Sustained Work Indicators of Older Farmers

This prospective panel study will focus on the most rapidly aging workforce in the U.S.: the family fanner. This special population is known to suffer one of the highest rates of occupational injury and mortality. Fanners rarely retire from their vocation and work long past usual retirement age. A longitudinal design to track the sustained work patterns of aging fanners and to identify factors that influence their decision to remain in fann work will be used. The specific aims of this study are to: 1. Identify factors that influence the sustained work of older fanners. 2. Develop health profiles (including physical and mental indicators) of older male and female fanners. 3. Develop exposure profiles for tasks related to agricultural work of older fanners. 4. Explore the sociocultural, family and economic factors that influence the work practices and health of older fanners. The aims are congruent with the Healthy People 2010 objectives 20.1 and 20.2 to reduce fann worker fatalities and injuries. This study will enroll a partial sample from the Kentucky Fann Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Study (data collected 1994-1996) and their spouses (n=914) and an oversample of African American fanners and spouses (n=914), for a total of 1828 persons enrolled from Kentucky and South Carolina. Measures on sociocultural, health and behavioral, and work environment factors will be collected through six waves of mailed surveys over 50 months. Hierarchical regression analysis will provide a quantitative model of the sustained work of older fanners. Descriptive and predictive analyses will be conducted by gender and race. Focus groups of male fanners, fann women, and fann couples will address items not conducive to survey research. Attachment to fann life and the land, fann enterprise transfer, and the meaning of work will be explored in 18 focus group sessions. Findings from the study will be used to design occupational counseling appropriate to age, gender, and race, as well as health and safety programs for aging fanners.