Residential indoor air quality interventions through a social‐ecological systems lens: A systematic review

Abstract

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important consideration for health and well-being as people spend most of their time indoors. Multi-disciplinary interest in IAQ is growing, resulting in more empirical research, especially in affordable housing settings, given disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations. Conceptually, there is little coherency among these case studies; they traverse diverse spatial scales, indoor and outdoor environments, and populations, making it difficult to implement research findings in any given setting. We employ a social-ecological systems (SES) framework to review and categorize existing interventions and other literature findings to elucidate relationships among spatially and otherwise diverse IAQ factors. This perspective is highly attentive to the role of agency, highlighting individual, household, and organizational behaviors and constraints in managing IAQ. When combined with scientific knowledge about the effectiveness of IAQ interventions, this approach favors actionable strategies for reducing the presence of indoor pollutants and personal exposures.

Monitoring summertime indoor overheating and pollutant risks and natural ventilation patterns of seniors in public housing

“…38,47 Additional activities such as cooking or lighting candles/incense combined with poor ventilation may play a part in the presence of PM. 41,92 With regard to the latter, this is due to high indoor HI levels, which is an intuitive finding, especially when considering the poor building envelopes and the absence of central A/C in these buildings.…”

“…38,47 Additional activities such as cooking or lighting candles/incense combined with poor ventilation may play a part in the presence of PM. 41,92 With regard to the latter, this is due to high indoor HI levels, which is an intuitive finding, especially when considering the poor building envelopes and the absence of central A/C in these buildings. Opening windows in common spaces (kitchen-living room) are associated with a reduction of indoor PM 2.5 concentration and an increase in indoor HI, so natural ventilation patterns in the two older sites might further contribute to the high HI levels.…”

Global magnitude and long‐term trend of ischemic heart disease burden attributed to household air pollution from solid fuels in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019

“…Multiple approaches should be adopted to reduce the burden of IHD attributed to HAP across the world, especially in low-to middle-SDI regions. 46 First, effective education should be taken to let the public fully understand the harmful effects of HAP on health. Second, poor people should be provided with affordable and pollution-free cooking fuels.…”

Biomass fuel use and birth weight among term births in Nigeria

“…However, scaling up interventions entails understanding the determinants of household cooking fuel use to strengthen the effectiveness of interventions, broaden coverage, and make adoption of cleaner fuels in the general population sustainable [46]. Actionable strategies for reducing the presence of indoor pollutants and personal exposures could be developed by combining scientific knowledge about the effectiveness of existing interventions and a social-ecological systems framework: synthesis of existing interventions and literature to elucidate relationships among spatially and otherwise diverse indoor air quality factors [47]. Specific policy instruments intended to reduce population-level exposure to indoor air pollution from burning biomass fuel include stove subsidy, fuel subsidy, fuel bans, and behavior change communication [48].…”