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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Sato Ashida, PhD¹, Jennifer Kmet, MPH¹, Katherine Renick¹, Catherine Heaney, PhD, MPH², and J. R. Wilkins III, BCE, DrPH¹. (1) School of Public Health, The Ohio State University, 320 W 10th Avenue, 320 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, 614-293-8255, kmet.5@osu.edu, (2) Psychology and Human Biology, Stanford University, Jordan Hall, Room 424, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305

Approximately 1.5 million children live or work on farms in the United States, where they are routinely exposed to agricultural hazards. According to NIOSH, the injury rate among farm youth was 1,270 per 100,000 in 2001, and the fatality rate was 9.3 per 100,000 between 1995 and 2000. Evidence shows that a lack of parental supervision is associated with higher injury rates among children. One way to reduce the number of agricultural injuries among children is to increase levels of parental supervision. Well-validated theories can significantly increase our understanding of the underlying factors associated with behaviors and help guide the development of interventions. Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) has been used in various settings to identify factors that influence how individuals respond to possible threats. According to PMT, levels of adult supervision might be increased if parents possess high levels of perceived susceptibility to severe injuries for their children, especially when accompanied by high levels of self-efficacy and response efficacy regarding the supervision behavior. This study explored the associations between the PMT constructs (susceptibility, severity, self-efficacy, response efficacy, and response cost) and levels of supervision provided. Data were obtained from 210 farm parents in central Ohio. Survey instruments consisted of questions on PMT constructs and other demographic control variables. Preliminary results show that higher levels of parental supervision were associated with higher perceived susceptibility to injury for their children and stronger beliefs in the benefits of providing supervision. Implications for the development of interventions to increase parental supervision will be discussed.

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