagement with the fire department team was rated as excellent were 3.96 times as likely to be safe at follow-up compared to those with poor or fair resident engagement (p=0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a need to better understand how to maximize the time spent with residents during smoke alarm home visiting programs. This study helps with the development of methods needed for implementing and evaluating such programs in real-world settings.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, 21205, MD, USA. agielen@jhsph.edu.
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Gielen
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, 21205, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Elise C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, 21205, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Wendy C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, 21205, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, 21205, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frattaroli
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, 21205, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Vanya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jones
keywords: Community health workers; Community intervention; Fires and burns; Home visits; Injury prevention; Smoke alarms