Un lugar seguro para sus ninos: development and evaluation of a pesticide education video

A Two-Pronged Educational Intervention for Caregivers to Prevent Residential Pesticide Exposure Among Thai Young Children Living in Agricultural Area

Background

Residential pesticide exposure can be harmful to the health of young children, particularly in agricultural areas. It is critical to educate their caregivers on pesticide exposure prevention. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a two-pronged education intervention for caregivers in preventing pesticide exposure among Thai young children living in agricultural areas.

Methods

This was an experimental study with 90 primary caregivers of young children aged 6 months to 5 years. Thirty caregivers each were assigned to one of three groups: booklet plus lecture intervention, only booklet intervention, and control. Caregivers in both interventions received a booklet that educated them on residential pesticide exposure and prevention. The caregivers in the booklet plus lecture group also attended a 2-hour lecture with the same content as the booklet. A questionnaire was developed to assess caregivers' knowledge, attitudes, intention, and behaviors regarding residential pesticide exposure and prevention in children. Face-to-face interviews were conducted at their homes three times: baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up (three weeks after the end of the intervention).

Results

Linear mixed models showed that, from baseline to post-intervention, the intervention effect on knowledge and attitude in both intervention groups, as well as intention in the booklet plus lecture group, was significant (p<0.05). From baseline to follow-up, the knowledge, attitude, intention, and behavior scores in both intervention groups increased significantly more than the control group (p<0.01). Only the attitude score increased more in the booklet plus lecture group than in the booklet group at post-intervention (p=0.009) and follow-up (p=0.003).

Conclusion

Both the booklet plus lecture method and the booklet method alone have a positive effect on improving the caregiver's knowledge and behaviors regarding pesticide exposure prevention at home. Thus, providing a booklet to caregivers to reduce children's risk of pesticide exposure is recommended.

The effectiveness of educational interventions aimed at agricultural workers' knowledge, behaviour, and risk perception for reducing the risk of pesticide exposure: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of educational interventions aimed at agricultural workers' knowledge, behaviour, and risk perception for reducing the risk of pesticide exposure.

METHOD

All studies published in the English language between the years 2000 and 2020 were screened on relevant databases. The study protocol was registered on PROSPERO. Randomised controlled studies (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria according to the PICOS criteria were included. In line with the PRISMA flow diagram, 38 studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane risk-of-bias assessment tool. A random-effects model was applied and Hedge's g was used to calculate effect size.

FINDINGS

Five of the included studies are RCTs, two are cluster RCTs, 17 are quasi-experimental studies with experimental and control groups, and 14 have single-group pretest-posttest study designs. Educational interventions had a large effect on knowledge level (Hedge's g = 0.890), a medium effect on behaviour level (Hedge's g = 0.707), and a small effect on risk perception (Hedge's g = 0.377). No publication bias was detected. The largest effect of educational interventions on both knowledge and behaviour levels belonged to studies grounded on a theoretical basis and carried out between the years 2011 and 2020.

CONCLUSION

It was determined that educational interventions are an appropriate method for reducing the pesticide exposure risks of agricultural workers. To increase the effectiveness of these interventions, it is recommended that consideration is given to a theoretical basis, the use of multiple education components, and evidence-based practices.

Psychometric Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess Perception and Knowledge About Exposure to Pesticides in Rural Schoolchildren of Maule, Chile

Exposure to pesticides during infancy is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. The assessment of knowledge and perception of pesticides exposure and risk among children has not been thoroughly studied. The aim of the study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a questionnaire that measures the knowledge and perception of exposure to organophosphate pesticides among rural schoolchildren. The questionnaire was administered to 151 schoolchildren between 9 and 13years from four Chilean rural schools. An internal consistency analysis of the ordinal alpha coefficient and a polychoric factor analysis for categorical data were used. The results show that the ordinal alpha was 0.95. Polychoric matrices of rotated components show the 17 questions summarized pesticide knowledge in five factors extracted after promax rotation. This factorial model explains 56.3% of the variance. The questions were grouped as follows: knowledge about pesticides (Factor 1); knowledge of health effects related to pesticides exposure (Factor 2); pesticide exposure through the growing of fruits and vegetables (Factor 3); perception and action against pesticides exposure at school (Factor 4); and perception and action against pesticides exposure at home (Factor 5). The questionnaire provides a useful tool for examining pesticide exposure in agricultural regions, allowing younger community members to participate.

Pilot of a Community Health Worker Video Intervention for Immigrant Day Laborers at Occupational Health Risk

Significance: Immigrant day laborers suffer from disproportionate occupational health risks from hazardous reconstruction jobs after natural disasters.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial of a short-video educational intervention to improve safety knowledge and intent to engage in safety preventive behaviors among 98 Hispanic day laborers (49 randomized to video and 49 control). The short video featured a male promotor and a female promotora who narrated 3 stories of day laborers who were injured while doing construction work in post-Katrina New Orleans. The main outcome measures were changes in scores for day laborer-reported safety knowledge and safety behaviors derived from interviewer-delivered baseline and post-intervention surveys.

Results: Video participants reported improvement in overall average safety knowledge score (mean score of 11.3 out of a max score of 12 or 94% when standardized to 0–100% scale), as compared to the control group (mean score of 8.6 or 72%) who were not offered the video (p < 0.00001). The intervention was highly successful in workers stating that they learned and were willing to change their safety preventive behaviors to reduce their occupational risk. The average safety behavior score was higher among those watching the video (17.2 out of a max of 22 or 78.1% when standardized on a scale 0–100%) as compared to control (14.5 or 65.9%) (p = 0.0024).

Conclusion: A short video intervention can improve knowledge and intent to engage in preventive behaviors among Hispanic workers for which there is a dearth of construction safety preventive research.

Effectiveness of interventions to promote pesticide safety and reduce pesticide exposure in agricultural health studies: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

There is a relationship between pesticide exposure and farmworkers' health. Well-conducted evaluations can provide an insight into how to develop and implement more effective interventions to prevent farmers and farmworkers' exposure to pesticides. This review aimed to summarize the literature on the effectiveness of interventions to promote pesticide safety and reduce pesticide exposure among farmers and farmworkers.

METHODS

A comprehensive search on PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, Agricola, NIOSHTIC, and Agris databases was performed to identify relevant studies published from 2000 to 2019. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies assessing the effectiveness of interventions on a variety of outcomes related to pesticide exposure were considered. The searches were restricted to articles written in English. The methodological quality of included reviews was appraised using the Effective Public Health Practice Project quality assessment tool (EPHPP).

RESULTS

The initial search led to 47912 records, 31 studies of which including nine RCTs and twenty-two quasi-experimental studies met the criteria. The majority of the included studies focused on the educational/ behavioral approach. The studies that applied this approach were effective in improving the participants' knowledge and attitude; however, these interventions were less effective in terms of making changes in participants' behaviors and their risk of exposure to toxic pesticides. Multifaceted interventions were moderately effective in terms of improving farmers' and farmworkers' behaviors and reduction in exposure to toxic pesticides. We did not find any studies that had evaluated the effectiveness of engineering/technological, and legislation/enforcement interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the majority of studies were based on an educational/behavioral approach and did not assess the effect of interventions on objective measures, the results of this review highlight the significant effectiveness of educational programs and some potential key elements of these interventions. These findings may inform policymakers to develop interventions to reduce pesticide exposure among farmers and farmworkers.

Tailoring Safety Training Material to Migrant Farmworkers: An Ergonomic User-Centred Approach

Lectures are the most commonly used training method but may not be effective in communicating safety information among migrant workers because of language and cultural barriers. The comprehension of safety information is particularly urgent in highly hazardous sectors such as agriculture, which has a high migrant workforce rate. In this study, an ergonomic user-centred approach was adopted to develop and evaluate safety training material targeting migrants employed on Italian farms. Focus groups with both trainers and migrants were carried out to collect information on critical issues in traditional training material, the most and least comprehended topics and suggestions for training improvement. Based on the focus group analysis, the training material was developed considering several visual factors and more engaging interaction between trainers and migrant trainees. The usability of the developed material was then evaluated in a group of 20 migrant farmworkers through a questionnaire assessing the knowledge of safety information before (T0) and after (T1) the training (effectiveness), perceived effort in learning (efficiency) and user satisfaction after training. The results showed improved knowledge, low perceived effort and high satisfaction, pointing to the positive effects of active user involvement when designing targeted training materials.

An educational intervention on the risk perception of pesticides exposure and organophosphate metabolites urinary concentrations in rural school children in Maule Region, Chile

BACKGROUND

Organophosphate (OP) pesticides can be hazardous to human health if not applied with appropriate precautions. There is evidence in the Maule region of Chile that rural schoolchildren are exposed to OP pesticides.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention on OP exposure and understanding of pesticides and their hazards (risk perception) in two school communities in the Maule Region of Chile during 2016.

METHOD

We conducted a quasi-experimental study about the effects on OP pesticide exposure of a community outreach and education program (COEP) administered in four 2-h sessions that's included hands-on activities among 48 schoolchildren from two rural schools. The intervention was directed to groups of parents and school-children separately, and aimed to educate them about the risks of exposure to pesticides and their effects on health. We measured 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPy), 2-isopropyl-4-methyl-6-hydroxypyrimidine (IMPY), malathion dicarboxylic acid (MDA), p-nitrophenol (PNP), specific urinary metabolites of the OP pesticides chlorpyrifos, diazinon, malathion and parathion, respectively, as well as the non-specific diethylakylphosphates (DEAPs) and dimethylalkylphosphates (DMAPs) in 192 urine samples of schoolchildren collected before and after the intervention. The risk perception of school children and their parents was also assessed through a questionnaire before and after the intervention. Generalized Estimated Equations were used to account for each child's repeated measures during four sessions, two in September 2016 (pre-intervention) and two in November 2016 (post-intervention).

RESULTS

The intervention level had significant effect on the risk perception of adults and children, which increased after the intervention. However, the intervention was not associated with reduced of urinary metabolites levels, with no significant differences between the pre and post measures. The detection frequencies were 1.1% (MDA), 71.4% (TCPy), 43.3% (IMPY), 98.96% (PNP), and 100% (DEAPs and DMAPs). Higher DEAPs urine concentrations were associated with eating more fruit at school (p = 0.03), a younger age (p = 0.03), and being male (p = 0.01). DMAPs showed no associations with potential predictor variables (e.g. OPs applied at home, fruit consumption at school, among others). Higher TCPy was associated with attending a school closer to farms (p = 0.04) and living in a home closer to farm fields (p = 0.01); higher PNP was marginally associated with children younger age (p = 0.035).

CONCLUSION

Environmental exposure to OP pesticides was unchanged even after behavior changes. It is possible that a longer time period is needed to observe changes in both behavior and urinary metabolites. The levels of DEP and DMP metabolites found here are above the reference population of the US, and our findings indicate exposure to a wide variety of OP pesticides. Given that individual-level interventions were not associated with lower exposures, efforts to reduce exposure must occur upstream and require stricter regulation and control of pesticide use by government agencies.

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

OBJECTIVES

Migrant farmworkers report higher rates of work-related illnesses, injuries and fatalities compared with local workers. Language and cultural barriers represent a relevant source of risk, which can be reduced by means of targeted training interventions. However, very little evidence is available about the effectiveness of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) training programmes addressing migrant farmworkers.

STUDY DESIGN

We carried out a scoping review.

METHODS

Currently available literature about the effectiveness of OSH training for migrant farmworkers-in terms of improvements in at least one of the following: safety knowledge, behaviours, attitudes and beliefs and health outcomes-was searched from four databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science. The screening was performed independently by two authors, and any disagreement was resolved through discussion until consensus was achieved. Once the articles eligible for inclusion were selected, the objectives, design, sample and setting, interventions and findings of each study were recorded. No quality assessment tool for publications considered by this study has been used because a scoping review does not aim for critical appraisal.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine publications met the inclusion criteria. Of these, nine cross-sectional studies discussed the effectiveness of training activities in terms of whether participating in any programme had or did not have a significant effect on the dependent variables, when training was considered along with other sociodemographic factors. In the majority of these studies, training appeared to have low or no effect on the dependent variables considered. Twenty mainly within-subject experimental studies addressed the effectiveness of specific training methods, reporting significant improvements especially for interventions based on a participatory approach.

CONCLUSIONS

Training could greatly contribute to an effective attainment of OSH information, but the present review shows that more evidence is needed to guide the future development of effective training activities.

Pesticide Exposure and Self Reported Home Hygiene: Practices in Agricultural Families

Little is known about environmental exposure to pesticides and the extent to which exposure is affected by drift from agricultural applications and take home exposure from agricultural workers. The study focused on 24 agricultural families in the northwestern United States and measured levels of organophosphate pesticides (OP) in house dust. Pesticide residues were significantly associated with the number of individuals in the home whose work included high exposure pesticide activities. Mean levels of pesticides were higher in the homes of workers who reported waiting more than 2 hours before changing out of their work clothes compared with homes where workers change within 2 hours after returning from work (p < .01). The results of this study provide evidence that workers can inadvertently carry agricultural chemicals from their work into their homes, thereby increasing the risk of pesticide exposure to other family members inside the home.

Hispanic Adolescent Farmworkers’ Perceptions Associated with Pesticide Exposure1

The migrant farmworker population in the United States is a vulnerable and understudied population whose characteristics are constantly shifting. The number of youth involved in agriculture work is increasing, and they, in particular, may be at increased risk for occupational hazards, such as pesticide exposure. The present study utilized an ecological framework for focus group discussions with 33 adolescent migrant farmworkers in Oregon. Adolescents’ risk perception and health beliefs associated with pesticide exposure are examined on four levels of environmental influence: microenvironment, organizational environment, social/community environment, and macroenvironment. Adolescents provided insight on such topics as perceived vulnerability of illness due to pesticide exposure, attitudes toward farmwork, influence of their boss, knowledge of occupational hazards, safety training, and barriers to occupational choice. Cultural influences on occupational safety and health are discussed and increased attention to safety training is recommended.

Effectiveness of cleaning practices in removing pesticides from home environments

The deposition of agricultural pesticides in the homes of agricultural workers and residents of agricultural communities is a major environmental health concern. The effectiveness of home cleaning activities in removing pesticides from home surfaces has not been tested. An intervention study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of cleaning windowsills, floors and carpets in a sample of 10 farmworker homes. Baseline measures of organophosphorus (OP) pesticide residues were obtained, a standardized cleaning intervention was applied and follow-up measures of pesticide residues were obtained within 24-48 hours after the cleaning and 12 months later. House dust was analyzed for six OP pesticides. All homes had detectable baseline levels of OP pesticides on floors and windowsills. Cleaning of linoleum floors was ineffective in removing total pesticide residues and cleaning effectiveness varied among the pesticides. The cleaning of total OP pesticides on the windowsills was effective (median decrease was 0.0029 microg/cm(2), 1-sided p-value = 0.01). Steam cleaning carpets essentially reduced the amounts to non-detectable levels. In 12 months the levels in carpets had accumulated to one-third of the baseline levels. These results provide evidence that cleaning practices can reduce the amount of pesticides in agricultural homes; however the type of surface being cleaned and the pesticides present in the home may influence results.

Organophosphate pesticide exposure and neurobehavioral performance in agricultural and non-agricultural Hispanic workers

Our understanding of the health risks of farmworkers exposed to pesticides in their work and home environments is rapidly increasing, although studies designed to examine the possible neurobehavioral effects of low-level chronic pesticide exposure are limited. We measured dialkyl phosphate urinary metabolite levels, collected environmental dust samples from a subset of homes, obtained information on work practices, and conducted neurobehavioral tests on a sample of farmworkers in Oregon. Significant correlations between urinary methyl metabolite levels and total methyl organophosphate (azinphos-methyl, phosmet, malathion) house dust levels were observed. We found the neurobehavioral performance of Hispanic immigrant farmworkers to be lower than that observed in a nonagricultural Hispanic immigrant population, and within the sample of agricultural workers there was a positive correlation between urinary organophosphate metabolite levels and poorer performance on some neurobehavioral tests. These findings add to an increasing body of evidence of the association between low levels of pesticide exposure and deficits in neurobehavioral performance.