Implementation of the Child Housing Assessment for a Safe Environment

NCT ID: NCT05886270

Last Updated: 2025-12-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 300 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-06-24
• Study Completion Date: 2025-12-05

Brief Summary

This implementation study uses a multi-method quantitative and qualitative, non-experimental design to estimate the magnitude of home injury risks, identify strategies for addressing those risks and sustaining those interventions, and to calculate the costs of housing-related modifications to prevent childhood home injuries. The study objectives are to: Aim 1. Implement injury prevention measures based on safety hazards identified using the CHASE Tool within 300 low-income households (at or below 80% AMI) in Baltimore City or County; Aim 2. Determine the costs of the injury prevention measures completed by residents and/or professional providers; Aim 3. Conduct a formative evaluation using mixed methods to 3a. determine feasibility of incorporating injury prevention into residential programs from the perspective of installers and residents, including identifying barriers and facilitators, and 3b. understand the consistency of implementing and maintaining the injury prevention measures across referral sources, by residents and staff.

Detailed Description

To address the gap between known preventative factors for child home injuries and the uptake of those prevention approaches by high-risk families, the hazards must be systematically and rigorously assessed, and modifications properly implemented and evaluated. Although there are standardized approaches to assess and address particular home health hazards, such as lead paint, asthma, there is no standard tool for injury control. The study team has developed and tested a tool to assess child injury risks in the home (CHASE Tool). The study team has adapted the existing CHASE tool, found in the article by Shields et al 2019, to specify home modifications needed for 15 priority injury hazards that are the focus of this project based on the literature, availability of prevention measures, and the preliminary studies; they include: scalds, falls, fires, crush/cut/pierce injuries, poisonings, and strangulation) however, the time and cost burden to conduct the assessments on a large scale and to implement evidence-based modifications have not been documented, nor is there information available about residents' willingness to accept these modifications. Thus, the investigators propose to combine the child injury prevention expertise of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy faculty with the home modification and community outreach expertise of Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) to demonstrate a new way to improve the safety of children's homes.

The existing CHASE tool, found in the article by Shields et al 2019, has been adapted to specify home modifications needed for 15 priority injury hazards that are the focus of this project based on the literature, availability of prevention measures, and the preliminary studies; they include: scalds, falls, fires, crush/cut/pierce injuries, poisonings, and strangulation.

This project represents the next step in the CHASE project through which the following objectives will be met: Objective 1. Implement injury prevention measures based on safety hazards identified using the CHASE Tool within 300 low-income households (at or below 80% AMI) in Baltimore City or Baltimore County; Objective 2. Determine the costs of the injury prevention measures completed by residents and/or professional providers; Objective 3. Conduct a formative evaluation using mixed methods to 3a. determine feasibility of incorporating injury prevention into residential programs from the perspective of installers and residents, including identifying barriers and facilitators, and 3b. understand the consistency of implementing and maintaining the injury prevention measures across referral sources, by residents and staff.

The Implementation study will be conducted in five phases including the following. Phase 1: Community Engagement. Phase 2: The Enrollment Phase including an initial home visit and assessment for injury risks, CHASE Family Feedback Form creation and education including guidance about needed modifications. Phase 3: Re-Assessment Phase which includes a second home visit to assess change, perform modifications when needed, and survey to understand barriers and facilitators. Phase 4: Follow-Up to measure sustainability of modifications and obtain feedback on the program. Phase 5: Evaluation and Dissemination of results.

The study will enroll a sample of N=300 homes of low-income families with children < 7 years of age who are referred from two of GHHI's currently active programs, Department of Social Services (DSS) Foster Care Homes Program (FCHP, n=200 homes) and Amerigroup Maryland Asthma Program (AMAP, n=100 homes), which are Medicaid eligible children referred from Amerigroup-Maryland into GHHI's asthma home-visiting program.

In addition to completing the three objectives, a user-friendly CHASE Home Safety Modifications Tool Kit and online training module for utilization by other programs working in homes with children will be created and disseminated, thus expanding the potential impact of the present work and HUD's to other housing service providers and beneficiaries nationally.

Conditions

Accident Injury; Home Injury

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Participants

This arm consists of 300 homes of low-income families with children \< 7 years of age who are referred from two of GHHI's currently active programs, DSS Foster Care Homes Program, and Amerigroup Maryland Asthma Program.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Housing Assessment/Safety Modifications

Intervention Type: OTHER

A GHHI Assessor will complete three home visits to assess home injury hazards and provide a scope of work that includes home modifications that directly address each of the identified home injury hazards. The Assessor will also provide do-it-yourself education materials and injury prevention supplies to assist them in completing the modifications.

Interventions

Housing Assessment/Safety Modifications

A GHHI Assessor will complete three home visits to assess home injury hazards and provide a scope of work that includes home modifications that directly address each of the identified home injury hazards. The Assessor will also provide do-it-yourself education materials and injury prevention supplies to assist them in completing the modifications.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Households with at least one child under 7 years of age, or foster care families planning to host a child under 7
• The child under 7 years of age lives with the parent or legal guardian most of the time
• Income at or below 80% AMI as defined by US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• A home address in Baltimore City or Baltimore County

Exclusion Criteria

• Parent or guardian whose household is participating is not in either the GHHI DSS Foster Care Homes Program (FCHP) OR GHHI Amerigroup Maryland Asthma Program (AMAP)
• Household does not have at least one child under 7 years of age, or foster care families are not planning to host a child under 7
• The child under 7 years of age does not live with the parent or legal guardian most of the time
• Income is not at or below 80% AMI as defined by HUD
• The home address is not in Baltimore City or Baltimore County

• Maximum Eligible Age: 7 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Green and Healthy Homes Initiative

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

US Department of Housing and Urban Development

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Wendy Shields, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy

Locations

Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research & Policy

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

IRB00018899

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

MDHHU0059-20

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id