Refinement and Enhancement of Agricultural Safety Curricula for Children (REACCH)

  • Reed, Deborah (PI)
  • McCrary, Nancy (CoI)

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

The purpose of this nested case-control, community trial is to design and test the efficacy of an enhanced method of farm safety instruction in farm safety days (previously known as day camps). This trial uses the findings from two completed NIOSH-funded ROl independent evaluation studies of farm safety day camps to maximize the positive effects of the instruction and strengthen the instructional preparation, delivery, and outcomes. A repeated measure design will be used in this community participatory research. The trial is led by the principal investigators of the evaluation studies in partnership with the Progressive Agriculture Foundation and its community volunteers. Eight communities that hold annual farm safety days for children in the local school systems, grades 4-5, will participate. The design is balanced, with 200 children in each block (total N =800), to be enrolled. Data will consist of pre- and post-tests for children, telephone surveys of children and their parents at 6 and 12 months, instructional evaluation of volunteer instructors in selected topical areas, and a critical examination by an expert panel and community participants of the instructional package that is produced through this research. We hypothesize (1) that instructors will demonstrate more appropriate instructional messages and delivery style through the application of the enhanced program; (2) that children who participate in enhanced safety days will demonstrate greater knowledge, attitude and behavior changes than children who do not receive enhanced intervention; (3) that children who receive instructional "boosters" will demonstrate greater knowledge retention than those who do not receive boosters; and (4) that parents of children who participate in the enhanced intervention will report more safety changes in the targeted areas of instruction than parents of children who do not receive the enhanced intervention. This community trial will assist in strengthening the positive effects of an existing intervention that has been accepted in local communities throughout North America. This research has the potential to improve the health and safety of the 1.8 million children who live on, work on, or visit farms in the United States by increasing children's (and parents') knowledge about injury and illness risks on farms and positively influencing their attitudes and behaviors about these risks. The injury rate to these children may be reduced through their exposure to well designed and tested community-based, developmentally appropriate interventions that are grounded in local values.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date8/1/077/31/12

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