Increasing smoke alarm operability through theory-based health education: a randomised trial

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Epidemiol Community Health
• Personal Author:
  Miller, Ted R ; Bergen, Gwen ; Ballesteros, Michael F ; Bhattacharya, Soma ; Gielen, Andrea Carlson ; Sheppard, Monique S
• Description:
  Background
  
  Although working smoke alarms halve deaths in residential fires, many households do not keep alarms operational. We tested whether theory-based education increases alarm operability.
  
  Methods
  
  Randomised multiarm trial, with a single arm randomly selected for use each day, in low-income neighbourhoods in Maryland, USA. Intervention arms: (1) Full Education combining a health belief module with a social-cognitive theory module that provided hands-on practice installing alarm batteries and using the alarm’s hush button; (2) Hands-on Practice social-cognitive module supplemented by typical fire department education; (3) Current Norm receiving typical fire department education only. Four hundred and thirty-six homes recruited through churches or by knocking on doors in 2005–2008. Followup visits checked alarm operability in 370 homes (85%) 1–3.5 years after installation. Main outcome measures: number of homes with working alarms defined as alarms with working batteries or hard-wired and number of working alarms per home. Regressions controlled for alarm status preintervention; demographics and beliefs about fire risks and alarm effectiveness.
  
  Results
  
  Homes in the Full Education and Practice arms were more likely to have a functioning smoke alarm at follow-up (OR=2.77, 95% CI 1.09 to 7.03) and had an average of 0.32 more working alarms per home (95% CI 0.09 to 0.56). Working alarms per home rose 16%. Full Education and Practice had similar effectiveness (p=0.97 on both outcome measures).
  
  Conclusions
  
  Without exceeding typical fire department installation time, installers can achieve greater smoke alarm operability. Hands-on practice is key. Two years after installation, for every three homes that received hands-on practice, one had an additional working alarm.
  
  Trial registration number
  
  http://www.clinicaltrials.gov number NCT00139126.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Article Building Codes Family Characteristics Female Health Education Humans Interviews As Topic Male Maryland Middle Aged Models, Theoretical Protective Devices Qualitative Research Safety Smoke

  More +
• Source:
  J Epidemiol Community Health. 68(12):1168-1174
• Pubmed ID:
  25165090
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4699438
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States ; U17/CCU323334/PHS HHS/United States
• Volume:
  68
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:5691ea9eb1ad8b02e3b4d74cc6783dbf4c0e9952c41c4f260a21b78e0ab64f44
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/37239/cdc_37239_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 267.32 KB ]