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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Nargess Shadbeh, JD, Farmworker Program, Oregon Law Center, 921 SW Washington #516, Portland, OR 97205, (503) 473-8328, nshadbeh@yahoo.com, Stephanie Farquhar, PhD, School of Community Health, Portland State University, 450F Urban Center, 506 SW Mill Street, Portland, OR 97207-0751, and Julie Samples, JD, Indigenous Farmworker Project, Oregon Law Center, 230 W Hayes St., Woodburn, OR 97071.

A growing number of farmworkers in the United States are from indigenous communities in Mexico and Guatemala. These indigenous workers speak languages that are different than Spanish and have no common written form, and hold distinct cultural traditions not shared by Latino farmworkers, creating linguistic and cultural barriers. The Promoting the Occupational Health of Indigenous Farmworkers project, through a team of indigenous community educators, farmworker advocates, labor union representatives, academics and health care providers, is developing community based strategies to improve occupational health and safety and access to services for indigenous farmworkers. The Project's central aim is to promote the development of local leadership among indigenous farmworkers in determining priorities and implementing solutions. Project partner organizations hired indigenous speaking staff in key positions not only within their own entities, but also within the partnership coalition to enable indigenous communities to voice their concerns about workplace safety and health and the barriers they face in obtaining services. The indigenous speaking partners led the Project's efforts in conducting focus groups with mostly indigenous farmworkers, held a community forum to report back to the communities participating in the focus groups; and the partnership conducted a survey with indigenous and other farmworkers. The Project held interviews with indigenous leaders and Oregon service providers and has convened a Community Advisory Committee that remains active. During the next two years, this project will promote leadership among indigenous farmworkers using a promotores model, and will evaluate the effectiveness of the Project using follow-up surveys and interviews.

Learning Objectives:

• List four ways to effectively communicate with community members.
• Describe three components of a successful community/researcher partnership.
• Identify two methods used to evaluate the success and efficacy of a partnership.
• Identify three occupational health concerns of indigenous farmworkers.

Keywords: Partnerships, Community Involvement

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation