Aplicación de la teoría de aprendizaje en el entrenamiento acerca de seguridad y salud para trabajadores inmigrantes en las lecherías.

Resumen Con el propósito de prevenir lesiones y enfermedades ocupacionales, diseñamos un currículo de seguridad y salud para trabajadores inmigrantes en la industria lechera para aumentar el conocimiento, fomentar prácticas de seguridad, y reducir inequidades en la comunicación. El currículo se basa principalmente en la Taxonomía para el Aprendizaje Significativo-TAS ( Taxonomy of Significant Learning) e incorpora teorías de la conducta y de aprendizaje para adultos, así como también los principios de control de riesgos ocupacionales. Los entrenamientos se implementaron con 836 trabajadores de habla hispana de 67 lecherías en el estado de Wisconsin, en los Estados Unidos. El 67% de los trabajadores reportaron nunca haber recibido entrenamiento acerca de la seguridad en las lecherías, el 65% reportó haber trabajado en lecherías durante 5 años o menos, y el 26% de los trabajadores reportaron haber sufrido alguna lesión mientras trabajaban en la lechería. La evaluación cuantitativa y cualitativa de los entrenamientos sugiere que nuestro currículo efectivamente aumentó el conocimiento y fomentó la contemplación de prácticas de seguridad de los trabajadores. El aumento del conocimiento en general del 25% es estadísticamente significativo (p < .01). Los trabajadores recordaron al menos un concepto clave del contenido, expresaron sentirse confiados en adoptar al menos una conducta de seguridad, y mencionaron su intención de comunicar sus preocupaciones de seguridad a sus jefes en la lechería. De acuerdo a nuestro conocimiento, esta es la primera vez que se aplica la TAS en la educación acerca de seguridad y salud ocupacional. Este currículo puede ayudar a los productores en la industria lechera a cumplir con el entrenamiento anual de los trabajadores requerido por la Administración de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional de los E. U. ( Occupational Safety and Health Administration-OSHA), ofreciendo este entrenamiento básico en seguridad y salud a sus trabajadores durante su etapa inicial de empleo.

Applying Learning Theory to Safety and Health Training for Hispanic Immigrant Dairy Workers.

We designed a safety and health curriculum for dairy immigrant workers aiming to increase knowledge, encourage safe behavior, and reduce worker communication inequalities to prevent occupational injury and diseases. The design is largely based on the Taxonomy of Significant Learning and incorporated behavioral and adult learning theories and principles of occupational hazard control. Trainings were implemented with 836 Spanish-speaking workers from 67 farms in Wisconsin. Sixty-seven percent of workers reported never being trained before in dairy safety, 65% of these worked in dairy for 5 or fewers years, and 26% of workers reported being ever injured while working on dairy. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the trainings suggest that our curriculum successfully increased worker knowledge and promoted contemplation of safe practices. The overall knowledge gain of 25% was statistically significant ( p < .01). Workers recalled at least one key concept, expressed confidence of adopting at least one safety behavior, and mentioned their intention to communicate safety concerns to farmers. To our knowledge, this is the first Taxonomy of Significant Learning application to occupational safety and health education. Our curriculum can support dairy farmers' compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration's annual training requirements by providing our basic safety and health training to workers at early job stages.

Immigrant dairy workers' perceptions of health and safety on the farm in America's Heartland.

BACKGROUND: Dairy farming is dangerous. Yearly, farms grow fewer and larger by employing immigrant workers, who have limited industrial agriculture experience and safety and health training. METHODS: We examined results of five focus groups with 37 Hispanic, immigrant dairy workers. Analysis followed a grounded theory approach and employed ATLAS.ti. RESULTS: Reported injury experience affirmed the hazardous nature of dairy. Some workers received appropriate worker compensation benefits, whereas others were instructed to deny work-relatedness. Some employers covered medical injury costs out-of-pocket, whereas others did not. Cows were a major injury source. Pressure to work and weather were noted as injury risk factors. Worker compensation was poorly understood, and immigration status and fear of deportation influenced injury and hazard reporting. CONCLUSION: Injury management practices range from benevolent to threatening. Workers compensation is poorly understood and undocumented status is an occupational hazard. We underscore the need for further research and immigration policy change.

The use of audience response system technology with limited-english-proficiency, low-literacy, and vulnerable populations.

Audience response systems (ARS) have long been used to improve the interactivity of educational activities. Most studies of ARS have addressed education of literate trainees. How well these devices work with low-literacy subjects is not well studied. Information gathering on the training audience is an important use of ARS and helpful in improving the targeting of training information. However, obtaining demographic information from vulnerable populations with reasons to be concerned about divulging information about themselves has not been tested. In addition, a culturally competent method to effectively collect demographic and evaluation data of this growing population is essential. This project investigated the use of ARS to gather information from Hispanic immigrant workers, many of whom are socially vulnerable and have limited English proficiency (LEP) and low-literacy. Workers attended focus groups and were asked to use ARS devices or clickers to respond to questions. Questions were both categorical (multiple choice) and open-ended numerical (text entry), and varied from simple queries to more sensitive points regarding immigration. Most workers answered the one-key response categorical questions with little difficulty. In contrast, some participants struggled when responding to numerical questions, especially when the response required pressing multiple clicker keys. An overwhelming majority of participants reported that the clickers were comfortable and easy to use despite the challenges presented by the more complex responses. The error rate increased as question complexity increased and the trend across three ordered categories of response complexity reached statistical significance. Results suggest that ARS is a viable method for gathering dichotomous or higher-order categorical information from LEP and low-literacy populations in a group setting while assuring anonymity. However, it is recommended that clickers be developed and tested with fewer, bigger, and more widely separated buttons, and less printing on the buttons for these populations. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of using clickers with simplified configurations in the workplace as a tool to collect data for surveys and assessments and to better engage LEP and low-literacy workers in training sessions.