FS4JK farm safety day camps: Who learns the most?

Deborah B. Reed, Deborah T. Claunch, Mary Kay Rayens

Research output: Contribution to specialist publicationArticle

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Farm Safety 4 Just Kids uses daylong community-basedfarm safety day camps as a primary method to instruct children about the hazards in farm environments. This article describes children's knowledge aboutfarm safety before and after a day camp experience and assesses differences in knowledge gain by farm residency status and by gender as a result of their attendance at the camps. Data collection focused on three high-risk farm exposures: tractors, powered equipment, and large animals. A 32-item pre- and post-camp survey developed by the research team measured children's knowledge scores in these threefiocal areas. The sample consisted of 1,233 children, ranging-from 8 to 12 years of age. Mixed models were used to test for changes in knowledge over time and for differences by gender and by farm/nonfarm status of the child. The results were encouraging: both farm and nonfarm children increased their knowledge about farm injury risk. Overall, girls demonstrated greater knowledge than boys on both the pre- and post- tests. Based, on these findings, farm safety day camps appear to improve the knowledge of children about the injury risks associated with the farm environment. Refinements to the camp structure may foster greater knowledge gain of children attending the camps. While education of children about farm safety is not the sole answer to decreasing injury, it is a key component that should not be discounted.

Original languageEnglish
Pages5-17
Number of pages13
Volume15
No1
Specialist publicationJournal of Agricultural Safety and Health
StatePublished - 2009

Keywords

  • Children
  • Day camps
  • Farm
  • Safety

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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