Preventing Lead Poisoning Among Young Children

Tulane University: Prevention Research Center

Topics:
Healthy Youth

Researchers developed an intervention focused on changing the risks for lead poisoning among children in inner-city New Orleans. The project addressed the need for low-cost methods to increase: knowledge, use of nutritional supplements, home clean-up, and community involvement. About 28 inner-city African American families (with children aged 1-6 years) participated in the project and were randomly assigned to one of three study groups. One group (6 families) received instructions about environmental clean-up. A second group (10 families) received the cleaning instructions plus counseling about adding calcium- and iron-rich foods to their children’s diets. A third group (12 families) served as a comparison group. One component of the project included recruitment and training of “Lead Busters,” neighborhood residents who served as research assistants for implementing the project. The Lead Busters visited participants’ homes to measure environmental lead levels and conducted educational sessions for the families in the two intervention groups.

In another component of the project, researchers administered the Chicago Lead Knowledge Questionnaire to 500 inner-city residents to assess how much the children’s caregivers knew about lead poisoning. The questionnaire focused on general information exposure, prevention, and nutrition related to lead poisoning prevention. The topic with the highest percentage of unknown answers was “prevention.” More importantly, researchers found that the questionnaire, which had been validated for a suburban population, did not perform as well for an inner-city population and are revising it.

Results of the overall project contributed to New Orleans City Council passing an ordinance banning dry-sanding of lead-based paint. In addition, the New Orleans Lead Poisoning Prevention Program began using the Lead Busters intervention as part of its outreach and case management activities. A manuscript with final study results is forthcoming.

 

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