Perinatal Environmental Health Education Intervention to Reduce Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors: The PREVED Project

Environmental health promotion interventions may reduce endocrine disruptor (ED) exposure. The PREVED (PREgnancy, preVention, Endocrine Disruptors) project was developed to improve knowledge, to enhance risk perception, and to change exposure behavior. Our objective was to present the phases of the PREVED project using the RE-AIM method. PREVED intervention consisted of three workshops during pregnancy. Reach, adoption, and implementation phases were assessed with qualitative studies. Efficacy study consisted of a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) on 268 pregnant women: (i) control group (leaflet), (ii) intervention group in neutral location, (iii) intervention group in contextualized location. The main outcome was the percentage evolution of participants who reported consuming canned food. Secondary outcomes were evolution of psycho-social scores, evolution of ED presence in urine, and ED presence in colostrum. The intervention adoption was centered on upper-privileged women, but implementation assessment showed that key features (highly practical intervention) seemed to be carried out and had initiated some behavior changes. A total of 268 pregnant women participated in the intervention and 230 in a randomized controlled trial (control group: 86 and intervention groups: 172). We found no significant differences in consumption of canned food and in percentage of women having a decrease of bisphenol A or parabens in urine, but we found a significant increase in the evolution of risk perception score and overall psychosocial score in intervention groups (respectively: +15.73 control versus +21.03 intervention, p = 0.003 and +12.39 versus +16.20, p = 0.02). We found a significant difference in percentage of women with butylparaben detection between control group and intervention groups (13% versus 3%, p = 0.03). PREVED intervention is the first intervention research dedicated to perinatal environmental health education in France. By sharing know-how/experience in a positive non-alarmist approach, it improved risk perception, which is key to behavior change, aiming to reduce perinatal ED exposure. Including women in precarious situations remains a major issue.

Impact of perinatal environmental health education intervention on exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy—PREVED study: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background The suspected or actual effects on health of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) and their ubiquitous presence in everyday life justify the implementation of health promotion interventions. These interventions should ideally be applied during critical windows like pregnancy. Perinatal environmental health education interventions may help to reduce EDC exposure during pregnancy. Methods/design PREVED (Pregnancy, PreVention, Endocrine Disruptors) is an open-label randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of environmental health education intervention on EDC exposure during pregnancy. Inclusion, consent, and randomization take place during the first trimester. The participants are randomly allocated into three groups: (i) control group (information leaflet on EDCs), (ii) intervention group in neutral location (information leaflet and workshops in a meeting room), and (iii) intervention group in contextualized location (information leaflet and workshops in a real apartment). Workshops are organized between the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Main outcome is the percentage of participants who reported consuming manufactured/industrial food. Secondary outcomes are as follows: (i) psycho-social dimensions, (ii) EDC concentrations in urine, (iii) EDC concentration in colostrum, and (iv) percentage of participants who reported consuming paraben-free personal care products. Discussion PREVED is a ground-breaking intervention research project dedicated to perinatal environmental health education that aims to identify pollutant sources in daily life and to offer accessible and realistic alternative solutions, by promoting the sharing of know-how and experience in a positive and non-alarmist approach. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03233984 (current status: ongoing). Retrospectively registered on 31 July 2017 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03233984) because when the first participant was enrolled in this non-drug intervention, ClinicalTrials.gov was centered in therapeutic trials. The World Health Organization Trial Registration Data Set is in Additional file 1.

Perinatal Environmental Health Education Intervention to Reduce Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors: The PREVED Project

BackgroundEnvironmental health promotion interventions may reduce endocrine disruptor (ED) exposure. PREVED (PREgnancy, preVention, Endocrine Disruptors) project was developed to improve knowledge, to enhance risk perception and to change exposure behavior. Our objective was to present the phases of PREVED project using the RE-AIM method.MethodsPREVED intervention consisted of 3 workshops during pregnancy. Reach, adoption, and implementation phases were assessed with qualitative studies. Efficacy study consisted of a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) on 268 pregnant women: i) control group (leaflet) ii) intervention group in neutral location iii) intervention group in contextualized location. The main outcome was the percentage evolution of participants who reported consuming canned food. Secondary outcomes were evolution of psycho-social scores, evolution of ED presence in urine and ED presence in colostrum. ResultsThe intervention adoption was centered on upper-privileged women, but implementation assessment showed that key features (highly practical intervention) seemed to be carried out and had initiated some behavior changes. A total of 268 pregnant women participated in the intervention and 230 on randomized controlled trial (control group: 86 and intervention groups: 172). We found no significant differences in consumption of canned food and in percentage of women having a decrease of bisphenol A or parabens in urine, but we found significant increase in the evolution of risk perception score and overall psychosocial score in intervention groups (respectively: +15.73 control versus +21.03 intervention, p=0.003 and +12.39 versus +16.20, p=0.02). We found a significant difference in percentage of women with butylparaben detection between control group and intervention groups (13% versus 3%, p=0.03). ConclusionPREVED intervention is the first intervention research dedicated to perinatal environmental health education in France. By sharing know-how/experience in a positive non-alarmist approach, it improved risk perception, which is a key to behavior change aiming to reduce perinatal ED exposure. Including women in precarious situations stay a major issue.Trial registration number: Retrospectively registered on 31 July 2017 (when the first participant was enrolled in this non-drug intervention, ClinicalTrials.gov was centered in therapeutic trials): NCT03233984 - URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03233984

Impact of perinatal environmental health education intervention on exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy - PREVED study: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background The suspected or actual effects on health of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC) and their ubiquitous presence in everyday life justify the implementation of health promotion interventions. These interventions should ideally apply during critical windows like pregnancy. Perinatal environmental health education interventions may help to reduce EDC exposure during pregnancy. Methods/Design PREVED (Pregnancy, PreVention, Endocrine Disruptors) is an open-label randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of environmental health education intervention on EDC exposure during pregnancy. Inclusion, consent and randomization take place during the first trimester. The participants are randomly allocated into three groups: i) control group (information leaflet on EDCs), ii) intervention group in neutral location (information leaflet and workshops in a meeting room) and iii) intervention group in contextualized location (information leaflet and workshops in a real apartment). Workshops are organized between the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Main outcome is the percentage of participants who reported consuming manufactured/industrial food. Secondary outcomes are: i) psycho-social dimensions ii) EDC concentrations in urine iii) EDC concentration in colostrum and iv) percentage of participants who reported consuming paraben-free personal care products. Discussion PREVED is a ground-breaking intervention research project dedicated to perinatal environmental health education that aims to identify pollutant sources in daily life and to offer accessible and realistic alternative solutions, by promoting the sharing of know-how and experience in a positive and non-alarmist approach. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03233984 (current status: ongoing). Retrospectively registered on 31 July 2017 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03233984) because when the first participant was enrolled in this non-drug intervention, ClinicalTrials.gov was centred in therapeutic trials. World Health Organization Trial Registration Data Set: Additional file 1

Environmental Health Education: From Museum Specimens and Math Word Problems to Virtual and Augmented Reality

Environmental degradation and its severe impact on human health has revealed the necessity for effective educational interventions. Given the importance of “Environment,” “Health,” and “Education,” as key pillars for the achievement of sustainable development, the education for environmental health is evolving into a main component of current strategies against environmental health threats, such as climate change and urban air pollution. Environmental Health Education, which must be considered as a strategical response against environmental degradation, offers vast capacity for innovation alongside every educational stage. For instance, the application of new technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality applications, the adoption of innovative interdisciplinary educational approaches, and the incorporation of Arts are evolving into a new era’s educational perspectives. All the new trends in formal, non-formal and informal Environmental Health Education should be captured and assessed, in favor of protecting both local and global natural environment, human and animal health, and promoting sustainability.