In this trial of children ages 6-12, children and their households will receive an intensive home kitchen ventilation intervention after one week of baseline data collection. The intervention includes education regarding improving ventilation in their homes during cooking and replacement of their range hood if it has inadequate flow or an intolerable noise level. During baseline data collection periods the households will be encouraged to continue their regular cooking patterns. The investigators will measure home particulate matter <2.5 microns (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels for one week at baseline, and a final week after all remaining families receive the cooking ventilation intervention, to assess for changes within each household. The investigators will also examine changes in airways inflammation (as measured by the exhaled fraction of nitric oxide, FeNO), lung function (as measured by spirometry), and reported symptoms after the baseline and intervention period. Members of the research team have successfully conducted youth participatory action research in the low-income, high asthma prevalence community of Richmond, California (CA) as well as extensive youth participatory action research on other environmental health concerns in the low income city of Salinas, CA; using a similar model, the investigators aim to teach research methods to a new group of Richmond youth.
The investigators propose a pilot trial of kitchen ventilation in the homes of children using a youth engaged research strategy.