Lead Exposure Prevention

2006 - 2018

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My dissertation was an intervention targeting low-income families in an effort to reduce their children’s lead exposure and increase parental knowledge (Nicholson, 2018). This study introduced me to foundational issues in the prevention sciences such as implications of dosage and study design on intervention efficacy, the importance of a community-based research approach to ensure ecological validity and for participant buy-in, and the need to consider psychological variables that could influence an health promotion intervention. Early identification and immediate intervention is needed to reduce exposure in young children in order to minimize and/or prevent long-term consequences. In order to do this, it is critical that we have sensitive measures for detecting risk (Nicholson & Cleeton, 2015; Nicholson & James, 2017).

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TIE Lab Alums Who Assisted with this Research

Lauren James, Molli Cleeton

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Nicholson, J.S. (2018).

A community-based intervention for low-income families to reduce children’s blood lead levels between 3-9.9 µg/dL. Children’s Health Care, 47(4), pg. 379-396. doi. 10.1080/02739615.2017.1370673

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Nicholson, J.S., & James, L*. (2017).

Parental self-efficacy: The development of a measure to prevent children’s environmental contaminant exposure. Journal of Behavioral Health, 6(1), 36-42. doi. 10.5455/jbh.20160914121117

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Nicholson, J.S., & Cleeton, M.* (2016).

Sensitivity and specificity of pediatric lead screener questions for detecting lower levels of lead exposure and environmental risk. Clinical Pediatrics, 55(2), 129-136. doi. 10.1177/0009922815584944.