Citation

Kaprelian J, Berg RL, Barnes KL, Marlenga B. J. Agromed. 2017; 22(4): 416-419.

Affiliation

d National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, National Farm Medicine Center , Marshfield Clinic Research Institute , Marshfield , Wisconsin.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1059924X.2017.1354114

PMID

28704168

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Childhood agricultural injuries are an important public health problem. Pediatricians are a trusted source of expertise in children's health and safety and could serve as a sphere of influence to augment child agricultural injury prevention efforts. The purpose of this pilot study was to begin to explore the perspectives of pediatricians in a large rural health clinic about addressing child agricultural injury prevention within their practice.

METHODS: Structured interviews were conducted with nine pediatricians who maintain a clinical practice of at least 2 days a week and care for newborns through adolescents. Detailed interviewer notes were reviewed and summarized.

RESULTS: Rural pediatricians readily acknowledge substantial numbers of farm children in their practice. In general, these providers: 1) recognize farming environments as a safety risk and see agricultural injury prevention as an important topic to be addressed with their patients; 2) are comfortable discussing the topic, but seldom actually initiate such conversations; and 3) doubt farm parents would be receptive to integrating agricultural injury prevention into a rural pediatric practice.

CONCLUSION: While rural pediatricians recognize child safety risks in farm environments, they are reluctant to actually initiate this conversation with parents. Future research should explore both pediatricians' hesitancy to discuss agricultural injury prevention, as well as farm parents' readiness for integrating the topic into pediatric primary care visits, to assess the viability of pediatricians as a sphere of influence for augmenting child agricultural injury prevention efforts.

Language: en

Keywords

Child agricultural injury; farm environment safety/risk; rural pediatrics; socio-ecological model; sphere of influence