L.L.
Morton, K.A. Snyder, D.L.
Hard, T.L.
Bean, T.J.
Lawrence and S.D.
Jepsen
Agricultural Safety and Health Detection, Prevention and Intervention
Conference, Columbus, OH
Focus
groups are widely used in political and consumer goods marketing
to determine attitudes and beliefs of target populations relative
to products and issues. Little equivalent use has been made
of focus groups in the development and marketing of informational
literature in the area of agricultural safety. The National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed
a project to determine the attitudes and beliefs of a focus
group relative to general issues of farm safety and o a specific
NIOSH informational product on grain handling safety procedures.
The organization of the focus group was expedited by collaboration
with The Ohio State University, Agricultural Engineering Department,
which possesses extensive knowledge of the target population.
The
focus group was composed of farmers, county extension agents
and a farm equipment dealer. The group was asked to respond
to prepared questions, and was also given the freedom to address
matters of general farm safety. The session was recorded on
audiocassette and transcribed for easy reference.
The
Institute and The Ohio State University, Agricultural Engineering
Department gained valuable comments regarding the format,
content, and presentation of the draft document. Comments
ranged from specific remarks about individual sections and
graphical illustrations to general observations about the
size and appearance of the document. Suggestions were also
made to expand the document's intended audience of farmers
and farm employees to include educational settings such as
high school vocational-agricultural departments.
The
comments from the focus group provided significant feedback
on the usefulness of the publication to a target audience,
as well as general information on target population attitudes
and beliefs.
Disclaimer
and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears by permission
of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
L.L.
Morton, K.A. Snyder, D.L. Hard, NIOSH, Morgantown, WV; T.L.
Bean, T.J. Lawrence, S.D. Jepsen, The Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH.
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