A+ Head Start Intervention for Smoke Free Homes

About 90% of nonsmoking people in the US are exposed to ETS. More than 50 chemicals identified in ETS have been found to cause cancer and exposure has been linked to heart disease in adults and SIDS, ear infections and numerous respiratory problems, including asthma in children. In 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Head Start-a national program that provides economically disadvantaged children services to enhance their social and cognitive development-announced a new initiative to promote smoke-free homes for children in Head Start programs. Because Head Start reaches high-risk, low-income preschool children, it offers a timely intervention for reducing children's exposure to ETS. Head Start also attempts to engage parents, which is an important component of reducing household ETS exposure among children. This study will determine the effectiveness of a home-delivered, motivational interviewing-based program in reducing ETS exposure and improving lung health among children who are enrolled in the Baltimore City Head Start program and whose households include a smoker.

Participation in this study will last 1 year. First, all participating families will be visited at home by a study staff person who will attach special filters that will track the amount of nicotine in the various rooms of the house. During this initial visit, the participating children will undergo weight and height measurements and saliva sampling. About a week later, the filters will be collected, a 2nd saliva samples will be taken and parents will be interviewed about their family and child's health. Families will then be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Both groups will received educational information about reducing tobacco smoke exposure. One group will also receive the home-delivered, motivational interviewing-based program aimed to reduce ETS. This program will consist of 2 home visits and 2 phone calls, both led by health counselor who will teach participants how to reduce their child's exposure to tobacco smoke. The home visits will occur during Weeks 1 & 2 and the phone calls will occur during Weeks 3 & 6. Follow-up visits for all participating families will occur at Months 3,6 and 12 and will involve repeat filter testing, saliva monitoring and interviews.