Community Collaborations for Farmworker Health in New York and Maine: Process Analysis of Two Successful Interventions

Abstract

). Reprints can be ordered at http://www. ajph.org by clicking on the ''Reprints/Eprints'' link.This brief was accepted June 9, 2009. ContributorsJ. Samples, S. Ventura, V. Sanchez, and N. Shadbeh provided expertise on farmworker communities in Oregon and helped develop research instruments, interpret data, and write the article. E. A. Bergstad analyzed and interpreted the data and contributed to article writing and editing. S. A. Farquhar facilitated development and implementation of research instruments and protocol, analyzed and interpreted data, and helped write the article. N. Shadbeh conceptualized the study and supervised all aspects of implementation and evaluation. AcknowledgmentsThis research was supported by a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grant R25-OH008334-01). This article's contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Human Participant ProtectionThe Portland State University institutional review board approved this study. 6. Farquhar S, Shadbeh N, Samples J, Ventura S, Goff N. Occupational conditions and well-being of indigenous farmworkers. Am J Public Health. 2008;98:1956-1959 7. Israel B, Schulz A, Parker E, Becker A. Review of community-based research: assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annu Rev Public Health. 1998;19:173-202 We conducted a process evaluation of 2 successful farmworker community-based participatory research intervention development projects (in Maine and New York State). Participant surveys measured satisfaction with the program process. We used qualitative methods to analyze free-text responses. Respondents indicated high satisfaction levels overall. The main concern was long-distance project coordination. Communitybased participatory research programs in which (1) Valley of New York, in collaboration with a farmworker service agency and a physician in each location. This initiative was jointly sponsored by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences; its goal was to establish community-based interventions that assisted populations that had traditionally suffered health disparities as a result of occupational or environmental conditions. The program model was based on hiring a local site coordinator, who then facilitated the recruitment and training of a local work team representing the agricultural community: farmworkers, farm owners, health care providers, and agricultural and community service agency representatives. ReferencesIn Maine, the coalition developed and successfully piloted an ergonomically enhanced blueberry-harvesting rake. In New York, the program targeted eye irritation caused by high levels of extremely fine dust present in the ''black dirt'' region, with an intervention consisting of eyewear, eyewash, and training. Both interventions were s...

Evaluation of a community‐based participatory farmworker eye health intervention in the “black dirt” region of New York State

“…During the summer of 2006, researchers implemented this intervention with a random selection of Orange County farms. While process evaluation results are presented elsewhere [Earle‐Richardson et al, ], the current analysis seeks to answer three questions related to the success of the intervention: (1) is the baseline prevalence of eye symptoms elevated (validating the choice of eye symptoms as a topic); (2) do farmworkers who use the intervention report fewer eye symptoms than control farmworkers at the end of 8 weeks; and (3) what subjective feedback do farmworkers provide about the intervention?…”