Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Community Health
Published in: Journal of Community Health 5/2013

01-10-2013 | Original Paper

Using GIS to Evaluate a Fire Safety Program in North Carolina

Authors: Thomas Dudley, Kathleen Creppage, Meghan Shanahan, Scott Proescholdbell

Published in: Journal of Community Health | Issue 5/2013

Login to get access

Abstract

Evaluating program impact is a critical aspect of public health. Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a novel way to evaluate programs which try to reduce residential fire injuries and deaths. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the application of GIS within the evaluation of a smoke alarm installation program in North Carolina. This approach incorporates national fire incident data which, when linked with program data, provides a clear depiction of the 10 years impact of the Get Alarmed, NC! program and estimates the number of potential lives saved. We overlapped Get Alarmed, NC! program installation data with national information on fires using GIS to identify homes that experienced a fire after an alarm was installed and calculated potential lives saved based on program documentation and average housing occupancy. We found that using GIS was an efficient and quick way to match addresses from two distinct sources. From this approach we estimated that between 221 and 384 residents were potentially saved due to alarms installed in their homes by Get Alarmed, NC!. Compared with other program evaluations that require intensive and costly participant telephone surveys and/or in-person interviews, the GIS approach is inexpensive, quick, and can easily analyze large disparate datasets. In addition, it can be used to help target the areas most at risk from the onset. These benefits suggest that by incorporating previously unutilized data, the GIS approach has the potential for broader applications within public health program evaluation.
Literature
1.
Jackson, M., Wilson, J., Akoto, J., Dixon, S., Jacobs, D. E., & Ballesteros, M. F. (2010). Evaluation of fire safety programs that use 10-year smoke alarms. Journal of Community Health, 35, 543–548.PubMedCrossRef
2.
Ahrens, M. (2012). U.S. Home structural fires (pp. 1–5). Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association, Fire Analysis and Research Division.
3.
Ahrens, M. (2004). U.S. Experience with smoke alarms and other fire alarms. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association.
4.
Harvey, P. A., Aitken, M., Ryan, G. W., et al. (2004). Strategies to increase smoke alarm use in high-risk households. Journal of Community Health, 29, 375–385.PubMedCrossRef
5.
Warda, L. J., & Ballesteros, M. F. (2007). Interventions to prevent residential fire injury. In L. S. Doll, S. E. Bonzo, J. A. Mercy, & D. A. Sleet (Eds.), Handbook of injury and violence prevention (pp. 97–115). New York, NY: Springer.CrossRef
6.
Douglas, M. R., Mallonee, S., & Istre, G. (1998). Comparison of community based smoke detector distribution methods in an urban community. Injury Prevention, 4, 28–32.PubMedCrossRef
7.
Shults, R. A., Sacks, J. J., Briske, L. A., et al. (1998). Evaluation of three smoke detector programs. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 15, 165–171.PubMedCrossRef
8.
Mallonee, S. (2000). Evaluating injury prevention programs: The Oklahoma City smoke alarm project. The Future of Children, 10, 164–174.PubMedCrossRef
9.
Mallonee, S., Istre, G. R., Rosenburg, M., et al. (1996). Surveillance and prevention of residential-fire injuries. New England Journal of Medicine, 335, 27–31.PubMedCrossRef
10.
Ta, V. M., Frattaroli, S., Bergen, G., & Gielen, A. C. (2006). Evaluated community fire safety interventions in the United States: A review of current literature. Journal of Community Health, 31, 176–197.PubMedCrossRef
11.
Nykiforuk, C. I. J., & Flaman, L. M. (2011). Geographic information systems (GIS) for health promotion and public Health: A review. Health Promotion Practice, 12, 63–73.PubMedCrossRef
12.
Renger, R., Cimetta, A., Pettygrove, S., & Rogan, S. (2002). Geographic information systems (GIS) as an evaluation tool. American Journal of Evaluation, 23, 469–479.
13.
Farmer, M. C., Lipscomb, C. A., & McCarthy, P. S. (2005). How alcohol-related crashes of different severity interrelate and respond to local spatial characteristics: An evaluation of a common site sales ban on alcohol and gasoline. Annals of Regional Science, 39, 185–201.CrossRef
14.
Waring, S., Zakos-Feliberti, A., Wood, R., Stone, M., Padgett, P., & Arafat, R. (2005). The utility of geographic information systems (GIS) in rapid epidemiological assessments following weather-related disasters: Methodological issues based on tropical storm allison experience. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 208, 109–116.PubMedCrossRef
15.
Thompson, C. J., Jones, A. R., Davis, M. K., & Caplan, L. S. (2004). Do smoke alarms still function a year after installation? A follow-up of the get-alarmed campaign. Journal of Community Health, 29, 171–181.PubMedCrossRef
16.
Chen, L.-H., Gielen, A. C., & McDonald, E. M. (2003). Validity of self-reported home safety practices. Injury Prevention, 9, 73–75.PubMedCrossRef
17.
Stepnitz, R., Shields, W., McDonald, E., & Gielen, A. (2012). Validity of smoke alarm self-report measures and reasons for over-reporting. Injury Prevention, 18, 298–302.PubMedCrossRef
18.
Douglas, M. R., Mallonee, S., & Istre, G. (1999). Estimating the proportion of homes with functioning smoke alarms: A comparison of telephone survey and household survey results. American Journal of Public Health, 89, 1112–1114.PubMedCrossRef
19.
Booza, J. C., Bridge, P. D., Neale, A. V., & Schenk, M. (2010). Incorporating geographic information systems (GIS) into program evaluation: Lessons from a rural medicine initiative. Journal of American Board of Family Medicine, 23, 59–66.CrossRef
20.
Thammapalo, S., Meksawi, S., & Chongsuvivatwong, V. (2012). Effectiveness of space spraying on the transmission of Dengue/DHF in an urban area of Southern Thailand. Journal of Tropical Medicine, 2012:1–7. doi:10.​1155/​2012/​652564.
21.
North Carolina Office of the State Fire Marshall. Personal correspondence with Kim Williams, May 2012.
22.
ArcGIS 10 (2012). ESRI [ArcGIS 10.1]. Redlands, CA.
23.
ArcGIS 10 Online Address Locator. (2012). ESRI [ArcGIS 10.1]. Redlands, CA.
Metadata
Title
Using GIS to Evaluate a Fire Safety Program in North Carolina
Authors
Thomas Dudley
Kathleen Creppage
Meghan Shanahan
Scott Proescholdbell
Publication date
01-10-2013
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Community Health / Issue 5/2013
Print ISSN: 0094-5145
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3610
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-013-9705-x

Other articles of this Issue 5/2013

Journal of Community Health 5/2013 Go to the issue

OriginalPaper

Latent Tuberculosis Infection: Screening and Treatment in an Urban Setting

Original Paper

Human Papillomavirus-Mediated Cervical Cancer Awareness and Gardasil Vaccination: A Pilot Survey Among North Indian Women

Original Paper

Sexual Risk Behavior and Symptoms of Historical Loss in American Indian Men

Original Paper

How You Screen is as Important as Whether You Screen: A Qualitative Analysis of Violence Screening Practices in Reproductive Health Clinics

Original Paper

Mobile Mammography in Underserved Populations: Analysis of Outcomes of 3,923 Women

Original Paper

Is Obesity Contagious by Way of Body Image? A Study on Japanese Female Students in the United States