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Citation
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Marquez D, Krenz JE, Chavez Santos E, Torres E, Palmández P, Sampson PD, Blancas M, Carmona J, Spector JT. J. Agromed. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: Farmworkers disproportionately experience preventable adverse health effects from heat exposure. We sought to evaluate the effect of participatory heat education on farmworker knowledge.
METHODS: We conducted a parallel, comparison group intervention study to investigate the effectiveness of a Spanish/English participatory heat education-based intervention on farmworker heat knowledge in Summer 2019. We used convenience sampling to recruit adult outdoor farmworkers from Central/Eastern Washington State, USA. Crews were randomized to receive the intervention (n=40 participants) versus not receive the intervention (n=43 participants). We assessed changes in heat knowledge, scored on a scale from 0 to 11, between baseline, immediately post-intervention, and post-season, which was approximately three months after baseline, using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. We compared differences in knowledge scores from baseline to post-season between groups using analysis of variance.
RESULTS: Average knowledge scores improved from 4.6 (standard deviation [sd] 1.5) to 6.3 (sd 2.0) pre to post season in the intervention group (p<0.001). There was greater improvement in pre-post knowledge scores in the intervention (average difference 1.6, sd 2.0) versus the comparison group (average difference 0.41, sd 1.7) (p=0.04).
CONCLUSIONS: Participatory heat training was effective in improving farmworker heat knowledge over the course of a summer season.
RESULTS of this study will be used to guide heat prevention efforts for farmworkers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Registration Number: NCT04234802.
Language: en |