title: Evaluating Job Demands and Control Measures for Use in Farm Worker Health Surveillance.
abstract: Workplace stress likely plays a role in health disparities; however, applying standard measures to studies of immigrants requires thoughtful consideration. The goal of this study was to determine the appropriateness of two measures of occupational stressors ('decision latitude' and 'job demands') for use with mostly immigrant Latino farm workers. Cross-sectional data from a pilot module containing a four-item measure of decision latitude and a two-item measure of job demands were obtained from a subsample (N = 409) of farm workers participating in the National Agricultural Workers Survey. Responses to items for both constructs were clustered toward the low end of the structured response-set. Percentages of responses of 'very often' and 'always' for each of the items were examined by educational attainment, birth country, dominant language spoken, task, and crop. Cronbach's α, when stratified by subgroups of workers, for the decision latitude items were (0.65-0.90), but were less robust for the job demands items (0.25-0.72). The four-item decision latitude scale can be applied to occupational stress research with immigrant farm workers, and potentially other immigrant Latino worker groups. The short job demands scale requires further investigation and evaluation before suggesting widespread use.
authors.affiliation: Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4676 Columbia Parkway (NIOSH R-17), Cincinnati, OH, 45226, USA, talterman@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alterman
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gabbard
authors.forename: Joseph G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Grzywacz
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakamoto
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muntaner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D004522:Educational Status; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D000067565:Farmers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000208:ethnology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology*; D017132:Workplace; D055815:Young Adult