This biomedical demonstration and education research project involves the implementation of a union-based health program for painters and tapers in the construction industry. This respiratory health intervention ingrates occupational protection and smoking prevention/cessation into an existing structure for safety and health programs. The multirisk, multicomponent program consists of environmental, training, and self-help components that target respiratory use, proper ventilation, and smoking prevention/cessation. Contractors (i.e., employers) are receiving an intervention designed to elicit support for workers' positive respirator health behaviors. The intervention (1) integrates health protection and health promotion, (2) addresses both the individual and the environment, and (3) is based on research models of health behavior change. The target population for the study are painters and tapers who are members of the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades. The overall design of the study is a randomized pretest-posttest control group design with repeated measures on cohort and independent samples. Twenty unions across the country have been randomized to intervention and control conditions. At four points during the intervention a respiratory health survey is being administered to a random sample of painters from study sites. Contractors are also being administered pretest and posttest surveys. Students will work under the supervision of the principal investigator and will have a discrete project, but will also work as part of the project team in refining intervention materials and conducting an evaluation of the intervention's effectiveness.
