An Approach to Increasing Lead Poisoning Follow-Up Screening in an Urban Lower Income Population

摘要

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an approach to increasing utilization of a preventive health service, lead poisoning testing, by a high risk urban lower income population which is least likely to utilize such services. To accomplish this, lower income families with identified asymptomatic lead burdened children who were overdue for follow-up testing were selected for the study. After random assignment to experimental and control groups, all families completed a structured interview and experimental families received an educational presentation. The structured interview allowed assessment of a variety of knowledge and attitudinal variables believed related to utilization willingness. Actual follow-up test taking behavior was monitored to measure the impact of the educational intervention.