Hearing protection behavior of farmers in Iran: Application of the protection motivation theory.

BACKGROUND: Noise in work environments is regarded as a serious issue. Hearing loss leads to socio-economic problems and huge costs to families and communities. Agriculture is one of the professions in which individuals face occupational noise. Farmers are the second leading group in suffering from hearing loss in the world. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to predict the hearing protection behavior of farmers by using the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). METHOD: This descriptive study was conducted through a survey. The questionnaire was the main tool for data collection. The population of the study consisted of wheat farmers in Kermanshah province (N = 126,900). By using Krejcie and Morgan's table and stratified random sampling method, 382 farmers were taken as the research sample. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the experts of this field, and the reliability was proved through a pilot study to calculate Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The findings showed that perceived self-efficacy, perceived response efficacy, perceived vulnerability, and perceived response costs had the strongest effects on farmers' motivation to protect their hearing, respectively. Furthermore, protection motivation had a significant effect on farmers' protection behavior. CONCLUSION: Threat and coping appraisals as cognitive mediating processes determined farmers' behavior for hearing protection. The results illustrated that the components of PMT were appropriate predictors of farmers' hearing protection behavior.

Typology of Iranian farmers' vulnerability to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Context: Presently, farmers are faced with a new crisis caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. On the one hand, they are vulnerable to such respiratory diseases due to the nature of their farming activity. On the other hand, they will definitely be influenced by the pandemic in different aspects no matter if they do not contract the infection. So, this research aimed to study the vulnerability of farmers to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The present study was conducted using the quantitative approach and a descriptive-survey methodology. The statistical population was composed of farmers in Kermanshah province, Iran (N = 126,900). The sample (n = 382) was taken by the multistage stratified sampling technique with proportional allocation. The research instrument was a self-designed questionnaire whose face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of relevant experts and its reliability was supported in a pilot test. Results: The main damages of the pandemic to the farmers were found to be the increased costs of production, permanent or seasonal unemployment, reduced access to crop sale markets, and reduced control over pests and diseases at farms. The results revealed that the means of environmental, agronomic-vocational, and economic vulnerability were greater than the scale mean. The results also illustrated significant differences in the means of economic, psychological-social, agronomic-vocational, and environmental dimensions of vulnerability. Among these dimensions, the variable of agronomic-vocational vulnerability had the highest mean, and the variable of psychological-social vulnerability had the lowest mean. Conclusion: Farmers have been one of the groups most severely influenced and damaged by the pandemic in various aspects. In this regard, organizations and institutions in charge of different agriculture sections, especially the Office of Agricultural Extension and Education, must develop practical strategies to reduce the effect of the pandemic on the agricultural sector. Identifying the dimensions and parameters of farmers' vulnerability in the face of COVID-19 can provide new and appropriate solutions to relevant planners and policymakers.

The Process Of Farmers' Occupational Health Behavior by Health Belief Model: Evidence From Iran.

Farm work is considered among the highest risk jobs throughout the world. Occupational health behavior is a critical factor that influences agricultural job-related injuries and diseases. Yet, while educational programs have been set up to encourage farmers to behave more safely, many of these programs do not sufficiently take into account the factors that induce farmers to exhibit risky behavior. The present study aimed to explore the factors underpinning farmers' occupational health behavior using the Health Belief Model (HBM). The study was conducted using aquestionnaire survey of 382 farmers representative of the farmers of Kermanshah province, Iran. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by apanel of experts in occupational health, and its reliability by apilot study establishing internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha. The results showed that four dimensions of the HBM (perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, cues to action, and perceived self-efficacy) influence farmers' occupational health behavior (FOHB), with the theoretical model accounting for 54.9% of the variance of FOHB. The findings confirm the potential of the HBM to explain FOHB and the relevance of using the theory in studying farmers' protective behaviors such as the use of chemical pesticides, protection against sunlight, protection of hearing, etc.

Development of Psychometric Properties of Farmers' Occupational Health Behavior Questionnaire for Iranian Farmers.

Background: Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries throughout the world, and its risk level is dictated by several determinants whose real weights are often unknown. Objective: The present work aims to develop psychometric properties of farmers' occupational health behavior questionnaire for Iranian farmers. Methods: In this qualitative-quantitative study, the items of the instrument were derived from the qualitative phase. Face validity, content validity, reliability, and consistency methods were applied. Construct validity was estimated by the exploratory factor analysis. Results: Eleven factors with factor loads of >0.501 were extracted as the main factors. They altogether captured about 58.97% of the variance of factors affecting farmers' occupational health behavior. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed as its Cronbach's alpha was in the range of 0.72-0.93. Conclusion: Given the complicated nature of occupational health behaviors among farmers, it is imperative to measure the factors influencing these behaviors precisely. Therefore, the development of a proper instrument can be very crucial in identifying influential factors. The findings showed that the developed instrument was optimally reliable and valid.

Farmers' Preventive Behavior Analysis Against Sunlight Using the Health Belief Model: A Study from Iran.

Agriculture is one of the major sources of employment and income in many countries, especially in developing countries. Farmers are exposed to numerous harmful factors such as sunlight and ultraviolet radiation. These factors contribute to multiple diseases including skin cancer. The aim of this study was to analyze the farmer's preventive behavior against sunlight using the Health Belief Model (HBM). This descriptive study was conducted by survey methodology and a questionnaire. The population of the research was composed of farmers in Kermanshah Province (N = 126,900). The sample size was determined as 382 farmers using the Krejcie and Morgan table. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by relevant professors and experts, and the reliability was confirmed through a pilot study and the calculation of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which was estimated at 0.70-0.83. Findings showed that the HBM structures had a significant effect on the farmer's preventive behavior, so that the perceived barriers, susceptibility, severity, benefits, self-efficacy, and cues to action have the strongest impact on the farmer's preventive behavior against sunlight. The results illustrated that components of the HBM were appropriate predictors for farmers' preventive behavior against sunlight.