CHILDHOOD AGRICULTURAL INJURY PREVENTION INITIATIVE

Work Guidelines: Evaluation of Dissemination Methods

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Childhood Agricultural Safety and Health Research
RFA 817

Abstract Research Grant Awarded in Fiscal Year 1998
October 26, 1998
(For 3 year grant)

Project Title: Work Guidelines: Evaluation of Dissemination Methods

Principal Investigator: Barbara L. Marlenga, Ph.D.

Affiliation: Marshfield Medical Research & Education Foundation

City & State: Marshfield, Wisconsin

Grant Number: 1 R01 CCR515576-01

Start & End Dates: 09/30/1998 - 09/29/2001

Abstract:

Many childhood agricultural injuries occur because children are involved in hazardous work activities that are beyond their physical and mental capabilities. The North American Guidelines for Children’s Agricultural Tasks are being developed to assist parents and others in assigning appropriate and safe tasks for children 7 to 16 years who are living and/or working on farms across North America. The purpose of the proposed "Work Guidelines: Evaluation of Dissemination Methods," is to assess which, if any, interventions will influence parents to use/apply these new guidelines as intended. The Stages of Change Model will serve as a framework to assess parents’ use of work guidelines. Specifically, this study will compare the efficacy of the standard dissemination strategy with an enhanced, multi-phased, dissemination approach in influencing parents’ knowledge, and use/application of child development principles and work guidelines in assigning their children to jobs on the farm. A multi-site (Wisconsin, California, Ontario, Canada) randomized control trial will be used. A random sample of farms will be selected from master lists obtained from the state/provincial agricultural service and eligible farms will be randomly assigned to a control (standard dissemination) or experimental group (multi-phased dissemination). Baseline data will be collected on both groups via a telephone interview prior to the intervention. Three months after the completion of the intervention (multiphased activities including video, personalized information, and two telephone calls to answer questions), a telephone interview will take place with the experimental group. Fifteen months post-intervention, a telephone interview will be conducted with both the experimental and control groups. Data from telephone interviews will be analyzed to assess differences between the groups. The perceived effectiveness of the various components of the enhanced intervention will also be analyzed. Further, during the second year of the project, focus groups will be conducted with minority farmers in California and two other sites to collect qualitative data necessary to design interventions specific to these special populations.