Improving Eye Safety in Citrus Harvest Crews Through the Acceptance of Personal Protective Equipment, Community-Based Participatory Research, Social Marketing, and Community Health Workers

Abstract

For the last 10 years, the Partnership for Citrus Workers Health (PCWH) has been an evidence-based intervention program that promotes the adoption of protective eye safety equipment among Spanish-speaking farmworkers of Florida. At the root of this program is the systematic use of community-based preventive marketing (CBPM) and the training of community health workers (CHWs) among citrus harvester using popular education. CBPM is a model that combines the organizational system of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and the strategies of social marketing. This particular program relied on formative research data using a mixed-methods approach and a multilevel stakeholder analysis that allowed for rapid dissemination, effective increase of personal protective equipment (PPE) usage, and a subsequent impact on adoptive workers and companies. Focus groups, face-to-face interviews, surveys, participant observation, Greco-Latin square, and quasi-experimental tests were implemented. A 20-hour popular education training produced CHWs that translated results of the formative research to potential adopters and also provided first aid skills for eye injuries. Reduction of injuries is not limited to the use of safety glasses, but also to the adoption of timely intervention and regular eye hygiene. Limitations include adoption in only large companies, rapid decline of eye safety glasses without consistent intervention, technological limitations of glasses, and thorough cost-benefit analysis.

Effectiveness of occupational safety and health training for migrant farmworkers: a scoping review

“…It should be noticed that only few studies presenting specific training methods 41,47,52,53 reported some comparisons between experimental (i.e. trained with the new materials) and control groups; in addition, only one study 43 Secondly, the majority of reviewed training programs targeted SB while migrant farmworkers' SAB are less frequently considered.…”

“…lay health educators, community health workers, health promoters). Five pilot studies 39,[46][47][48]52 assessed the efficacy of a model combining community-based participatory research with peer to peer education. At the end of these programs, an increased use of PPE compared to baseline or control groups was observed in all studies.…”

“…SAB and HO were considered in 11 and 3 articles, respectively. However, two different ways of investigating training effectiveness have been detected: a) 9 cross-section studies 8,12,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35] investigated the effects of participation in any training program together with other factors, mainly sociodemographic characteristics and work history (Table 1); b) 20 mainly within-subjects experimental studies 10,28,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] , addressed the effectiveness of specific OSH training methods (Table 2). Results will be presented separately for the two different approaches to training effectiveness.…”

A Guide to the Design of Occupational Safety and Health Training for Immigrant, Latino/a Dairy Workers

“…It was conducted in partnership with various stakeholders (e.g., the Professional Dairy Producers of WI, the Mexican Consulate of St. Paul) who have extant knowledge of and experience with immigrant, Latino/a dairy workers. See Tovar-Aguilar et al (101) for an example of another program that utilized many of the best practices outlined in this review to promote eye safety among Latino/a citrus harvest workers.…”

Primary prevention of ocular injury in agricultural workers with safety eyewear

“…[ 5 17 ] We believe that its use will protect workers from work-related injuries and consequent morbidity. Studies evaluating safety eyewear usage in agriculture come mostly from the West,[ 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 ] but because of the different farming practices and sociocultural characteristics, their results cannot be directly extrapolated to the Indian scenario. We are not aware of any study evaluating the use of safety eyewear among Indian agricultural workers.…”