Using a community-led intervention to reduce pesticide exposure in farmworker families: Translating research to practice

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers and families are exposed to pesticides through occupational and para-occupational pathways. Substantial progress has been made in understanding pesticide exposure, and in creating ways to help farmworkers make their work and home environments safer. Despite these efforts, there have been no large and carefully evaluated demonstration projects to place effective interventions in the public health sphere. This paper describes a pesticide safety demonstration project implemented by a university-community partnership and provides data on outcome analysis. The project is designed to translate an effective intervention to reduce pesticide exposure among families of Latino farmworkers to a broader public health context.

Six public health agencies were recruited by the community partner; each agency appointed a study liaison and up to two promotoras. A total of 600 women in farmworker families with a child ≤12 were recruited; promotoras administered six lessons in the home and recorded data for process evaluation. Evaluation pre- and post-tests were obtained by the university partner.

Over 90% of women were born in Mexico; median education completed was sixth grade. Following participation in the demonstration project, women demonstrated greater recognition of the dangers of pesticides and of pesticide properties. They also reported greater self-efficacy for keeping pesticides out of the home, and protecting themselves and children from exposure.

These results show that public health agencies can recruit and retain large numbers of farmworker women to provide pesticide safety education. The project resulted in substantial increases in knowledge and changes in attitudes toward pesticide safety.