Asthma Home Visiting Program

The San Francisco Department of Public Health's Asthma Home Visiting Program provides in-home assessment and education for high-risk individuals with asthma. Initially begun as a service for high-risk pediatric patients, the program expanded to include low-income, minority adults through an EPA grant to implement a Healthy Homes for Healthy Airways study. The program aims to reduce in-home asthma risk factors by conducting home visits and providing recommendations, education, and supplies for mitigating environmental triggers in the home and resources for other social services.

The Asthma Home Visiting Program aims to reduce asthma triggers present in the home.

Home visiting can help reduce asthma triggers in the home, decreasing symptoms, missed days of work or school, and emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Among pediatric patients, home visiting interventions reduced frequency of day/night symptoms, missed days of work/school by the caregiver and patient, and emergency room visits and hospitalizations compared to the baseline before the intervention.

Through the Healthy Homes for Healthy Airways study, 94 of 190 patients referred to the study received the first home visit, and 52 of those participants went on to receive the second home visit. On average, the 52 participants who received both home visits complied with 60% of the recommendations made by the home inspector. Patients who completed less than 60% of the recommendations made reported having less social support than those who completed more recommendations. In both groups, finances were a serious barrier to complying with recommendations.