Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most common occupational disease in the United States (NIOSH, 1996). This proposal addresses hearing health among the 1.4 million Latino (Hispanic) construction workers, a population that comprises 17 percent of the U.S. construction workforce (CPWR, 2002). In keeping with the major goal of Healthy People 2010 to eliminate disparities in health outcomes in minority populations and objective 28-18 to """"""""reduce adult hearing loss in the noise-exposed public"""""""" (USDHHS, 2000), the project goal is to adapt, implement and evaluate a health communication intervention to prevent NIHL in Latino construction workers. Through testing of the Health Promotion Model (Pender, 1987) in previous studies, the Investigators identified the predictors of construction workers' use of hearing protection, designed Theory-based interventions to promote use of hearing protection, and derived the Predictors of Use of Hearing Protection Model (PUHPM). The proposed study will build on results of the PI's previous studies and uses innovative health communication technology to deliver the intervention in an individually tailored, interactive multimedia format. The purpose of this project is to adapt and evaluate an innovative, culturally specific, computer-based tailored (CBT), intervention to increase Latino construction workers' use of hearing protection equipment. In the PIs previous study, tailoring health messages to individual workers and delivering informational boosters were shown to be effective health communication strategies of improve workers' use of hearing protection, thereby ultimately reducing their risk of NIHL.
Three specific aims will be addressed in this study: 1) assess the acceptability of a CBT intervention adapted for use with Latino construction workers with text and sound in equivalent Spanish and English versions; 2) evaluate the effect of the CBT intervention with and without a booster intervention on Latino construction workers' use of hearing protection equipment; and 3) test the PUHPM as an explanatory model of Latino construction workers' use of hearing protection by determining if changes in theoretically-specified variables are associated with changes in use of hearing protection. ? ?
| Robertson, Cheryl; Kerr, Madeleine; Garcia, Carolyn et al. (2007) Noise and hearing protection: Latino construction workers'experiences. AAOHN J 55:153-60 |
