"Our findings suggest that the health of farm worker families is at risk due to inadequate housing," said lead researcher Thomas Arcury, Ph.D., professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest. "It is important to improve these conditions because of the vital role [farm workers] play in the state farm economy and, therefore, the state economy of North Carolina."

Data for the analysis came from four surveys of North Carolina farm worker communities conducted in 2001 and 2003. The results are reported in the April issue of the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.

Arcury: Study Can Serve as Starting Point for Policy Change

"There has been very little research to document the housing in which farm worker families live," Arcury said. "This study provides the first detailed data and can serve as a starting point in changing policy on migrant worker housing and educating farm worker families on how to mitigate the detrimental effects of poor housing quality."

Previous research on housing quality in general has found that it is an important determinant of health, according to Arcury. Crowding and inadequate sanitary facilities, for example, can contribute to a higher incidence of infectious diseases. Crowding also has been shown to affect psychological well-being. And structural or electrical problems can result in injuries as well as exposure to toxic substances such as lead and pesticides.

Documenting the problem is the first step in working toward a solution, Arcury said.

Study Focused on Housing Conditions in North Carolina

This study focused on describing the specific housing conditions of immigrant farm worker families in North Carolina and identifying housing features that place these families at risk for environmental exposures. It is based on data from 234 households.

The researchers analyzed information from multiple interviews conducted by fluent speakers of Spanish who were specially trained for the project. Participants were from households that contained at least one adult farm worker with at least one young child.

Most of the primary contacts were female, and the majority of the occupants of the households were from Mexico.

The researchers looked at three aspects of housing that could affect family health: dwelling characteristics, household characteristics and household behavior.

They found that many of the aspects of housing quality are substandard.

Farm Worker Families Live in Claptrap Mobile Homes

According to the study, most families live in mobile homes that are in a state of disrepair due to landlord neglect. Many dwellings are located near agricultural fields where exposure to pesticides is greatest.

More than half of the participants (54 percent to 71 percent across the four surveys) live in mobile homes, compared to 7 percent of the general U.S. population and 15 percent of the rural U.S. population.

The dwellings were small, exacerbating the crowded conditions caused by the large size of farm worker households that may have included related and unrelated adults, researchers concluded.

Among farm workers in the study, 36 percent to 46 percent lived in crowded conditions, compared to an estimated 3 percent of the rural population.

In addition, many households lacked clothes washers and dryers and vacuum cleaners. From 36 percent to 42 percent of the families did not have a working washer at home, compared to 16 percent for the rural U.S. population.

The research was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

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