Premium
Development of a life events/icon calendar questionnaire to ascertain occupational histories and other characteristics of migrant farmworkers
Author(s) -
Zahm Shelia Hoar,
Colt Joanne S.,
Engel Lawrence S.,
Keifer Matthew C.,
Alvarado Andrew J.,
Burau Keith,
Butterfield Patricia,
Caldera Soledad,
Cooper Sharon P.,
Garcia Deliana,
Hanis Craig,
Hendrikson Edward,
Heyer Nicholas,
Hunt Linda M.,
Krauska Michelle,
MacNaughton Nancy,
McDonnell Cheryl J.,
Mills Paul K.,
Mull L. Diane,
Nordstrom David L.,
Outterson Beth,
Slesinger Doris P.,
Smith Mary Ann,
Stallones Lorann,
Stephens Claudia,
Sweeney Anne,
Sweitzer Kimberley,
Ver Sally W.,
Blair Aaron
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.1117
Subject(s) - medicine , icon , environmental health , occupational safety and health , work (physics) , occupational medicine , demography , gerontology , occupational exposure , engineering , mechanical engineering , pathology , sociology , computer science , programming language
Background Specialized methods are necessary to collect data from migrant farmworkers for epidemiologic research. Methods We developed a questionnaire that collected lifetime occupational histories and other lifestyle risk factors via a life events/icon calendar, and administered the questionnaire to a convenience sample of 162 migrant farmworkers in nine areas of the U.S. Results The average duration of the interviews was about 1 h 30 min, with an average of 45 min for the work history section. The occupational histories covered a median of 27.6 years per person for men and 20.8 years per person for women. The median number of years spent in farm jobs was 11.3 for men and 5.8 for women. The median number of farm jobs (crop/task combination) per person was 59 among men and 27 among women. Many farmworkers performed the same crop/task combinations at multiple times throughout their lives, yielding a median of 13 unique farm jobs and 8 unique crops among men and 7 jobs and 5 crops among women. Conclusions The project demonstrated that it is feasible to collect detailed work histories and other risk factor data from farmworkers, documented the complexity of work histories encountered among farmworkers, and yielded recommendations for refining a questionnaire that will facilitate future epidemiologic research on farmworkers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 40:490–501, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.