Journal of Agromedicine最新文献

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the working and health conditions faced by hookah divers in small-scale fisheries in the Midriff Islands Region of the Gulf of California, Mexico.

Methods: The study was conducted in five fishing communities. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 113 fishers (~15% of the commercial divers in the region). Non-probabilistic snowball sampling was used to identify participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics; a Chi-squared test was used to identify significant correlations.

Results: Most respondents (98%) were men (average age of 41 years), with an average of 17.6 years of commercial diving experience. Only 27% of the divers were certified scuba divers, and 40% had received some type of dive training. Notably, 64% of divers had some chronic illness, and 75% had suffered some type of diving-related injury. Marine animal bites were the most common type of injury. The majority of respondents (97%) fished without the proper permits, and 67% did not have access to social insurance. Lastly, 50% had suffered symptoms of decompression sickness.

Conclusion: The conditions surrounding the employment and health of hookah divers are extremely precarious in the Midriff Islands Region, as has been identified in other parts of the world. This study highlights the need to improve working conditions, implement appropriate training programs, and establish public policies that benefit the divers and the ecosystems upon which they depend.

Aquaculture is a significant sector in Brazil, ranking as the second-largest aquaculture producer in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Despite its importance, the industry poses various risks to workers' health and safety. This study investigates the diseases and injuries prevalent in Brazilian aquaculture through a survey of stakeholders. Through an online questionnaire distributed from March 2021 to April 2022, the study collected data on work-related illnesses and injuries in aquaculture. Among the 38 valid responses, the majority of injuries occurred among male workers aged between 21 and 35 years-old. Common injuries included falls, animal-related incidents, cuts, punctures, and electrical shocks. Notably, two fatalities were reported, emphasizing the importance of safety measures in aquaculture operations. The findings underscore the need for preventive measures and worker and farmer awareness initiatives to mitigate risks in aquaculture. Moreover, the study emphasizes the collective responsibility of employers, authorities, government agencies, and workers in ensuring a safe work environment in aquaculture.

Objective: Electrical hazards on farms are one of the occupational risks that contributes to farm injury and fatality. Whilst electricity accounts for a low number of farm injuries each year, it is disproportionately fatal. The aim of this study is to raise the awareness of electrical safety on farms by providing an overview of the literature that explores the evidence of farmers' perception of electrical risk. The review sought evidence of farmers' efforts to promote electrical safety awareness and uptake of electrocution prevention strategies.

Method: A rapid review was performed following the Cochrane Rapid Reviews Method Group and PRISMA guidelines, searching grey and peer-reviewed databases with criteria that included both farming and electrical risk. This resulted in 35 key articles of interest and five themes.

Results: The prevalent causes and contributing factors of electrical incidents and near misses on farms is not easily explained. Farmers overlook its presence as one of the hazards on farm, but at the same time the element of danger or threat of electrocution deters farmers from taking unnecessary risks. The data to profile farmers at risk of electrical injury is inadequate however the scope of risk is described through five themes: epidemiology, risk perception, exposure, intervention and prevention.

Conclusion: Due to the seriousness of electrical injury, intervention and prevention strategies need to specifically address electrical hazards rather than incorporate electricity as a risk into all of the hazards found on farms. The review recommends future work that engages with Australian farmers and farm workers to better understand their experience of electricity exposures, the risks they are willing to take around overhead powerlines, and their insights into how to make working on farms safer.

Objectives: Challenge coins have a history in the military as symbolic tokens of belonging and appreciation. Members of some agricultural communities have recently expressed interest in using a challenge coin as a caring support tool to improve mental health among farmers. The objective of this analysis is to clarify the meaning and use of a challenge coin as an upstream suicide prevention caring support tool in agricultural communities.

Methods: A systematic search was performed in Google Scholar, PsycInfo, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science, and PubMed following PRISMA guidelines, identifying literature available through October 2023. Thirty-five articles were included and analyzed using Rodger's Evolutionary Method for Concept Analysis.

Results: The attributes of challenge coins include its material presence (i.e. a medallion with official insignia) and its presentation as a recognition for contributions to society and signifying belonging to a group. The antecedents of the challenge coin were achievement, rank, or proficiency related to a role in public duty and membership in an occupational group facing unique challenges. The consequences were identified as improved morale and pride and fostering belongingness, connectedness, and community. These consequences can lead to the challenge coin serving as a cue for behavior change.

Discussion: This concept analysis provides additional understanding of a challenge coin when used as a caring support tool, particularly in agricultural communities. The challenge coin has historically been used in a military or first responder context, but it could be expanded to other service-oriented occupations such as farming.

Conclusion: Using a challenge coin for a mental health promotion intervention requires more community-based research to understand its efficacy in agricultural contexts. With the concept of a challenge coin clarified, a next step would be scientific efforts among mental health practitioners and industry leaders to support further development and testing of the challenge coin as a suicide prevention and caring support tool that fosters belongingness and appreciation within agriculture.

Objectives: Health and well-being have long been identified as key issues for investigation within agricultural communities. While myriad studies have been conducted to investigate causation, impact, outcomes and interventions among farming populations, the overall emphasis has been disproportionately weighted away from the experiences of women. This systematic scoping review determines the prevalence of topics, identifies the target populations and geographical locations of studies, outlines methodological approaches to the subject area, and summarizes the key findings and conclusions of the available literature.

Methods: With the guidance of the Arksey and O'Malley framework for conducting a scoping review, a single database search for publications focusing on the health and well-being of women in farming (including primary farmers, members of farm households, and farmworkers), in the Global North, published between 1990 and 2023, was conducted. Data were organized, thematically coded, critically appraised and analyzed using the systematic review online tool CADIMA.

Results: In total, 93 studies met the inclusion criteria for full review. The majority of studies were conducted in the United States, with the number of publications steadily increasing since the 1990s. Of studies, 68% were wholly quantitative in nature, and 23% wholly qualitative. Key findings suggest women are at particular risk from certain illnesses associated with some aspects of agricultural work and face a number of stressors (including gender-specific issues) that can lower well-being, but evidence is scarce in a number of areas. Clear gaps in research exist in relation to reproductive health, caring responsibilities, or help-seeking and support. Women primary farmer and farmworkers are particularly neglected as study cohorts.

Conclusion: Numbers of studies related to the health and well-being of women in farming are still relatively small in comparison with the wider body of related literature, and there exists an obvious need for further studies with a specific emphasis on particular cohorts, issues pertaining to the contemporary climate, and issues specific to women, as well as greater geographical reach. By emphasizing such research gaps, opportunities exist to improve the health and well-being situation of women in agriculture through more explicit studies with the intention of developing more effective, targeted solutions.

Background and objectives: Rubber tapping is a physically demanding and skilled agricultural operation that can cause musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This research investigated the impact of using an ergonomically modified rubber tapping knife on the hand posture of rubber tappers.

Methods: Initially, a postural assessment was conducted using CATIA V6 modelling software followed by a non-randomized longitudinal study with 32 rubber tappers. In the second phase, the study used a custom-modified Standard Nordic Questionnaire, video recordings, and direct observations. The study compared the results of the ergonomically modified rubber tapping knife with the traditional tapping knife, evaluating hand grip strength, endurance time chip thickness, time required to complete 300 trees, and posture using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) tool.

Results: Compared to pre-tapping values, the mean reduction in grip strength after tapping was significantly less with the modified rubber tapping knife than with the traditional tapping knife (2.96 kg, SD 0.85 kg vs 7.31 kg SD 2.13 kg). Similarly, the reduction in hand endurance time was less with the modified knife than with the traditional knife (1.78 seconds, SD 0.47 seconds vs 3.34 seconds, SD 0.87 seconds). The study also indicated that the modified knife did not significantly affect chip thickness. Additionally, a slight increasing in tapping time was observed with the ergonomically modified knife, which may be attributed to a learning curve phenomenon. This suggests that as rubber tappers become more accustomed to the new tool, their efficiency may improve over time.

Conclusion: The hand grip strength and endurance time was significantly lower with the ergonomically modified tapping knife. The study concluded that using an ergonomically modified tapping knife led to a significant improvement in hand posture among rubber tappers.

Objectives: This study examined the factors affecting the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) among US agriculture producers, specifically focusing on chemical, respiratory, and hearing protection. The primary goals were to identify demographic and farm-related factors linked to lower PPE usage and to explore the associations between PPE use and self-reported injuries or diseases in this occupational context.

Methods: We developed generalized multilevel multinomial logistic regressions for the agricultural safety and health survey data from 2018 and 2020. Our models aimed to explore associations between PPE use, covariates, and their impact on skin diseases, hearing loss, and respiratory diseases. The hierarchical structure of the data was accommodated by designating the survey year as the level-3 variable and the state of residence as the level-2 variable, further delineating the nested structure of the respondents. We proposed using Adaptive Quadrature methods to approximate marginal maximum likelihood function, along with Gauss-Hermite quadrature weights when estimating fixed-effects and random effects in the proposed models. Missing data in this hierarchical structure were addressed through a multiple imputation method.

Results: Our findings revealed older age is associated with lower PPE usage across all types. Males exhibited higher PPE use, particularly for chemical (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.47) and respiratory protection (OR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.18, 1.52). Producers on grain-only farms showed increased chemical PPE use (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.43) compared to those on livestock-only farms. Additionally, individuals spending 0%-24% of their worktime on the farm/ranch demonstrated lower PPE use than those who spent more time engaged in farm-related activities.

Conclusion: The study underscores the importance of addressing low PPE usage among agriculture producers. Interventions tailored to specific groups, such as female producers, livestock-only farms, older-aged producers, and part-time producers, can effectively improve PPE use. By identifying these high-risk groups, interventions can be better adapted and targeted to enhance the adoption of PPE, subsequently reducing the risk of health hazards in the agriculture sector.