Journal of Agromedicine最新文献

Objectives: Farming is an occupation with high levels of occupational stress. The objective of this study was to explore psychological job demand, decision authority, and social support at work in Norwegian farmers compared to other occupational groups.

Methods: Data from the fourth wave of the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4) was used, in which participants were registered with their main occupation, and items from the Swedish Demand-Control-Support (DCS) Questionnaire were included to measure self-reported psychosocial work environment. Each DCS dimension was dichotomized into high and low scores. Four job types were created by combining high and low scores of demand and decision authority (active, passive, low and high strain). Logistic regression analyses were used to explore associations between occupational groups and the three DCS dimensions, as well as job type.

Results: Of the 20,268 participants in our sample, 800 were farmers. A small proportion of farmers had a combination of high demands and low decision authority (2.3%). Overall, farmers stood out from the other manual occupational groups with high levels of demand and decision authority. Compared with other main occupational groups, farmers were most similar to managers in terms of having an active job (OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.66-0.94) and a high strain job (OR 0.95; 95% CI 0.57-1.74).

Conclusion: Although having a demanding occupation, the high decision authority experienced by most farmers prevents them from being in the high strain job category. Despite socioeconomic differences, farmers are more similar to managers than they are to other blue-collar workers with regards to psychosocial work environment.

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a toolkit based in applied economic analysis to provide net impact values in dollar terms for direct and indirect benefits minus costs associated with a policy or intervention. CBA can include valuations of lives saved and of lives preserved via fatality and injury avoidance. The application of conceptually correct CBA to agricultural health and safety to date is limited. This article reviews how economic "shadow prices" can be used to estimate costs and benefits of interventions adjusted for farmwork populations relative to a "do nothing" status quo. The article provides a generalizable framework for future analyses of specific interventions, as well as background on tangible valuation methodologies that could contribute to impact analyses and funding requests highlighting the importance of farm health and safety.

Background: Occupational exposure to pesticides in rice cultivation poses health risks, exacerbated by factors contributing to the improper use of pesticides. One significant factor is the limited literacy skills of farmers, hindering their ability to read and comprehend pesticide labels. Research in this area is limited by the lack of an acceptable method for measuring pesticide labeling literacy.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess pesticide labeling literacy in Thai rice farmers.

Method: The scale development involved identifying components and dimensions of pesticide labeling, formulating question items, and designing the scale based on literature reviews and expert interviews. The content validity of items was evaluated by experts using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR). After the pilot test, the difficulty, discrimination index, reliability and construct validity of the scale were examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was evaluated on 400 rice farmers.

Results: The pesticide labeling literacy scale was structured into five components: Access, Understanding, Awareness, Analysis, and Application. The CVI and CVR results fell within the acceptable range, confirming content validity. After refining the questionnaire based on the pilot test, a 40-item scale was derived, with items exhibiting suitable difficulty indices (0.28-0.76) and discrimination indices (0.20-0.70). The overall pesticide labeling literacy scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.896 The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated that the scale was suitable for factor analysis. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) demonstrated that the model aligned well with the empirical data and exhibited acceptable fit indices for the proposed model. The final version of the scale comprised 35 questionnaire items.

Conclusion: The 35-item questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing pesticide labeling literacy among Thai rice farmers. It encompassed five components: Access, Understanding, Awareness, Analysis, and Application This innovative scale has the potential to serve as an effective tool for evaluating the level of pesticide labeling literacy among Thai rice farmers.

Objectives: Agricultural health and safety educators, including community health workers and Extension agents, represent an important community of practice, connecting agricultural workers (i.e. migrant and seasonal farmworkers) to health information and care. We sought to identify and evaluate existing education resources available to educators for use in health education and outreach with farmworkers.

Methods: This study used a systemized search process to identify health education materials in English and Spanish used in the United States. Two independent coders coded each material for its understandability and actionability using the Patient Educational Material Assessment Tool (PEMAT). We report descriptive statistics by type of material, topic, and publication date of the material.

Results: We identified farmworker health education materials (n = 602) from across the United States. The average understandability score was 86%, and the average actionability score was 76%. Materials were most commonly print material in the format of handouts, brochures, and posters. Some topic areas (e.g. musculoskeletal injuries) had considerably more resources than others (e.g. green tobacco).

Conclusion: This research represents the first, to our knowledge, comprehensive assessment of health education materials for education and outreach to agricultural workers. While the average scores for understandability and actionability were high among materials, there is room to build a stronger set of resources in some topic areas and to modernize materials for electronic delivery. Using PEMAT tools can help the Extension and community health worker communities of practice improve the quality of materials they share with agricultural workers.

Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility and effect of an Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) Ag Safety Education mail-out program to secondary school-based agricultural education programs. The following aims were addressed: a) develop an IVR Ag Safety game, b) implement a mail-out program for the Rollover Ranch Ag Safety game, and c) evaluate the effectiveness and engagement of an IVR Ag safety program.

Methods: We enrolled 44 schools. Participants were invited to complete a pre- and post-knowledge assessment, and students and faculty evaluations of the experience.

Results: Statistical analysis was completed using an independent t-test. The Pre scores (n = 423) had a Mean = 72.2% (S.D. = 15.2) and Post scores (n = 174) had a Mean = 79.8% (S.D. = 17.2) Post test scores were significantly higher than pre-test scores t (595) = 5.36, p < .001, d = 0.48. The test questions were then divided into subsets of Tractor Safety, ATV Safety, and Electrical Safety, and all subset scores showed statistically significant increases. The students scored highest on ATV safety, Pre score mean = 89.1% (S.D. = 17.3) and post score mean = 93.1% (S.D. = 15.7). Tractor Safety Scores had a pretest Mean = 71.2 (S.D. 22.7) and a post-test score mean = 78.3 (S.D. = 23.4). The lowest performing questions were on electrical safety with a pre-test mean = 40.6% (S.D. = 37) and a post-test mean = 57.2% (S.D. = 40.8). The students' evaluations reported the game was entertaining (85.63%) and increased their understanding of Ag Safety (63.8%). Most students (79.64%) wanted to continue to use IVR. The majority of faculty (77%) indicated that IVR assisted in teaching, and 92% indicated they would want to continue using IVR as a teaching modality.

Conclusion: IVR can be delivered to serve all geographical areas, allowing dissemination throughout a rural state. Students learned and were engaged; faculty found it easy to use and both would desire to use it again. Further research is needed, including long-term follow-up on retained knowledge and, more importantly, if it translates into appropriate behavior when operating agricultural equipment and electrical safety.

Objectives: Given outlooks for farm succession, it is important to understand how planning impacts farmer health and how to equip individuals facilitating succession. This research explored perceptions of stress during succession planning, the perceived challenges, and professional needs to better support clients' mental health.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with agricultural advisors (n = 12). Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Researchers applied inductive thematic analysis, using concept coding as the first-round method before engaging in code mapping and axial coding to finalize categories and determine prominent themes for each research question.

Results: A shared set of stressors was identified. While technical stressors were recognized, emotional stressors were most prominent. Though research was not limited to family farms, family business systems were emphasized as having specific impacts on succession. Additionally, advisors recognized relational conflict, lack of communication, and navigating uncertainty as some factors contributing to stress. Advisors noted masked stressors such as identity confusion, guilt, and a lost sense of purpose can pose significant threats to farmers' mental health. Many felt competent in identifying potential signs of distress but expressed a need for additional mental health-related training.

Conclusions: Continued education and the creation of a streamlined professional network and resource directory are needed to improve information sharing and programming for advisors helping farmers and farm families navigate conflict and life changes.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate a measurement tool that provides a model-based assessment of health beliefs affecting individuals' safe pesticide use behaviors.

Methods: This study employed a methodological design. The study sample consisted of 701 agricultural workers engaged in pesticide-related work in a district in southern Türkiye. Data were collected using a sociodemographic form and the 42-item draft version of the Health Belief Model Scale for Safe Pesticide Use Behaviors (HeBSaPUB). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to determine construct validity. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency and test-retest correlation coefficients were calculated for reliability.

Results: The 39-item HeBSaPUB scale showed good psychometric properties in terms of reliability, content validity, and construct validity. In the EFA, a six-factor structure emerged, explaining 61.36% of the total variance in the measured variables: perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers, perceived severity, perceived benefits, cues to action, and self-efficacy. This structure was confirmed by CFA using a cross-validation approach. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.90 for the whole scale and ranged from 0.81 to 0.92 for the sub-dimensions. The test-retest reliability coefficient values of the scale were between 0.763 and 0.927. The items on the scale were not additive, and each sub-dimension was evaluated independently. An increase in the scores of perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit, perceived severity, cues to action, and self-efficacy, along with a decrease in the scores of perceived barriers, indicated positive health beliefs.

Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrated that the HeBSaPUB scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring attitudes and beliefs toward safe behaviors in preventing the risk of pesticide exposure. The HeBSaPUB scale can contribute to identifying needs for health professionals.

Objectives: Little is known about adolescent experiences of injury and adoption of safe or unsafe practices on farms, despite adolescents being at-risk of fatal and non-fatal injuries in the farm setting. To enhance understanding and inform the co-design of farm safety educational materials for teens, we aimed to explore farm injury experiences, safety practices, and educational preferences for secondary school students and their teachers.

Methods: Nine focus groups of mixed gender students (year 7 and 8) and five one-on-one teacher interviews were conducted at three high schools teaching agriculture in rural Australia, across the states of New South Wales and Tasmania. Inductive thematic analysis of session transcripts was undertaken.

Results: Five overarching themes emerged: "safety is not always front of mind"; "farm injuries are commonplace and downplayed"; "learning opportunities"; "school has a role"; and "teach me, but make it realistic and fun". Students indicated injuries were inevitable, and widespread unsafe practices occurred. Farm safety information was received from parents or while on the job, although in some cases parents encouraged unsafe behaviors. Curriculum linked materials are important, yet teachers also saw the value in covering additional material outside of mandated content, as it is often relevant to students' real-life experiences on farms. Students expressed interest in game-based learning on this topic but were adamant it needed to be fun and realistic.

Conclusion: Farm injury is preventable, and opportunities exist to educate adolescents about farm injury prevention via fun and engaging materials delivered at school. Insights from students and teachers around preferred educational design and content have informed the development of the "Calm Your Farm" (www.calmfarm.education) online gamified educational resource and may also be helpful to others working to influence farm safety practices among a typically difficult to engage age group.

The purpose of this study is to present the development of an intergroup dialogue curriculum for faith leaders and behavioral health providers to expand rural behavioral health care systems. The Clergy Outreach and Professional Engagement model and intergroup dialogue technique formed the basis of the curriculum. A discussion of the adaptation of an intergroup dialogue intervention developed for use in rural communities is presented. The curriculum was designed to build trust and familiarity among trusted faith leaders, behavioral health providers, and Extension agents to expand the system of care for vulnerable farming populations. Challenges and opportunities regarding the implementation of the intergroup dialogue intervention are explored. Assessing the feasibility of scaling this approach up to other communities has the potential to improve the network providing behavioral health care in rural communities.

Objective: Interest in wearable passive back-supports (exoskeletons/suits) has grown rapidly as a tool to reduce the risk of low back injury by reducing lumbar extensor muscle loading. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of passive back-support exoskeleton/suit at reducing low back muscle activity/fatigue in a variety of tasks, but it is unclear whether an exoskeleton/exosuit intervention would be effective in agricultural harvesting tasks that require complex three-dimensional dynamic motions, long duration stooped postures, and variable engagement of the lower extremities. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a passive lumbar support exosuit on muscle fatigue and comfort/mobility during a simulated harvesting task in a controlled laboratory setting.

Methods: Sixteen participants were asked to perform a continuous work task that simulated a 3-min bout of harvesting from a bush crop. Participants harvested at a rate of 1 unit per 2 s and were permitted to assume any effective harvesting position except a full kneeling posture. Test contractions and subjective assessments were performed before and after each 3-min bout of a simulated harvesting task to allow for an assessment of the 1) changes in objective measures of erector spinae muscle fatigue development (both time domain and frequency domain measures of muscle fatigue) and 2) subjective measures of physical fatigue, and 3) exosuit comfort and mobility constraints.

Results: The exosuit significantly mitigated the increases in EMG amplitude in the time domain (p = .015; Cohen's d = 0.46) indicating a mitigation of muscle fatigue, but there was no significant exosuit effect on median frequency (p = .145) or perceived fatigue in the low back (p = .289). In addition, the exosuit use was associated with significant increases in perceived movement restriction (p < .001; d = 0.82) which were also manifested in terms of significant effects of the exosuit on the magnitude of the 90^th percentile of the trunk flexion (p = .027, d = 0.29).

Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated moderate muscle fatigue reduction effects at the cost of a negative impact on objective and subjective measures of trunk motion restrictions and comfort.