Ponce-González Ileana María, Arias Griselda, Diaz Elmer, Parchman Michael L
Community Health Worker Coalition for Migrants and Refugees, Edmonds, WA, USA.
Office of Environmental Public Health Sciences, Environmental Public Health Division, Washington State Department of Health, Olympia, WA, USA.
Health Serv Res Manag Epidemiol. 2024 Aug 7;11:23333928241271961. doi: 10.1177/23333928241271961. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
It is difficult to reach migrant or refugee agricultural workers about pesticide exposure prevention. Here, we describe a community health worker (CHW)-led pesticide exposure prevention workshop and the impact of this program among migrant and refugee workers in Washington state.
A focus group of migrants and refugees participated in the development of a CHW-led Spanish language pesticide exposure prevention mobile phone app and workshop. Pre- and post-workshop surveys assessed pesticide training, knowledge, and characteristics.
Community health workers facilitated 28 workshops attended by 263 participants from 49 agricultural communities. Approximately 79% of participants reported no prior pesticide training. Significant improvements were observed in the proportion familiar with illnesses associated with pesticides, knowledge about pesticide definition, ability to correctly identify the content of pesticide labels, and the correct method to wash fruits and vegetables.
Community health workers are effective in addressing the gaps in pesticide safety education and awareness among migrant and refugee communities. Further work is needed to assess how to better integrate a mobile phone app into this training and subsequent use of the knowledge.
向流动或难民农业工人宣传预防农药接触知识存在困难。在此，我们描述了一个由社区卫生工作者（CHW）主导的预防农药接触工作坊以及该项目对华盛顿州流动和难民工人的影响。
一个由流动人员和难民组成的焦点小组参与了由CHW主导的西班牙语预防农药接触手机应用程序和工作坊的开发。工作坊前后的调查评估了农药培训、知识和特征。
社区卫生工作者举办了28场工作坊，来自49个农业社区的263名参与者参加。约79%的参与者报告称之前未接受过农药培训。在熟悉与农药相关疾病的比例、农药定义知识、正确识别农药标签内容的能力以及清洗水果和蔬菜的正确方法方面，均观察到显著改善。
社区卫生工作者在解决流动和难民社区农药安全教育与意识方面的差距方面很有效。需要进一步开展工作，以评估如何更好地将手机应用程序融入该培训以及后续的知识运用中。
