The United Auto Workers proposes to conduct and evaluate educational programs in occupational cancer carcinogen recognition and control for union members and leaders at 10 workplaces. The long-term goal of this education is reduced occupational cancer incidence and mortality. Progress towards this goal will be studied by determining whether a series of intermediate project objectives has been met. The most important of these is a reduction in worker exposure to known and suspected carcinogens on the job. Because even this may be difficult to measure directly, an additional group of more easily measured project objectives has been developed. These include three types of changes: individual, organizational, and environmental. These changes will be measured with three instruments: a Self-Administered Questionnaire, Records Checklist, and Observer Profile of the Workplace. The project design will include a prospective comparison of two models of worker education. One-half the study plants will receive an established UAW educational program with basic information on carcinogen recognition and control. The second half will receive additional structured small group follow-up over an 18-month period. Changes over the study period will be assessed for each study plant, between matched pairs of plants, and between the two groups of plants. We will test whether an educational approach stressing group process and structured follow-up is more successful in producing specified behavioral change than an approach stressing the transfer of information with follow-up only on request. An effort will also be made to determine whether observed changes depend more heavily on the educational format or on specific characteristics of the plants in which the education takes place (e.g. plant size or employer's economic condition).
