Joanna Gaitens, MSN, MPH¹, Adrienne Ettinger, ScD, MPH², Rebecca Morley, MSPP¹, Pat McLaine, RN, MPH³, and Diane Zerbe, MS². (1) National Center for Healthy Housing, 10227 Wincopin Circle, Columbia, MA 21044, 410-992-0712, jgaitens@centerforhealthyhousing.org, (2) Health Policy & Management and Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Room 455, Baltimore, MD 21205, (3) The National Center for Lead-Safe Housing, 10227 Wincopin Circle, Suite 205, Columbia, MD 45267

Public health and housing practitioners seeking training and information about Healthy Homes are challenged because there is no central repository or resource. Instead, they face an abundance of information that is either targeted toward the general public, speculative, misleading or inaccurate. Moreover, resources directed toward health professionals often neglect the housing component while information for housing professionals tends to lack the public health perspective. The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) and its partners have significant expertise and success in training practitioners from local and state public health, housing and related organizations on a variety of “Healthy Homes” topics. NCHH sought to build on existing infrastructure and expertise by identifying existing curricula and training programs related to the Healthy Homes concept. A structured survey was disseminated to public health and housing practitioners with known trainings identified though the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Healthy Housing Initiative, the CDC-funded Academic Centers for Public Health Preparedness, the HRSA-funded Public Health Training Centers, and selected health, housing and community development organizations. This inventory exercise captured information on: course offerings, location, target audiences, and training medium, the content of the training programs, suitability for modification or adaptation, methods for assessing comprehension of Healthy Housing concepts and practices, and capacity for distance learning. The results of this research were used to document the information and training needs of our target audiences, as well as any barriers to participating in or using the training, and to aid in the development of a proposed curriculum.

Learning Objectives: