Relationship between home environment and healthy living

ABSTRACT

This study sought to identify issues rural, low-income mothers face within their housing conditions and implications for their health and well-being. In-depth interview data from 79 rural, low-income mothers across 11 states who participated in the multi-state USDA Hatch funded project, Rural Families Speak about Health (RFSH), were analyzed. A conceptual framework that incorporated both Morris and Winter’s theory of family housing adjustment and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s principles of healthy homes was used to organize the findings. Findings revealed that mothers faced multiple, interconnected housing deficiencies that have grave implications for their health and well-being. Implications for research and practice making connections between the condition of the physical home environment and people’s health. This study advances the literature in that it provides important insights into the physical housing conditions facing a growing, vulnerable population – low-income families across rural America, and implications for their health and well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Individual and family health
• physical home environment

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gina Peek

Gina Peek, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the College of Education, Health and Aviation and Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA.

Kimberly Greder

Kimberly Greder, Ph.D., is a professor in the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.

Ann Berry

Ann Berry, Ph.D., MBA, RFG, is a professor in the Institute of Agriculture Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.