Warissara Sorat. The relationship between health belief, pesticide use and safety behaviors with acute poisoning symptoms of farmers, Chaiyaphum province . Master's Degree(Public Health Nursing). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2004.
The relationship between health belief, pesticide use and safety behaviors with acute poisoning symptoms of farmers, Chaiyaphum province
Abstract:
This study was a cross-sectional survey designed to determine health belief,
pesticide use behaviors, safety behaviors and acute pesticide poisoning symptoms
in farmers at Chaiyaphum Province. The Health Belief Model was applied to
design the conceptual framework. The data were collected from 338 farmers by
means of questionnaires during October and December 2003. They were analyzed
and presented by mean, percentage, Chi-Square Test and Pearson Product Moment
Correlation.
Using the Health Belief Model, the results of the study showed that the
majority of farmers had a moderate level of belief in the danger of pesticides and
their susceptibility to pesticides, and also a moderate belief in the benefits of and
barriers to taking action about pesticide use. However, their safety behavior was at
a low level. Acute pesticide poisoning symptoms mostly found were nervous
symptoms: headache and fainting; respiratory symptoms: runny nose and cough;
digestive symptoms: nausea vomiting; toxic allergic symptoms of skin: skin rash;
and toxic allergic symptoms with eyes: runny eyes / tearing. Poor use of pesticide
and low knowledge of proper pesticide use is related to poor health in farmers.
Where there were high perceptions of the existence of barriers to taking action in
safety behavior, there was correspondingly low safety behaviors (r= -0.176, p-value
<0.001). Pesticide usage such as frequency of pesticide use, duration of spraying,
concentration of pesticide use and method of pesticide use had a significant
relationship with acute pesticide poisoning symptoms.
Based on the finding of this study, it is suggested that the responsible
organizations should provide the knowledge on appropriate and safe use of
pesticide and develop an education program on using personal protective
equipment for farmers. Moreover, other methods for farmers to avoid using
pesticides should also be promoted