title: Work organization and occupational health: perspectives from Latinos employed on crop and horse breeding farms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Agriculture is hazardous and increasingly dependent on Latino workers, a vulnerable population. However, little research has studied how work organization influences Latino farmworker health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a work organization framework, this cross-sectional study describes and compares the work organization and occupational health characteristics of a sample of Latino crop (n = 49) and horse production (n = 54) workers in Kentucky.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Crop workers experienced more physical demands, work-related and environmental stressors, and musculoskeletal and ill-health symptoms. Significantly more crop workers indicated work-related illness or missed work due to work-related illness/injury, though one-fourth of both groups reported work-related injury in the past year. A majority of both groups cited exposure to toxic chemicals, a minority of whom received training on their use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further surveillance is needed to understand the rate and precursors of illness/injury in these populations, as is research on the relationship between supervisory practices, psychosocial stressors, and occupational health.
authors.affiliation: College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA. jswanberg@uky.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Swanberg
authors.forename: Jess Miller
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Clouser
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Westneat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000382:Agricultural Workers' Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D000383:Agriculture / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000458:organization & administration; D000818:Animals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007629:Kentucky / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016272:Occupational Health; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D016134:Organizational Policy; D057566:Self Report; D016526:Workload