JOYCE TSENG
Impact evaluation of a farmworker environmental and occupational health community-based participatory research course in the Yakima Valley, Washington
Environmental and Occupational Health, MPH
Preceptor: Matthew Keifer, MD, MPH
Background: Few studies have documented the perceptions of youth who are both from the community being studied, and are also investigators in the community-based participatory research (CBPR) project. In the Yakima Valley of Washington, collaborators from a farmworker environmental and occupational health CBPR project called El Proyecto Bienestar created an opportunity for farmworker community students to engage in CBPR through a college-level summer course.
Purpose: This impact evaluation determined whether former students of the CBPR course perceived the course as an empowering experience based on Marc Zimmerman’s model of psychological empowerment. This study also determined how the former students’ experiences were influenced by interactions with their family and community.
Methods: 23 former students out of a population of 40 participated in a telephone interview which included open and closed ended questions. Quantitative data was summarized with descriptive statistics. The researcher coded the qualitative data for any themes around the components of psychological empowerment, and inter-coder reliability was tested with a second coder. Data was validated through concurrent triangulation.
Findings: Survey participants most commonly reported themes of empowerment that consisted of gaining a greater awareness of the causal agents affecting farmworker health and improving skills in communication, teamwork, and research. Through enhancing their understanding of farmworker environmental and occupational health, some respondents became more motivated to help those in need, while other respondents influenced their parents to change behaviors to minimize exposure to occupational hazards. By gaining competency in certain skills, respondents also gained self-confidence in their abilities and perceived self-efficacy in working collectively. Students generally reported receiving positive feedback from their family members, farmworkers, and the community during the CBPR course, which made them feel that that they were making a significant contribution to the community. There were a few reported instances of disempowering experiences, which included hearing negative feedback about the research they were conducting and feeling a lack of control in preventing their parents from being exposed to occupational hazards.
Conclusions: Findings support that the CBPR course provided an overall empowering experience for participants, though there were a small number of disempowering experiences. In the future, El Proyecto Bienestar could create opportunities for students to become involved in a program longer than the summer course that would allow them to be involved in the dissemination of the findings and the development of actions from the research.
