Promoting Workplace Health, Safety, and Well-Being Among Essential Agricultural Workers Through Vaccine-Preventable Infectious Diseases Training in the Rio Grande Valley.

Abstract

Introduction: Health, safety, and well-being training programs provide essential education on anticipating, identifying, and mitigating exposures like infectious diseases. Gaps in infectious diseases awareness and education became especially apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently were exacerbated by mis- and disinformation.

Methods: Vaccine-preventable infectious diseases training (influenza, hepatitis A and B, and tetanus infections, including COVID-19) was developed, delivered, and evaluated among 1,043 farmworkers, bodega workers, and production management in the Rio Grande Valley using mobile-learning technologies. The Kirkpatrick Four-Level Training Evaluation Model was utilized to evaluate training satisfaction (Level 1), effectiveness (Level 2), and effect on behavior (Level 3).

Results: The mean score on the pretest before training was 67.8% (SD 17.5), and the mean score on the same test immediately after the video training was 77.2% (SD 17.9). A paired t-test revealed that knowledge improved significantly from pre- to post-training (p < .05). We observed a difference between mean pre- and post-test scores relative to the pooled standard deviation, resulting in an effect size estimate of 0.53 indicative of a medium learning effect.

Conclusion: There is no "silver bullet" for training migrating bodega and farmworkers. Our findings suggest that the utilization of m-learning techniques continues to be a successful mechanism for delivering health, safety, and well-being awareness training content to agricultural workers in remote and challenging work environments. There is a long overdue need for offline capable software with features that allow equitable access to training, even in remote farming regions.