Healthy home environment assessments
Program basics
- Trained professionals visit homes to evaluate and remediate environmental health risks inside the home
- Often focus on asthma triggers, improving ventilation, pest management, mold removal, and allergen control
Strength of evidence
Evidence level: Proven (highest tier)
?
Proven (highest tier)
Ranked as having the highest level of evidence by County Health Rankings and Roadmaps
Target population
Low- and moderate-income adults and families
Program cost
Not available
Implementation locations
Dates active
1990s-present
Outcomes and impact
- Improved health outcomes and reduced asthma triggers, exposure to allergens, use of urgent care, and related health care costs
- Increased participant knowledge and awareness of environmental home-based hazards
- Increased preventative measures against in-home hazards
- Reduced school and work absences for asthmatic children and adults
- Decreased health disparities, particularly when targeted at lower-income urban and rural populations
Keys to successful implementation
- Note: This content is under review
- Train community health workers to provide participants with mitigation strategies on environmentally-induced symptoms, including how to identify and eliminate triggers.
- Provide community health workers conducting home visits with patient-friendly printed resources on best practices to manage home health risks, as well as information on additional health and social services available to them.
- Encourage community health workers to use home visits not just for an inspection, but also to work with patients on developing and implementing a health risk reduction and mitigation plan.
- Invest in enough community health workers to ensure they have the capacity for semi-regular visits (such as biweekly or monthly).
- Recruit community health workers who can provide culturally appropriate services for the communities in which they are serving, including fluency in commonly-spoken languages.
- Develop a clear set of referral criteria for potential program participants, including the type of home they live in, income, and community factors.
- If funding allows, consider providing program participants with supplemental services, such as cleaning supplies, mattress covers, and mold remediation work.
