Pesticide exposure is an occupational health hazard for seasonal and migrant farmworkers. The US-EPA Worker Protection Standard (WPS) mandates farmworker training programs to prevent or reduce exposure. Their implementation in a local context requires understanding individual, workplace, and community environmental factors that lead to exposure and influence the effectiveness of a particular intervention. PACE (Preventing Agricultural Chemical Exposure among North Carolina Farmworkers) is a community-based partnership among the North Carolina Farmworkers' Project, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Its goal is to develop culturally appropriate educational materials to reduce farmworker pesticide exposure. PACE used the PRECEDE-PROCEED planning framework to design a WPS training program for farmworkers in North Carolina cucumber and tobacco production. Participatory research with farmworkers, farmers, health care providers, and Cooperative Extension agents identified modifiable behaviors and environmental factors. Data were gathered and analyzed through individual and group interviews, community forums, and an advisory board. These data helped identify relevant individual, interpersonal, and community level behavior change theories to guide the intervention. The intervention's dominant features are: focus on key health behaviors, relevance to local conditions, and attention to issues of control in the workplace. Three activities are included: direct training with farmworkers in residential sites, recruitment and training of field safety promoters, and follow-up visits to promoters. PRECEDE-PROCEED is an effective framework for designing a health intervention where diverse social, cultural, political, and regulatory issues affect farmworkers' risk of exposure.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Pesticide Exposure, Community-Based Partnership
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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.