UIC School of Public Health
2005 Sponsored Activities Annual Report

FACULTY PROFILE

Linda Forst, MD
Associate Professor
Environmental and Occupational
Health Science

Latino migrant and seasonal farmworkers, numbering 1.5-2.5 million in the U.S., are a vulnerable population due to work in agriculture, a particularly hazardous economic sector that is exempt from Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other protective standards. They have low educational attainment, speak little English, generally get paid by the piece rather than by the hour, make low wages with no benefits, live in unstable housing, and are usually undocumented.

Community advocacy groups in Illinois, Michigan, and Florida independently decided to address eye injuries in Latino farmworkers because occupational eye injuries are frequent, result in considerable morbidity, and have simple intervention options that are easy to evaluate. 

From 1999 to 2006, I have been principal and co-investigator on a series of projects designed to address this problem. In collaboration with three migrant service organizations, four universities (plus UIC), 35 family farmers and eight corporate farmers, and covering over 2000 farmworkers, a series of projects has been undertaken. Interviews, focus groups, and workplace observations informed an eye health behavioral change model for farmworkers. 

Community health workers  promotores de salud  were recruited from farmworkers to train their co-workers in eye health and safety, distribute safety glasses, keep track of eyewear use, interview co-workers about their reasons for use and non-use, deliver first aid, and provide data to evaluate program outcomes. A before-and-after intervention design showed that farmworkers could increase their eyewear use from 0 to 37% in citrus work. A controlled trial demonstrated greater improvement in use of safety glasses among farmworkers who had training by promotores compared to those who did not have contact with promotores or training.

Products from this work include a protocol for recruiting and training promotores de salud, training and health promotion materials in English and in Spanish, a safety glasses selection protocol, and survey instruments.  This intervention project has become part of my research focus on Hispanic worker health and safety, which is expanding to include occupational surveillance in urban as well as rural settings, for this vulnerable population.

Copyright 2006 Contact jckong@uic.edu for questions