One of the priorities of Healthy People 2000 is the provision of health promotion at the workplace, however, for some workers no predetermined, fixed site can be identified as the workplace. The proposed research will assess one such population, cross country irregular route truck drivers. Approximately 2.9 million Americans make their living driving a truck (American Trucking Associations, 1997). Continued growth in the job market for truck drivers is anticipated by the US Department of Labor (1997). Many studies have been done that examine aspects of truck drivers' health, however, little data exists to assist in planning the provision of holistic health care and health promotion to this vast and mobile population. No studies were found regarding truck drivers' access to health care and health promotion services. The purpose of this research is to describe truck drivers' health, barriers to health care, and health promotive behaviors within the environmental context created by drivers job attributes and to compare drivers' health promotive behaviors to the general population. A correlational descriptive design will be used to discover relationships that exist, drivers will also be compared to the general population using the Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFSS). Implemented in 1981 and performed yearly thereafter, the BRFSS is a population survey developed by the Centers for Disease Control to track modifiable health behaviors of Americans and help monitor achievement of Healthy People 2000 goals. A sample of 1,000 drivers will be recruited from those drivers stopping at two major truckstops, one on Interstate 80, and one on Interstate 40, America's two busiest east-west routes and will represent well the population of cross country truck drivers and most closely represents their workplace. This initial research lays the groundwork for a program of research, interventions, and outcomes measurement for America truck drivers. America has only one highway system that must be shared by everyone; therefore, truck drivers' health is an important public concern.
