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RESEARCH ABSTRACT
This study describes agricultural workers' perceptions of environmental and occupational health issues. Interviews were conducted with 389 agricultural workers in the Yakima Valley of central Washington State in the summers of 2004 and 2005. Undergraduate students from the community conducted interviews in Spanish or English. Environmental and occupational health issues were ranked by frequency of concern, and differences by demographics were evaluated using multivariate analyses. In both 2004 and 2005, agricultural workers expressed high levels of concern about working in hot weather, agricultural injuries, pesticides, and pediatric asthma. Agricultural workers' perceptions of environmental and occupational health issues differed by specific demographics, particularly age and ethnicity. Consideration should be given to these issues when designing research studies, creating educational materials, and developing interventions related to environmental and occupational hazards among agricultural workers.
Multiple environmental and occupational health-related conditions, including musculoskeletal and traumatic injuries, respiratory conditions such as allergies and asthma, dermatitis, pesticide poisonings, heat-related illnesses, and mental health conditions (Fenske, Hidy, Morris, Harrington, & Keifer, 2002; Larson, 2001; Mines, Mullenax, & Saca, 2001; Villarejo, 2003), have been documented in agricultural worker populations. The disparate social position of agricultural workers compounds their occupational risks. According to the National Agricultural Worker Survey, 75% of agricultural workers are Mexican-born, 44% cannot speak English "at all," and only 13% have completed 12th grade. The average family income ranges from $15,000 to $17,499 and only 8% to 12% have health insurance as a benefit of employment (U.S. Department of Labor, 2005).
Washington State is one of the top 10 crop producers in the United States. Many labor-intensive crops (e.g., vegetables and tree fruits) are grown in the Yakima Valley, located in south central Washington. Consequently, a large population of migrant and seasonal agricultural workers work in this area. Yakima County is a particularly productive agricultural region; it accounts for nearly one quarter of the state's agricultural jobs (Washington State Employment Security, 2005). An estimated 52,476 migrant and seasonal farm workers are employed in Yakima County each year (Larson, 2000).
Literature Review
Recently published literature about farm workers' perceptions of occupational and environmental health stressors includes studies that report problems and protective practices related to general occupational health (Farquhar et al., 2008), vision (Quandt et al., 2008), hearing loss...