Sapsatree Santaweesuk. Effectiveness of injury and illness prevention program among farmers at Ongkharak District Nakhon Nayok Province Thailand. Doctoral Degree(Public Health). Chulalongkorn University. Office of Academic Resources. : Chulalongkorn University, 2013.
Effectiveness of injury and illness prevention program among farmers at Ongkharak District Nakhon Nayok Province Thailand
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of an injury and illness prevention program on safety and health among rice farmers in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand. This was a quasi-experimental study. Multistage sampling was employed. Intervention group was randomly selected out of 62 rice farmers and another 55 rice farmers served as the control group. A structured face-to-face interview questionnaire was administered to participants.The two-week intervention program consisted of four elements including 1) health education 2) safety inspection 3) safety communication and 4) health surveillance. Data were collected at baseline and four months after the intervention (follow-up). The evaluation of program by measuring risk perception, safety behavior, potential risk, injury and illness, and number of days lost. For numeric data, General linear model repeated measures ANOVA (GLM) and Mixed Model were used to quantify and test the statistical significance of the intervention effect for each type of score. For dichotomous data, the effect of intervention program was assessed from Generalized Linear Models. P-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Pesticide safety behaviors significantly increased in the intervention group, compared with the control group. Potential risk significantly decreased in the intervention group, compared with the control group. The intervention was also associated with reduction pesticide related-illnesses in prevalence of neuromuscular symptoms, and ergonomics related-illnesses, and with clear reductions in number of days lost due to equipment related-injuries, pesticide related-symptoms, and ergonomics related-illnesses. However, intervention program was negatively and significantly associated with equipment related-injuries. It is necessary to identify and develop further measures to improve safety and health. Some methods such as effective risk communication could be added to increase risk perception.