Parenting and Lead Mitigation at Home: A Multifaceted Community Partnership Model Promoting Parent Engagement in Lead Exposure Prevention

Abstract

Young children are at high risk of lead poisoning, which can damage early cognitive and behavioral development and have long-lasting impacts. Home environments are persistent sources of exposure for children in urban, low-income settings. Community–academic partnerships are essential for public health intervention strategies addressing residential household lead exposure, yet community organization staff and home visitors often experience strain and burnout. We describe Parenting and Lead Mitigation at Home, a multifaceted partnership project to (a) develop and implement a community-based, peer-delivered education program for parents of young children in neighborhoods at risk for home lead exposure and (b) support the home visitors delivering programming. We developed, delivered, and initially evaluated Lead 101, a lead-exposure prevention curriculum informed by the Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) model. The goals were to educate parents around lead exposure risks and empower parents to reduce their child’s risk. We developed a novel Reflective Practice pilot curriculum designed to provide emotional support to peer educators and community organization staff who delivered home-based programming. We trained 11 peer educators who delivered Lead 101 to 62 families. We pilot-tested the Reflective Practice curriculum with five community organization staff. The implementation process and pilot evaluation data suggest increased parent knowledge and self-efficacy regarding mitigation of home-based lead hazards, and high satisfaction with reflective practice. Using this model to develop multifaceted partnerships among universities, community-based organizations, and focal communities may facilitate community-engaged program development for families and systematic support for individuals working directly with families, thereby indirectly promoting child health and well-being.