Background Home visitation programmes by professionals have been proven effective at reducing certain injuries, yet there are limited data about the efficacy of the use of non-professionals in these programmes. The Injury Prevention Center (IPC) partnered with an established education-oriented home visitation programme, to include burn prevention messages, and evaluated its impact on two measurable prevention behaviors: smoke alarm (SA) prevalence and hot water temperature (H₂O temp).

Aims/Objectives/Purpose To measure the impact of the intervention on working SA prevalence and H₂O temp in Irving, TX.

Methods Home visitors provided literature and verbal educational messages about the importance of SAs and appropriate H₂O temp (ie, <120 F) to parents. Trained IPC staff assessed working SA status and tap H₂O temp in each intervention home initially and 2 months later.

Results/Outcome Ninety-six homes were included in analysis. Twelve (13%) had both optimal SA coverage and optimal H₂O temp. Of the remaining 84, 23 (27%) either acquired a SA or lowered H₂O temp by >5° on follow-up assessment. Of those who still lacked optimal SA or H₂O temp, 38 (62%) reported trying to make one of the changes. Participants reported that the most important factor for making a change was having an individual check the SA and H₂O temp.

Significance/Contribution to the Field Using non-professional educators to incorporate injury prevention messages into an existing home visitation programme may be an effective way to increase working SA prevalence and improving H₂O temp, especially if it includes physically checking the status of SAs and H₂O temp.