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A pilot study on the impact of a first-time central heating intervention on resident mental wellbeing

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Sharpe_2020_A_pilot_study_on_impact_IaBE_AAM.pdf (650.0Kb)
Date
01/12/2020
Author
Sharpe, Richard
Williams, Andrew James
Simpson, Ben
Finnegan, Gemma
Jones, Tim
Keywords
Fuel poverty
Energy efficiency
Health
Mental well-being
Community
RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
NDAS
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Abstract
Fuel poverty affects around 34% of European homes, representing a considerable burden to society and healthcare systems. This pilot study assesses the impact of an intervention to install a new first time central heating system in order to reduce fuel poverty on household satisfaction with indoor temperatures/environment, ability to pay bills and mental well-being. In Cornwall, 183 households received the intervention and a further 374 went onto a waiting list control. A post-intervention postal questionnaires and follow-up phone calls were undertaken (n = 557) to collect data on household demographics, resident satisfaction with indoor environment, finances and mental well-being (using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing scale). We compared responses between the waiting list control and intervention group to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. A total of 31% of participants responded, 83 from the waiting list control and 71 from the intervention group. The intervention group reported improvements in the indoor environment, finances and mental well-being. However, these benefits were not expressed by all participants, which may result from diverse resident behaviours, lifestyles and housing characteristics. Future policies need to consider whole house approaches alongside resident training and other behaviour change techniques that can account for complex interactions between behaviours and the built environment.
Citation
Sharpe , R , Williams , A J , Simpson , B , Finnegan , G & Jones , T 2020 , ' A pilot study on the impact of a first-time central heating intervention on resident mental wellbeing ' , Indoor and Built Environment , vol. OnlineFirst . https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X20975468
Publication
Indoor and Built Environment
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X20975468
ISSN
1420-326X
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X20975468
Description
Funding: This research was partially supported by the Cornwall Council Devolution Programme. The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) Flexible Eligibility pilot project studied was supported by funding from the Warm Homes Fund,SSE Energy Solutions, and Cornwall Council.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/21112

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