title: Occupational health behaviors and habits of women on dairy farms in Pennsylvania.
abstract: The goal of this study was to determine what tasks women perform, behaviors that could result in exposure to zoonotic disease, and preventative measures practiced by women on dairy farms. A written survey was sent to a stratified, random sample of dairy farms in Pennsylvania (n = 3709) using a modified version of the Dillman method. The tasks most commonly performed by the respondents (n = 624) included milking (70.8%), feeding (60.6%), and cleaning stalls (42.6%). The use of personal protective equipment was infrequent. Gloves were always worn when milking by 32.7%. More respondents, 96.5%, changed their clothes at least sometimes before working in the barn as compared to when leaving the barn. Handwashing was always performed by 86.7% after assisting with delivering calves, whereas 71.1% always washed their hands after milking. Eating and drinking in the barn were practiced by 45.0% and 72.0%, respectively. Veterinary obstetric drugs were administered by 28.2% of the respondents. Most of the respondents, 89.7%, indicated that they felt they had minimal to no risk of contracting a disease from the animals with which they worked.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences.
authors.forename: Ginger D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.forename: Kathryn J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Brasier
authors.forename: George F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Henning
authors.forename: Rama B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Radhakrishna
authors.forename: Bhushan M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Jayarao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003612:Dairying; D005260:Female; D017575:Gloves, Protective; D006184:Habits; D015438:Health Behavior; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010414:Pennsylvania; D018570:Risk Assessment; D019155:Veterinary Drugs; D016387:Women's Health; D014931:Women, Working; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D019155:Veterinary Drugs