Education, Health Disparities
Conditions
Keywords
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, Personal Care Products, Environmental Health Disparities
Brief summary
Every day, consumers use personal care products containing thousands of manmade chemicals. Growing evidence suggests that personal care products specifically marketed to Black women (e.g., hair straighteners and oils, skin lighteners) often contain potentially hazardous chemicals that can interfere with hormones or increase cancer risks. This research focuses on how the investigators can educate and activate community members in Newark, NJ to reduce disparities in exposures occurring through hair products. Leveraging educational clean beauty events hosted by collaborators at Clean Water Action, the investigators will administer surveys on hair product use and attitudes immediately before and after a clean beauty educational intervention. Participants will also complete surveys 3 months post-event to examine any changes in attitudes or behaviors around hair products and their use and safety.
Detailed description
The investigators will evaluate hair product perceptions, knowledge, and use among community members before and after an educational intervention. At the beginning of Clean Beauty events hosted by Clean Water Action, the investigators will collect survey data on hair product use as well as knowledge and perceptions around product safety from attendees. The investigators will administer a post-workshop survey to evaluate changes in knowledge and perceptions from pre- to post-workshop. Three months after the workshop, the investigators will distribute a follow-up survey to examine whether the intervention had sustained impacts on hair product perceptions, knowledge, or use.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALChemical Exposure Prevention
Education on potential toxic chemicals found within personal care products and safer alternatives during community-engaged clean beauty events.
Sponsors
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Attendees of clean beauty events hosted by Clean Water Action, age 18 and older
Exclusion criteria
* Not applicable
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The primary outcome is any intended changes in participants' hair routines from pre to post event | The outcome will be assessed immediately post-event (1-2 hours after baseline). | After the Clean Beauty intervention event, participants will be asked, "Based on what you learned today, do you think you will make any changes to your hair style, hair routine, or the products you use?" \[Answer choices: Yes/No/Not sure\] We will calculate the percentage of participants who plan to make a change in their hair routine. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Perceptions of hair product safety following the Clean Beauty intervention event. | Changes in perceptions around hair product safety will be evaluated 3 Months after baseline. | Our main secondary outcome is changes in perceptions around hair product safety from before the Clean Beauty intervention event to three months after the event. Prior to the event, at baseline, participants will be asked the extent to which they agree with the statement that "The hair products I use affect my health" (Answer choices: Strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree). The question will be repeated in a three month follow-up questionnaire. We will look at changes from baseline to the three month follow up. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOREmily Barrett, PhD
Rutgers School of Public Health
Outcome results
None listed