Mobility Patterns of Migrant Farmworkers in North Carolina: Implications for Occupational Health Research and Policy

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arcury TA ; Preisser JS ; Quandt SA
• Description:
  Occupational health research often relies on longitudinal data to link exposures and health outcomes. Studies of migrant and seasonal farmworker health face special challenges. Farmworkers are difficult to track, and many occupational health outcomes require considerable time to develop. Using data from two longitudinal studies of farmworker health in North Carolina, we: 1) describe migration during one summer (amount, reasons, destinations); and 2) discuss the implications of these patterns for conducting different types of environmental and occupational health research. Approximately 30 percent of farmworkers migrated over the course of the summer. Analysis of specific work sites revealed both in- and out-migration. Work availability and work-related illness were major causes of out-migration. These data suggest that failing to document reasons for migration may result in underestimation of the occupational illnesses and injuries under study. If research on migrant farmworkers is to be used to establish worksite health and safety policies, traditional research designs and data analysis techniques must be adapted to the realities of worker migration. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emigration And Immigration Farmers Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Farmworkers Farm Workers Immigrants Injuries Medical Anthropology Migrant Workers North Carolina Occupational Health Research Design Seasonal Workers
• ISSN:
  0018-7259
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  21-29
• Volume:
  61
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057880
• Citation:
  Human Organ 2002 Spring; 61(1):21-29
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Work Environment And Workforce: Special Populations
• Performing Organization:
  Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19980930
• Source Full Name:
  Human Organization
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:25c7a061d62cbe3883792319239005495be098998782f18699be938b8add051d8c5e859cf88d956cd1a2fbfc41a686ec4d0ff608430b51ba2ba3f5f76ebae695
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/215086/cdc_215086_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 994.50 KB ]