Farm Dinner Theater: Testing an innovative health and safety intervention among older farmers and their families

Purpose: The effectiveness of a novel intervention for increasing health and safety behaviors of older farmers was tested. Blending didactic and readers’ theater techniques, Farm Dinner Theater (FDT) engages farmers in discussions of health and safety in a nonthreatening social atmosphere supportive of potential changes. Methods: Through community collaborations, farmers 45 years and older were recruited in 8 communities for the FDT. For each site, 3 scripts were prepared highlighting health and safety issues especially relevant for older farmers. The brief plays were performed in a dinner theater format, with group discussion following each play. Printed educational packets (EPs) addressing the same topics were mailed to comparison groups of participants in 9 communities. In telephone interviews conducted 2 weeks and 2 months later, 870 participants (553 FDT and 317 EP) reported health and safety-related changes they had made in their farm operations. Findings: FDT participants were more likely than EP participants to report having made any changes and reported making more changes on both the 2-week and 2-month follow-up assessments. This outcome occurred when analyzing all farms and when considering only farms with at least 1 participant who spent 10 or more hours per week farming. Conclusions: FDT is a fun, relaxing intervention; it is acceptable to farming communities; and it is more effective in producing health and safety-related changes than the common approach of providing printed materials. FDT not only had a greater impact than EP, but it has the potential to reach larger audiences due to its greater appeal.