Evaluation of an Online Training for Supervisors of Young Agricultural Workers

Adolescents and young adults (<25 years) working in agriculture are at greater risk of injury than youth working in other industries. Supervisors play an important role in protecting these young workers who lack workplace experience and whose bodies and brains are still developing. A theoretically based approach was used to develop an online training for supervisors of young agricultural workers. The training addresses an expanded view of occupational safety that not only addresses injury prevention, but also focuses on health promotion and worker well-being using a Total Worker Health approach. A pre-post/post study design was used to evaluate the training. Questionnaires included demographics, workplace characteristics, knowledge, beliefs about protecting young workers, and supervisors’ communication behaviors. One-hundred-eighty-two participants completed all parts of the efficacy trial. A post-test administered immediately after completing the training, indicated that supervisors had greater understanding of the risks to young workers and at 3-month follow-up were more likely to engage in communication behaviors to protect the safety and health of young workers. Positive changes in when, how, and under what circumstances supervisors talk about safety and health occurred. Establishing patterns of protective behaviors in the workplace can have lifelong impact, particularly among young workers

Dissemination and Implementation Science Approaches for Occupational Safety and Health Research: Implications for Advancing Total Worker Health

Total Worker Health® (TWH), an initiative of the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, is defined as policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related health and safety hazards by promoting efforts that advance worker well-being. Interventions that apply the TWH paradigm improve workplace health more rapidly than wellness programs alone. Evidence of the barriers and facilitators to the adoption, implementation, and long-term maintenance of TWH programs is limited. Dissemination and implementation (D&I) science, the study of methods and strategies for bridging the gap between public health research and practice, can help address these system-, setting-, and worker-level factors to increase the uptake, impact, and sustainment of TWH activities. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon a synthesis of existing D&I science literature to provide TWH researchers and practitioners with: (1) an overview of D&I science; (2) a plain language explanation of key concepts in D&I science; (3) a case study example of moving a TWH intervention down the research-to-practice pipeline; and (4) a discussion of future opportunities for conducting D&I science in complex and dynamic workplace settings to increase worker safety, health, and well-being