Citation

Vela Acosta MS, Chapman P, Bigelow PL, Kennedy C, Buchan RM. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2005; 47(3): 237-245.

Affiliation

Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Health Sciences Center RAHC Building, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA. msvela@utb.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ajim.20136

PMID

15712260

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Farmworkers in the US largely consist of young undocumented Hispanics with a median education of 6 years and limited English skills. The High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety bilingual pesticide risk reduction program, which complied with the Worker Protection Standard for migrant farmworkers was evaluated. METHODS: A pretest/posttest comparison of farmworkers (n = 152) assigned to either the experimental or control group was used. Independent variables included demographics, agricultural experience, and health locus of control. Dependent variables were pesticide knowledge, safety risk perception (SRP), and safety-behavior outcomes. RESULTS: The bilingual pesticide program effectively increased farmworker's pesticide knowledge (P = 0.0001), SRP (P = 0.0001), and two (out of four) behavior outcomes. Workers with external health locus of control were less likely to adopt safety behaviors (P = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The cognitive decision-making process whereby farmworkers' readiness to change and permanently adopt safety behaviors was supported by the pesticide program. Our results support the need for long-term sustained bilingual, intervention programs that demonstrated effectiveness using integrative methodology.