Alicia L. Salvatore, MPH¹, Jose Camacho², Ana Vargas³, Elvia Cabrera², Geri Kavanagh-Baird², Jesus Lopez⁴, Asa Bradman, PhD⁵, and Brenda Eskenazi, PhD⁵. (1) Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), UC Berkeley, School of Public Health, 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 600, Berkeley, CA 94720, (510) 642-8917, salvator@uclink.berkeley.edu, (2) CHAMACOS, 1441 Constitution Blvd., Salinas, CA 93906, (3) Natividad Medical Center, CHAMACOS, 1441 Constitution Blvd., Salinas, CA 93906, (4) California Rural Legal Assistance, 3 Williams Rd., Salinas, CA 93905, (5) Center for Children's Environmental Health Research, University of California, Berkeley, 2150 Shattuck Ave, Suite 600, Berkeley, CA 94720

There is mounting evidence that children are especially vulnerable to exposure to home and agricultural pesticides. Children of farmworkers may be exposed to higher levels of pesticides than other children due to their proximity to fields and potential take-home exposure from their parents and other household members. In order to help farmworker parents protect their families from the adverse health effects of take-home pesticide exposure, the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), a community-university partnership, developed a participatory education intervention for farmworker parents and household members. The intervention is a series of three home-visits with farmworkers parents and household members conducted by Environmental Health Promoters. Visits focus on developing farmworkers’ awareness of the potential effects of pesticides on children’s health, engaging participants in an active process of identifying and analyzing factors in their home and work environments that contribute to their children’s pesticide exposure, and developing home action plans to reduce exposures to children. This presentation will report on the development and implementation of this educational intervention with a cohort of Mexican farmworker families (N =120) and household members in the Salinas Valley of California. Aspects of the intervention, including the participation of the CHAMACOS Farmworker Council in the intervention development, evaluation methods, and qualitative data from focus groups and process evaluation measures will be presented. Specific methods and strategies for conducting culturally appropriate participatory education with farmworker parents, especially those focusing on children’s environmental health, will be offered.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

• Discuss the importance of reducing pesticide exposure in children;
• Name at least three participatory education activities appropriate for addressing pesticide exposure with farmworker parents;
• Understand the challenges and facilitating factors associated with conducting an educational intervention with farmworker families.

Keywords: Children's Health, Pesticide Exposure

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.