Rachel Hale, MA, an Instructor in our department, recently secured a $20,000 feasibility grant from the Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention, and Education at the University of Texas at Tyler for their project, Assessing the health and climate change risk perceptions of small farmers through application of the Health Belief Model. The project will survey small farmers in Arkansas to collect information on their current health status and their beliefs and risk perceptions about how our changing climate may impact their health. Additionally, the survey will ask farmers about any regenerative agricultural practices they use on their farms.
Climate change is a pressing public health issue that threatens the overall health of small agricultural farmers. Small farmers are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change on their physical and emotional health. As our world continues to warm, farmers will face an increased risk of heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion, stroke, and cardiovascular issues, alongside work-related injuries and death. Small farmers are a unique population as they may have increased exposure and sensitivity to the effects of climate change on their health due to socioeconomic factors increasing their vulnerability.
Small farmers will have access to either an English or Spanish survey in three different ways: online, paper, or over the phone with a member of the research team. This survey will help us know where are we now, which is essential in furthering research and developing projects to reduce work-related illnesses and injuries and improving the overall well-being of small farmers in Arkansas.
In addition to the Health Belief Model, this project will use the Total Worker Health (TWH) Approach. TWH approach is defined as “policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness-prevention efforts to advance worker well-being.” The use of this approach aligns with this project’s target population, owners/co-owners of small farms, as a defining element of TWH is developing leadership commitment to occupational safety. In addition, the information gathered from the survey will be viewed from the lens of future interventions to “eliminate or reduce safety and health hazards and promote worker well-being,” with the worker being the small farmer. The survey is the starting point by capturing baseline data to be used in co-developing interventions with small farmers to improve their overall well-being and occupational safety. TWH provides a hierarchy of controls that provides different levels to incorporate in future interventions.
The goals of this project are: 1) To assess the current health status of small farmers in Arkansas and current adaptive agricultural practices; and 2) To assess a small farmer’s perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits of taking action, perceived barriers from taking action, cues to action, and self-efficacy in regard to climate change affecting their overall health.