Communicating occupational and genetic risk factors research results to agricultural pesticide handlers in Washington State

In 2006, we began a study to evaluate occupational and genetic risk factors for cholinesterase (ChE) inhibition among organophosphate-exposed agricultural pesticide handlers in Washington State. Almost all study participants are Latino (>99%), and most were educated in Mexico (90.3%). Outreach efforts with individual test results have had limited success. We are currently planning and developing outreach strategies regarding preliminary study results.

Communicating PON1 status and its likely effect is a particularly sensitive and challenging issue for ethical and safety reasons. Language and cultural barriers and the limited formal education of most study participants make outreach challenging, particularly regarding individual sensitivity and the complex biology involved in OP metabolism. Although our study has shown a positive association between PON1 status and cholinesterase inhibition, the preliminary findings are not yet conclusive which makes communicating results to participants challenging.

Outreach methods have included: mailing letters or calling participants with results of genetic tests; follow-up interviews with handlers to assess their understanding of genetic risk factors; sharing occupational risk factor information with the authors of a best practices manual; and health education videos shown at the clinic. The researchers have used participant feedback to refine dissemination methods and communicate more effectively. The goal of this poster is to share methods that we found to be successful, unsuccessful or mixed, so that other researchers can learn from our models and more effectively communicate research results to their stakeholders.

Our study provides an important examination of the ethical and research implications of communicating preliminary results.