October 2004
Volume 42 Number 5

Research in Brief

Are All These Rules Necessary? Extension Pesticide Programming with a Regulatory Purpose

Jimmy T. Bricker
County Extension Director
Purdue Extension
Benton County, Indiana
bricker@purdue.edu

Andrew G. Martin
Training Specialist
Purdue Pesticide Programs
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
martinag@purdue.edu

Cheri L. Janssen
Program Specialist
Purdue Pesticide Programs
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
cjanssen@purdue.edu

Fred Whitford
Coordinator
Purdue Pesticide Programs
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
fwhitford@purdue.edu

Introduction

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (and sometimes state pesticide regulatory agencies) will apply a restricted-use classification to certain pesticide products that, even when used according to label directions, may cause adverse effects on people or the environment. Pesticides can be restricted for human health reasons (e.g., carcinogenicity) or environmental concerns (e.g., fish or bird mortality, water quality concerns, etc.). All federally restricted-use products have a restricted use product statement at the top of the first page of the label. These products are available only to certified and licensed pesticide applicators.

Indiana's pesticide control law is similar to other states. It identifies private applicators--primarily farmers--as persons who apply restricted-use pesticides to property that they own, rent, or otherwise control by some form of contractual arrangement for purposes of producing an agricultural commodity. Under Indiana law, any private applicator who buys, uses, or supervises the use of restricted-use pesticides must be certified to do so and must have a private applicator permit issued by Indiana's pesticide regulatory agency (Office of the Indiana State Chemist). There were 15,493 private pesticide applicators in Indiana who held permits to purchase and use restricted-use pesticides in 2003.

Indiana private applicators certify by passing a closed-book examination. Certified private applicators are issued a permit valid for 5 years. The private applicator permit carries an identification number that is unique to the permit holder and nontransferable. Persons selling restricted-use pesticides are legally obligated to record the permit number, at point of sale, when a private applicator purchases a restricted-use product.

Prior to 2000, Indiana private applicators could only recertify by retesting. At the end of every 5-year certification period, county Extension educators would conduct half-day training programs and administer the certification exam at the conclusion of each program. Campus-based Extension pesticide specialists determined training content, wrote the training manuals, and provided support materials to the field staff, while Office of the Indiana State Chemist personnel developed the certification test.

In 2000, a procedural change by Office of the Indiana State Chemist permitted private applicator recertification either by retesting at the end of the 5-year certification period or by documented attendance at three approved continuing education programs within the 5-year certification term. Thus, Indiana private applicators who attend the requisite number of continuing education programs no longer have to retest.

Continuing education programs approved for private applicator certification must:

• Be sponsored by a county Extension educator,

• Include pesticide-related topics that total at least 2 hours, and

• Include a pesticide regulatory topic (e.g., restricted-use pesticide recordkeeping, Indiana's supervision requirements, and Indiana's drift enforcement policy) determined annually by Office of the Indiana State Chemist.

The new private applicator certification program is a collaborative effort among Office of the Indiana State Chemist, Purdue Pesticide Programs, and Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service educators. The program is flexible, allowing county Extension educators to offer pesticide programs of local interest and/or that address emerging pesticide issues. And continuing education programs serve as a vehicle for the communication of pesticide regulations to growers.

Research Objectives

Extension specialists have investigated the importance of the pesticide label to the private applicator (Prochaska & Norlund, 1998), where private applicators access pesticide safety information (Shern, Slocum, & Olsen, 1990), how to successfully convey pesticide safety information to private applicators (Coffman & Watkins, 1991; Hogan & Simeral, 2001), and how to encourage private applicators to comply with pesticide regulations (Hogan & Simeral, 1994). The research discussed here, part of a larger program evaluation, builds on this body of knowledge. In the study we examine the linkage between Indiana's private pesticide applicator recertification program and farmers' attitudes towards pesticide regulations as they relate to 1) restricted-use pesticide recordkeeping and 2) property rights and farm management decisions.

Methodology

There were 227 Indiana private pesticide applicators in Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service Area IX (Benton, Fountain, Jasper, Montgomery, Pulaski, Tippecanoe, Warren, and White counties) who had recertified by attending three continuing certification programs prior to March 2003. These individuals constituted the target population for the research project. A census, rather than a randomized sample, of all 227 persons was pursued because of the small size of the population. Their names and addresses were obtained from a database maintained by Office of the Indiana State Chemist.

The survey instrument used in the evaluation was developed via application of a logic model (Barkman, Machtmes, Mason, Gordon, & Sandbury, 2000). Extension pesticide safety education specialists reviewed it to establish content-relevance. That portion of the instrument reported here, which addresses farmer's attitudes about pesticide regulations, was a nine-item, Likert-type scale. The five item anchor points were 1 = strongly agree, 2 = agree, 3 = undecided, 4 = disagree, and 5 = strongly disagree. Items included a mix of positively and negatively worded statements to minimize the possibility of encouraging socially desirable responses.

A cover letter, survey, and self-addressed stamped envelope were mailed to all 227 farmers in Area IX who had completed their private applicator recertification requirements. A reminder letter followed 2 weeks later. Ninety-eight surveys were returned for a response rate of 43%. The low response rate precludes generalizing findings to the larger population. However, the results are descriptive of the attitudes of almost half of the population and warrant consideration on an exploratory basis.

Following data collection, negatively worded items were reverse scored and a Cronbach's alpha test was run to determine instrument reliability. An alpha value of 0.73 was obtained, sufficient for basic research purposes (Nunnally, 1978). Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, means, and standard deviations were determined for purposes of data interpretation.

Results

Restricted Use Pesticide Recordkeeping

Private pesticide applicators are obligated under the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (commonly referred to as the 1990 Farm Bill)--or by specific state regulations--to maintain records of restricted use product applications for at least 2 years. Indiana's record keeping regulation specifies that private applicators must record 11 items, including the:

• Applicator's name and certification number;

• Month, day, and year of application;

• Crop, commodity, or site to which the pesticide was applied;

• Product name and EPA registration number;

• Total amount applied;

• Size of treatment area; and

• Application location.

State pesticide regulatory personnel, USDA representatives, and health professionals may access these records. The fundamental reasons for the record keeping regulations are 1.) to provide specific data in the event of a misuse complaint, 2.) to provide medical personnel with treatment information in the event of a poisoning by a restricted-use product, and 3.) to generate real-world use data in support of pesticide policy decisions.

Survey respondents agreed with the statement that information on a restricted-use pesticide label is important to their family. They disagreed with the notion that restricted-use pesticide label information is of interest only to the EPA. Respondents agreed also that information kept in their pesticide records might possibly save a life. However, when asked if farmers are over-regulated--where record keeping requirements were offered as a specific example--respondents were collectively ambivalent. They were undecided also when queried about the need for entering 11 separate pieces of information into record to meet their record keeping obligations (Table 1.).

Property Rights and Farm Management Decisions

Minimization of pesticide spray drift is another regulatory component of the Indiana private pesticide applicator recertification program. The state of Indiana has a pesticide drift enforcement policy that embodies the concepts of due care and non-negligent use of pesticides. The policy seeks to minimize off-target pesticide spray drift while recognizing individual concerns, pesticide product labeling statements, and environmental and property protection needs. The importance of this policy grows as more farmers find themselves applying pesticides to fields next to urban neighbors.

Survey respondents agreed that their non-farming neighbors possessed the same property rights as themselves. They agreed also that, in the event of a damage problem resulting from spray drift, the neighbor is justified in lodging a complaint. Yet, when presented with the statement that Right-to-Farm legislation permits farmers to operate in any fashion that suits their production needs, survey respondents only mildly disagreed. Note that all 50 states have Right-to Farm laws protecting farmers--who are in compliance with state and local regulations--from lawsuits by neighbors who claim that the farm is a nuisance. While Indiana's Right-to-Farm law was not a mandatory topic at private applicator recertification meetings, the researchers felt that the law was sufficiently understood as one which grants some protection to farmers without trampling on rights of non-farming neighbors (Table 2.).

A summary question (Table 2.) addressed private applicator attitudes towards Indiana's direct supervision requirement for non-certified applicators. In Indiana, non-certified farm workers may apply restricted-use pesticides under the supervision of a private pesticide applicator if the private applicator is physically on site or in voice contact (e.g., radio, telephone, etc.) if the farm worker is less than 30 miles away. The supervision requirement affords protection to the community and environment by ensuring that everyone using restricted-use pesticides has documented the competency to do so or is working under the close supervision of a certified, properly credentialed applicator.

This requirement is a cornerstone of Indiana's regulatory effort to make certain that responsibility for the use of restricted-use products resides only with persons who have been tested with regards to their proper use. Nonetheless, survey respondents were undecided about whether the requirement was onerous to the extent that it might change their pesticide spraying activities.

Conclusions and Implications

The results of this study were somewhat surprising. It is apparent that Indiana private pesticide applicators who completed their recertification program requirements and participated in the survey believe that restricted-use pesticide labels bear important user-related information and that restricted-use records have value with respect to protecting human health. But these same applicators evidence no real support for the regulation that requires them to keep restricted-use product records.

Respondents recognized too that their non-farming neighbors should not have to expect to deal with pesticide spray drift. And they agreed that their neighbors should be able to lodge a complaint against them in the event that drift damages the neighbor's property. However, when presented with the statement that Right-to-Farm legislation grants them greater property rights than their neighbors, these same farmers expressed only modest disagreement.

Finally, respondents were asked about their attitude toward a state-imposed applicator supervision requirement. This requirement ensures that only competent or otherwise carefully supervised persons use restricted-use pesticides. It relates directly to the primary purpose of the private pesticide applicator certification program--to limit access to restricted-use products to trained and tested persons. Farmers were uncertain as to whether the requirement was too burdensome.

This seeming dichotomy between farmers' respect for careful management of restricted-use pesticides and their lukewarm support for regulations that mandate careful management presents a challenge to Extension educators involved in pesticide safety education. Farmers' suspicions about government intrusion into their farming activities may be cultural and deeply ingrained.

Therefore, successful regulatory programming has to address not just the mechanical issues pertaining to regulatory compliance, (i.e., how to comply) but also the context within which rules are deemed necessary. In order to encourage compliance, a discussion of the underlying regulatory rationale (e.g., promoting public health, enhancing environmental quality) assumes a vital role in any Extension program that successfully informs its audience about pesticide regulations.

The authors recommend that Extension educators who conduct private pesticide applicator training programs include material in their training curriculum about how regulations are beneficial. By articulating the personal and social benefits of government regulations, educators can increase the odds that applicators will abide by, not just the letter, but also the spirit of the law.

References

Barkman, S .J., Machtmes, K. L., Mason, A., Gordon, J., & Sandbury, F. (2000). Evaluating the impact of your CES programs. Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.

Coffman, C. W., & Watkins, S. M. (1991) Getting the right stuff into the right hands. Journal of Extension [On-line], 29(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1991spring/a5.html

Hogan, M., &, K. (1994). Turning regulation into education. Journal of Extension [On-line], 32(4). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1994december/iw2.html

Hogan, M., & Simeral, K. (2001). Everyone a teacher, everyone a learner: A learner-centered pesticide private applicators recertification training. Journal of Extension [On-line], 39(3). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2001june/iw1.html

Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory. Second Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Prochaska, S. C., & Norlund, E. L. (1998). Ohio farmer use of the pesticide label. Journal of Extension [On-line], 36(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1998february/rb2.html

Shern, L. C., Slocum, A. C., & Olsen, L. G. (1990). Chemical dealers and pesticide safety. Journal of Extension [On-line], 28(4). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1990winter/rb2.html

Demonstrating a Perimeter Trap Crop Approach to Pest Management on Summer Squash in New England

T. Jude Boucher
Associate Extension Educator/Sustainable Agriculture--Commercial Vegetable Crops
Tboucher@canr.uconn.edu

Robert Durgy
Research Assistant/Sustainable Agriculture/IPM
Rdurgy@canr.uconn.edu

University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System
Vernon, Connecticut

Introduction

Many insects colonize crops from outside the field and exhibit preferences among varieties that can be exploited to arrest pest migration on a trap crop that completely encircles the main cash crop. The effectiveness of this trap crop spatial orientation can be further improved by adding other perimeter defenses, such as border sprays or biological, mechanical, and cultural controls to form a pest management system known as "perimeter trap cropping" (PTC). Perimeter trap cropping has led to a dramatic increase in trap crop efficacy over the past decade on a variety of pests and crops (Aluja et al., 1997; Boucher Ashley, Durgy, Sciabarrasi, & Calderwood, 2003; Brewer & Schmidt, 1995; Mitchell, Hu, & Johanowicz, 2000).

Perimeter trap cropping functions by intercepting pest migration, regardless of the direction of attack. It then concentrates the pest population(s) in the border area, where they can be controlled, thus preserving natural enemies in the main crop (Aluja et al., 1997; Boucher et al., 2003; Mitchell et al., 2000). Because many insect pests act as vectors of important crop diseases, reducing pest populations on the main crop may also reduce losses from diseases.

Perimeter trap cropping does not work on every pest or for every crop. However, it has the potential to improve and simplify pest management on a variety of crops grown on diversified vegetable farms. This article reflects the experiences of a group of commercial growers using PTC to manage cucumber beetles and bacterial wilt on summer squash in Connecticut.

Field Demonstrations

In 2002, four Connecticut growers surrounded a total of 6.5 acres of green and yellow summer squash with a "Blue Hubbard" trap crop, supplemented with border sprays. In 2003, six growers used the summer squash PTC system on a total of 17.25 acres. Because four of the growers participated in both years, and methods and survey results were nearly identical, only the results of the second year (2003) are presented. The six growers who volunteered for the program represented a range of farms, from small retail operations to larger wholesale operations with up to 600 acres of vegetable crops.

Perimeter trap crop plantings ranged from 1/4 to 5 acres in size. All growers used a single row of trap crop along the length of the summer squash plantings, except for one who used a double-row along the woodland side of the field, where the heaviest pest pressure was expected. One to three Blue Hubbard plants were planted at both ends of each summer squash row, or the trap crop was seeded by machine across the ends of the rows, perpendicular to the main crop planting direction. The trap crop was planted at the same in- and between-row spacing as the main crop.

One grower used bare-ground culture to produce his squash, while the others used a plastic-mulched system of production, with either trickle or overhead irrigation. Two growers used transplants for both the main and trap crop, while most direct seeded the whole field. Two growers planted their summer squash on plastic and the Blue Hubbard on bare-ground beside the mulched area. One grower, who was not interested in marketing Blue Hubbard squash, pulled the trap crop plants when the main crop was in bloom to avoid interspecies competition.

This PTC system has the potential to reduce several insect and disease problems associated with squash, but was primarily designed to minimize direct damage from the striped cucumber beetle and from the bacterial wilt pathogen vectored by the beetle. Blue Hubbard squash was used as the trap crop in the system because it is highly attractive to cucumber beetles, squash vine borers, and squash bugs, but tends to experience a relatively low incidence of bacterial wilt infection compared with other potential trap crops tested (Boucher & Durgy, unpublished data). It is important that the trap crop does not act as a reservoir for bacterial wilt to help minimize disease spread and crop damage.

Prior to each season, Extension personnel met with growers and supplied them with trap crop seed, fact sheets on PTC, and advice to help them implement and maintain the system on their farms. Certain important concepts were emphasized with the growers prior to the start of the program:

1. Plant the trap crop on good ground, so that it remains healthy and completely encircles the main crop, without large gaps in the perimeter.

2. Apply a foliar insecticide application to the perimeter as soon as beetles are found or feeding begins on the trap crop. (Don't wait for a threshold level to be exceeded.)

3. Monitor the field continuously until harvest, and be prepared to make one or two additional perimeter or full-field applications, if necessary.

Repeat perimeter applications were considered justified if rain washed the insecticide from the plants prematurely or if any more live beetles were found in the trap crop prior to bloom. Full-field sprays were not to be applied unless pest pressure was excessive on a particular farm, causing a breach in the perimeter and substantial main crop infestation (>2 beetles/plant). Extension personnel helped growers monitor pest populations and time perimeter pesticide applications up until bloom. Most growers used backpack or boom sprayers to apply carbaryl, or one of several synthetic pyrethroids, to the trap crop row(s) only. One grower used his boom sprayer to apply perimeter sprays to the outer 25 feet of the block.

After the final harvest, growers were surveyed and asked to compare the results of using the summer squash PTC system to prior years using a conventional program that relied on full-field insecticide sprays. Growers provided the number of full-field or perimeter insecticide applications used based on their spray records or by estimation. This data was used to calculate the difference in insecticide use between the two systems. Growers were also asked to comment on PTC and to rate a list of possible benefits on a scale of zero (no benefit) to three (high benefit). They were also asked to rate the PTC program for simplicity/complexity, describe their overall satisfaction level with the system, and rate the training program overall.

Although grower surveys that compare pre- and post-program results represent an imperfect research tool that may rely on farm records and memories rather than objective observations, farmers' opinions may be among the best indicators of user satisfaction and whether new techniques may actually be adopted by industry.

Results of PTC User Surveys

All six (100%) of the growers stated that their pest control was much better using PTC than in previous years without a trap crop system. When asked "what percent of your crop was damaged by target pest(s) prior to using...and after using a trap crop," growers estimated that an average of 19% of their squash was damaged by the target pests using multiple full-field sprays, while only 1% was lost using PTC.

All respondents reported pesticide savings using the trap crop system. They applied an average of 1.9 insecticide sprays to the trap crop (only) using PTC, compared with 2.2 full-field sprays using their conventional program. The use of insecticide active ingredient was reduced by 1.6 pounds per acre (93%) using PTC. Potential insecticide savings are greater for larger plantings using PTC, because the edge-to-area ratio decreases as field size increases. Square plantings have a shorter perimeter than long rectangular plantings of similar size (area). Square plantings also result in greater insecticide savings than long, narrow blocks or fields.

Eighty-three percent of the growers stated that they saved time and money using the PTC system compared to previous years. One of the producers said that PTC cost him about the same amount of money and took approximately the same amount of time as multiple full-field sprays. The five growers who said that PTC saved them money estimated their overall savings at $51 to $1,100 per acre. They attributed most of the savings to improved summer squash yield. The single grower who did not save money said that he tends to plant more squash than he needs, so the system did not result in increased sales. He stated that crop damage due to cucumber beetles and bacterial wilt was normally about 10%, but was eliminated using PTC.

Eighty-three percent of the growers rated the PTC system as simpler or much simpler to use than their traditional pest control program on squash, while one grower said that using a trap crop was a little more complex. All growers gave the following PTC benefits the highest possible rating (3): reduced spray time/expense, reduced risk from pest damage/improved crop quality, and easier/faster pest detection (improved monitoring) (Table 1). A majority of the program participants also gave the highest possible rating to these additional benefits: reduced pesticide use, easier harvesting schedules [reduced re-entry intervals (REI)/day-to-harvest restrictions (dh)], reduced potential for residues at harvest, reduced impact on the environment/land/water, and improved crop farm profitability (Table 1).

All program participants said that they were either very satisfied (67%) or thrilled (33%) with the overall performance of the trap crop system, and all final comments about PTC were positive. All growers rated the training program as excellent and stated that they would continue using the summer squash PTC system in the future.

Summary

Many integrated pest management (IPM) programs are too complex or time-intensive for busy producers to use and often require an entire book or manual to explain (Boucher & Ashley, 2001). Simpler pest management solutions capable of controlling multiple pests, reducing pesticide use, increasing farm profitability, and increasing IPM implementation are needed. Perimeter trap cropping represents a first step towards restructuring and simplifying the pest management system.

Connecticut growers who used PTC to protect commercial summer squash plantings found that the system succeeded in improving and simplifying pest management while providing numerous "hidden" benefits. These growers reduced insecticide use by 93% by switching to a perimeter trap crop, supplemented with border sprays. This technology is inexpensive, accessible, and applicable to farm operations of variable size on multiple crops.

Acknowledgment

Funding for this project was provided by USDA CSREES NE SARE and NE IPM competitive grant programs. The following Connecticut growers were instrumental in the design and implementation of the NE SARE grant proposal and/or participated in the demonstration project: Steve Bengtson, Nelson Cecarelli, Gordon Burson, Randy Blackmer, Rick Vinal, and Dave Dougan.

References

Aluja, M., Jimenez, A., Camino, M., Pinero, J., Aldana, L., Caserjon, V., & Valdes, M. E. (1997). Habitat manipulation to reduce papaya fruit fly (diptera: tephritidae) damage: Orchard design, use of trap crops and border trapping. Journal of Economic Entomology, 90: 1567-1576.

Boucher, T. J., & Ashley, R. A. (Editors). (2001). Northeast pepper Integrated Pest Management (IPM) manual. University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System Publication.

Boucher, T. J., Ashley, R., Durgy, R., Sciabarrasi, M., & Calderwood, W. (2003). Managing the pepper maggot (diptera: tephritidae) using perimeter trap cropping. Journal of Economic Entomology, 96(2): 420-432.

Brewer, G. J., & Schmidt, G. (1995). Trap cropping to manage the red sunflower seed weevil in oilseed sunflower. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 10: 184-187.

Mitchell, E. R., Hu, G., & Johanowicz, D. (2000). Management of diamondback moth (lepidoptera: plutellidae) in cabbage using collard as a trap crop. HortScience, 35: 875-879.

Priority Water Issues in the Pacific Northwest

Robert L. Mahler
Water Quality Coordinator
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho
bmahler@uidaho.edu

Robert Simmons
Water Quality Coordinator
Washington State University
Shelton, Washington
simmons@wsu.edu

Fred Sorensen
Water Quality Coordinator
University of Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
dffes@uaa.alaska.edu

J. Ronald Miner
Former Water Quality Coordinator (deceased)
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon

Introduction

Water quality has been a priority issue for Extension since 1990. At that time, then President George H. Bush created a national Water Quality Initiative (WQI) within the United States Department of Agriculture (Shepard, 2002). This initiative stressed solving water quality problems on a watershed scale through cooperation with other federal and state agencies (Huter, Mahler, Brooks, Lolley, & Halloway, 1999). The initiative eventually resulted in formula funding passed through to land-grant institutions under the authority of the Smith-Lever Act.

In 2000, the national water quality program was refocused to emphasize regional rather than state-by-state education of our clientele. This change at the federal level required us to assess our current water quality programs in Alaska, Idaho, , and Washington, and to find common programming themes that would be useful to clientele across the four-state region.

Consequently, the water quality coordinators of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington developed a region-wide water issues survey for our clientele to collect base line information documenting public awareness and attitudes toward water issues. The base line data collected in this survey could then be used to determine priorities and, in the future, gauge educational progress in all phases of our water quality programming efforts.

Materials and Methods

A 50-question survey was designed to assess public attitudes about water issues in the Pacific Northwest. The specific questions investigated in this article dealt with (1) the importance of specific water issues and (2) water quantity. The survey questions evaluated in this article were as follows:

Issue: Importance of Water Issues
How important are each of the following water issues to you? (circle one answer per question)

Issue: Water Quantity
(Is there enough water to meet all our needs--drinking water, irrigation, power generation, salmon)

Q-11. Do you regard water quantity (having enough water) as a water problem in the area where you live? (check one box)

□ No

□ Probably not

□ I don't know

□ Probably

□ Definitely

Q-12. Rank the following water uses from most (1) to least (5) important to you. (use 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 only once)

___ Power generation

___ Wildlife (salmon, wetlands)

___ Irrigation

___ Recreation

___ Drinking / Human use

In addition, demographic information, including state of residence, community size, zip code, length of time residing in the region, gender, age, and educational level was also collected from survey respondents.

Based on statistical advice to obtain a representative sample, a target of 900 residents of the Pacific Northwest was chosen as the sample size population. Surveys were sent to residents of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington on a proportional population basis. Residents from each state were randomly selected from phonebooks and switchboard.com. Surveys were actually sent to 1,888 residents; however, 114 were returned by the post office as being undeliverable. Consequently, the actual sample population was 1,774.

The survey process was designed to receive a completed survey return rate in excess of 50%. If more than 877 surveys were returned completed, then sampling error could be assumed to be less than ±5% (Dillman, 2000; Salant & Dillman, 1994).

Three mailings were used to achieve this return rate. The first mailing, which took place in January 2002, included the water issues survey form, a business reply envelope, and a cover letter that:

1. Identified the survey's authors;

2. Explained the purpose of the survey;

3. Assured the respondent of anonymity; and

4. Asked the respondents to fill out and return the survey via the business reply envelope.

The second mailing occurred 5 weeks later (March 2002) and consisted of a postcard that stressed the importance of the survey and remind the respondent to fill out and return the survey sent out in the first mailing. 5 weeks later (May 2002), the third mailing was sent to residents who did not respond to the first or second mailing. This mailing included a reminder letter, another copy of the water issues survey, and a business reply envelope.

Survey answers were coded and entered into Microsoft Excel. Missing data was assigned the number nine on the coding system and was excluded from the analysis. The data were analyzed at two levels using SPSS (Norusis, 1986). The first level of analysis was a basic data summary. This analysis showed both the total number and percentage of respondents that answered each question with a specific answer. The second level of analysis involved using cross-tabulation, or contingency tables, to isolate how specific subgroups of survey respondents (e.g., demographic groups such as gender and education level) related to specific questions. Significance (P<0.05) was tested using a chi-square distribution (Babbie, 1983).

Results and Discussion

The water issues survey achieved a return rate of 52.3% (928 either fully or partially completed and returned out of 1,774 surveys). The individual state response ranged from 50.6 to 57.6% (Table 1). Fifty-six percent of the survey respondents were male. Over 32% of survey respondents lived in communities of more than 100,000 people. Conversely, 18% of respondents lived in towns with less than 7,000 people. Thirty-five percent of respondents had lived in the Pacific Northwest all of their lives. Ninety-one percent of survey respondents were high school graduates. Overall, the demographics of the survey respondents (except for gender) closely reflected the actual demographics of the region.

Water Issues

Respondents were asked to describe each of 10 water issues as not important, somewhat important, very important, extremely important, or having no opinion. When the very important and extremely important responses were added together (high priority), the majority of respondents considered all 10 water issues as having a high priority (Table 2).

Over 90% of respondents considered clean drinking water, clean rivers, and clean groundwater as high priority. An additional 84% of survey respondents indicated that having enough water for agriculture was high priority despite the fact that over 80% of Pacific Northwest residents live in urban areas (United States Department of Commerce, 2002). Over two-thirds of Pacific Northwest residents indicated that water for power generation, water for economic development, loss of wetlands, prevention of salmon extinction, and watershed restoration were high priority (Table 2). Water for recreation (58%) received the smallest majority from the residents.

The demographic factors of occupation and education level did not affect how people viewed water issues. However, gender, age, length of residence in the region, community size, and state of residence did influence answers to at least one question. State of residence had a significant impact on how respondents answered the survey regarding the prevention of salmon extinction. Approximately 84, 71, 66, and 59% of residents of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho said preventing salmon extinction was a high priority, respectively. This difference is understandable because salmon are culturally important to many Alaskans. Conversely, salmon are less important from both cultural and economic viewpoints to many residents of Idaho, largely due to dams on the Snake River system.

Community size had an impact on only one of the 10 water issues evaluated. Respondents from larger communities (> 25,000) were more likely to consider having enough water for economic development a high priority issue than respondents living in small communities (< 25,000).

Based on this survey, a higher percentage of females than males viewed clean groundwater, prevention of salmon extinction, wetland protection, water for power generation, water for agriculture, and watershed restoration as high priority (Table 3). Even though this gender gap was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level for the other four water issues, the trend was apparent.

Age of respondent had a significant effect on answers to two survey questions. A higher percentage of younger respondents than older respondents viewed wetland protection as a high priority issue (Table 4). Conversely, senior citizens were more likely than younger people to view having enough water for power generation a high priority (Table 4).

Length of residence in the Pacific Northwest affected the response to the issues of salmon extinction, wetland protection, and water for economic development (Table 5). Over 80% of respondents who have lived in the Pacific Northwest for less than 5 years considered salmon extinction and wetland protection high priority issues. However, only about 60% of the long-time residents considered these issues high priority. In contrast, long-time residents were more likely to consider water for economic development a higher priority than newcomers to the region.

Water Quantity

A majority of survey respondents felt that water quantity issues were not a local problem ("no, not a problem" + "probably not a problem" answers) in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington (Table 6). However, the demographic factors of gender, state of residence, length of residency in the Pacific Northwest, education, and age did affect the response to this question. To evaluate differences due to demographics, the answers of "no" and "probably not" were pooled as "not a problem."

Males were more likely than females (65.1 vs. 57.8%) to conclude that water quantity issues were not a problem in their residential locality (Table 7). Residents of Alaska were more likely to conclude that water quantity was not a problem. Conversely, Idaho residents were more likely to conclude that water quantity issues may be a local problem. These state results are logical because, on a per capita basis, Alaska is the most water-rich state, while Idaho receives the least amount of precipitation.

Long-term residents of the Pacific Northwest were more likely to conclude that water quantity issues were not commonly a local problem compared to people that had moved into the region in the last 10 years (Table 7). Residents with a high school diploma or less were also more likely to conclude that water quantity was not a local problem. Age also affected how people viewed water quantity on a local basis. In general, older respondents were more likely to conclude that water quantity is not a major local problem.

Survey respondents were also asked to rank power generation, wildlife, irrigation, recreation, and drinking water from most important (1) to least important (5). The lower the overall score, the more important the use. Overall, survey respondents ranked drinking water as the most important water quantity use (Table 8). In fact, over 78% of respondents ranked drinking water as the most important water use. Conversely, only 6% of respondents ranked drinking water as the least important use.

Survey respondents ranked wildlife, power production, and irrigation as having similar levels of importance, although they were considered less important than drinking water. They were considered  to be of higher importance than recreation (Table 8). Recreational use of water was ranked as the lowest priority.

Summary and Conclusions

The water issues survey provided us with a wealth of information about public attitudes toward water issues in the Pacific Northwest. Even though differences were seen among states on some issues, it is noteworthy that there is much commonality in water attitudes among states. This commonality makes  regional water educational programming logical and efficient for Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

The key findings of this survey included the following.

• The importance that respondents placed on the 10 identified water issues provides justification for a significant amount of programming on these issues over the next 5 years. Demographic response differences indicate that programs should be tailored for local audience interest and needs.

• The vast majority (over 90%) of survey respondents considered clean drinking water, clean groundwater, and clean rivers very or extremely important issues in the region.

• Over two-thirds of survey respondents considered having enough water for economic development, prevention of salmon extinction, wetland protection, watershed restoration, water for power generation, and water for agriculture to be very or extremely important issues.

• Most survey respondents did not consider water quantity to be a critical issue. However, people living in drier areas of the region (Idaho, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon) did express concern.

• Survey respondents felt that water for human consumption was the most important use of water. Conversely, the recreational use of water was ranked least important.

• The survey results will be used to guide our water quality programming efforts over the next 4- to 5-year planning period.

• Based on survey results, residents are receptive to additional educational programming about drinking water and human health, groundwater, and watershed management issues.

Acknowledgement

We dedicate this paper to J. Ronald Miner, longtime water quality coordinator at Oregon State University, who died while this article was in the review process. Ron was an outstanding scientist and cooperator. His contributions to Oregon State University, the Pacific Northwest, and the national water quality program were extensive and outstanding. He will be sorely missed.

References

Babbie, E. (1983). The practice of social research. 3rd edition. Wadsworth Publishing Company. Belmont, CA. pp. 359, 424.

Dillman, D. (2000). Mail and Internet surveys. 2nd edition. John Wiley and Sons. 464 pp. New York, NY.

Huter, L. R., Mahler, R. L., Brooks, L. E., Lolley, B. A.  & Halloway, L. (1999). Groundwater and wellhead protection in the HUA. University of Idaho Bulletin No. 811. Moscow, ID.

Norusis, M. J. (1986). The SPSS guide to data analysis. SPSS, Inc. Chicago, Illinois. pp. 233-251.

Salant, P. & Dillman, D. (1994). How to conduct your own survey. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. pp. 10-55.

Shepard, R. (2002). Evaluating extension-based water resource outreach programs: Are we meeting the challenge? Journal of Extension [On-line], 40(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2002february/a3.html

United States Department of Commerce. (2002). U. S. population data. U. S. Census Bureau. Available at: http://www.census.gov

Healthy Living in the Pacific Islands: Results of a Focus Group Process to Identify Perceptions of Health and Collaboration in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands

Nicky Davison
Project Administrator, Healthy Living in the Pacific Islands
University of Hawai'i - Manoa,
Honolulu, Hawai'i
ndavison@hawaii.edu

Randall Workman
Advancing a Research Agenda for Tobacco Prevention and Control
Office of Sponsored Programs and Research
University of Guam
Mangilao, Guam

Yihe Goh Daida
Program Administrator
Department of Human Nutrition Food and Animal Sciences
University of Hawai'i - Manoa
Honolulu, Hawai'i

Rachel Novotny
Professor and Department Chair
Department of Human Nutrition Food and Animal Sciences
University of Hawai'i - Manoa
Honolulu, Hawai'i

Donna Ching
Extension Specialist in Agricultural Leadership
Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
University of Hawai'i - Manoa
Honolulu, Hawai'i

Background

Pacific Island health systems must deal with health conditions typical of both developed and developing countries (Feasley, 1998). The U.S. affiliated Pacific islands are in transition from "developing" to "developed," having gone through dramatic socio-economic transformations since the end of World War II, and their peoples have begun to experience the major demographic and epidemiological transitions that accompany modern social change.

Even though life expectancies in the island jurisdictions remain below levels in developed nations, demographic transitions in the islands have decreased rates of infant mortality, and people are living longer today than in the past. As a consequence, population growth pressures are high, and communities are predominately composed of young people, with their own particular health needs.

Moreover, while disease levels are higher than U.S. indicators, epidemiological transitions in the islands reveal a shift of health problems away from common infectious diseases (influenza, tuberculosis, etc.) and toward chronic and non-communicable health problems (e.g., heart disease, diabetes, and cancer). The Islands suffer a disproportionate burden of ailments, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fetal and infant under nutrition, and adult obesity (Coyne, 2000). In addition to genetic predisposition, these diseases are greatly influenced by behavioral factors, many of which are life style habits that begin in peoples' early childhood and adolescence (Martorell, 2001; Barker, 2001)

Figure 1.
Map Showing the Pacific Region
(U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands highlighted)

SOURCE: Pacific health dialog: Pacific peoples of New Zealand. Journal of Health and Clinical Medicine for the Pacific 4(2). 1997.

Purpose and Objectives 

The Healthy Living in the Pacific Islands (HLPI) initiative was the culmination of a series of meetings involving the Cooperative Extension Directors of the land-grant institutions in the U.S. affiliated Pacific (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, State of Hawai'i, Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands). The Directors sought to address concerns about the health and quality of life among Pacific Islanders.

A Principal Investigator (Rachel Novotny) was identified and asked to develop a concept paper, which was reviewed and approved by directors at a meeting in July 2001. Following approval, the Principal Investigator then worked with the local land-grant colleges to identify Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) at each site and brought them together in October 2001 for a further strategic planning session guided by an experienced facilitator.

The Co-PIs were concerned that any approach should involve community members from the respective communities and should verify local community visions of healthy living, document their listing of problems, and confirm their strategies to improve their communities, implementing a "bottom-up" process, or a participatory community-based approach (Malek, 2002; Nyden, 2003; RSC 2002). This was a formidable challenge because the target communities are spread across 4,000 miles of a geographic area larger than the continental United States (Figure 1).

As a group, the Co-PIs decided that a focus group methodology was an appropriate tool to identify local health concerns, possible community actions to improve health, and perceptions of collaboration within the diverse island communities. This information would then be used for program planning and design.

Although originally used as a market research tool to assess people's preferences and reactions to new products, the focus group process has become a key social science methodology for program planning and development (Krueger, 2000; Gamon, 1992). The interviewing process for collecting qualitative data was ideal for the HLPI planning group, where a single methodology, applied across the multi-lingual, multi-cultural populations was needed.

Focus groups are a frequently used need assessment methodology for planning of programs to ethnic minorities and diverse, multi-cultural communities (Duncan, 1999; Ewert, 1994; Hockenberry Meyer, 1999; Hobbs, 2001; Malek, 2002) and are suited to the group/community-focused cultures of the Pacific. The focus group tool then forms an integral part of community-based participatory research, which has been described by O'Toole, Aaron, Chin, Horowitz, and Tyson (2003) as being able to "make meaningful contributions to improving health and well-being of traditionally disenfranchised population groups and communities."

Methods

To standardize the methodology across the multi-site project, the University of Hawaii HLPI staff sent each island jurisdiction guidelines for conducting their focus groups. Focus groups were defined to the Co-PIs as: "a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research."

It was suggested that one group of community leaders and one group of homemakers be selected. The recommended number of people per group was to be six to 10, with sessions to last from 1 to 2 hours. Neutral locations were advised for avoiding either negative or positive associations with a particular site or building.

The Co-PIs in each jurisdiction then applied the guidelines to their island situation and conducted one or more focus groups using a standardized set of four question themes agreed upon at the first strategic planning conference. These were:

Question 1. What is health to you?

Probes: How do you recognize it? What does it look like? How does it feel?

Question 2. What is collaboration to you?

Probes: How do you recognize it? What does it look like? How does it feel?

Question 3. What are the key health problems in our community?

Probes: What are the main reasons that we have this health problem?

Question 4. What would be effective community actions to improve health?

Probes: Who would have to do what to improve health in the community? How could these actions be accomplished?

Facilitators were warned against selecting groups that were either too homogeneous or heterogeneous, which might limit the expression of diverse opinions.

There was variation across the six sites in implementing the guidelines because each community had unique inter-agency and community networks. The only achievable standardization was in the methodology and questions discussed. Focus groups were conducted in the local language and recorded on audiotape for subsequent transcription and translation.

The outcome was that the HLPI Co-PIs conducted a total of 13 focus group sessions (Table 1) involving 127 Pacific Islander or mixed Pacific Islander/Asians from six Pacific Island jurisdictions.

Each Co-PI processed, transcribed and translated the recordings of their respective focus group sessions. For each question, in each focus group session, co-investigators identified one or more topics or "Themes" which generalized key points that were verbalized by the participants in their discussions. For each theme, they then identified one or more "quotes" representative for that key point and topic.

Results

At a strategic planning meeting involving all the Co-PIs and facilitated by a trained group facilitator, the community focus group data and analyses of themes were shared by each Co-PI in oral presentations with summary handouts. The discussion and development of a common understanding of insights gained from the focus group process was integrated directly into the strategic planning process being guided by the facilitator. The sharing of the focus group experiences, and the substance of the resultant findings played a key role in how Co-PIs designed the final program framework.

Discussion

A comparison of the results to the question "What is health?" (Table 2) across the range of the six sites identified several common themes. These included not only the concept of physical health, but also mental and spiritual health, the idea of working with others to maintain and prevent ill health, and also environmental health. The environment and ecological system were conceptualized by the Pacific Islanders as a part of how they define "health." The idea of "economic health" articulated by the Hawaii focus groups also conceptualizes the overall social and economic health of the community as part of a holistic view of personal "health."

A comparison of the responses to the third question across the range of the six sites listed such things as "specific chronic diseases," "drug use" (including alcohol and tobacco), "diabetes," and "high blood pressure"--all health consequences aggravated by, if not resulting from, life style habits. Interestingly, the list includes life style habits both integral within some of the cultures (see themes for Chuuk- FSM: "fat is beautiful," Saipan-CNMI: "overeating," and Guam), as well as life style habits acquired from the external world (see themes for the Marshall Islands: "selling local food to buy imported" and Hawaii: "McDonald's is cheap but healthy food is expensive").

The focus group discussions on "what is collaboration?" and " what actions would improve health?" both generated the identification of similar program approaches, which can be noted in several of the sites. Across the six sites, the themes speak of collaboration as "building trust and friendship," "sharing and maximizing resources," "listening and sharing ideas to make progress," "working together for a common goal," and "discovering and developing assets." It is interesting, too, that many of the cultures have a vernacular word for collaboration within the community, e.g., "fengen" in Chuuk.

In the strategic planning discussions following presentations, various co-investigators commented on how the focus group findings "confirmed" and provided examples for the project mission statement and "validated" the groups' listing of underlying values.

The analysis of questions about collaboration and community actions guided the decisions made in structuring the program framework, with optional program strategies for achieving each objective. The focus groups spoke of education, of working together as a community, of community based activities. These then became the strategies to be used in the project planning process: a) health education communications/media, b) community-based interventions, c) institutional capacity building, and d) training and policy development. These project action strategies were made a part of the program-planning framework to provide alternative approaches for specific, annual project plans.

Conclusions and Future Directions

The focus group methodology approach worked well in allowing these diverse communities to articulate their own perceptions of health and collaboration while being able to retain the central common themes necessary for program planning. The focus group approach can be used to guide the planning and project implementation process by allowing the communities to communicate their specific needs and concerns across a wider range of health, social, and economic issues.

Despite the many differences in the communities across this vast geographic region, there is a large degree of commonality in the way the cultures perceive "health" and in ways of working together ("to collaborate") to overcome some of the existing health disparities.

Empowered by the focus group findings, the co-investigators were able to develop an "umbrella" program framework, within which each individual site could design specific programs, that responded to the specific needs of the individual communities while retaining the common program goal of: "reducing disparities in the prevalence of chronic diseases among Pacific Islander peoples by addressing the multiplicity of influential factors and respecting cultural values, using community-based, holistic, collaborative and sustainable approaches in our Pacific Island communities."

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the other Co-Principal Investigators on the HLPI Project, without whose work article paper would not have been possible: Julia Alfred (COM/Marshall Islands Ministry of Health), Eric Enos (UH/Wai'anae Community), Floria James (NMC), and Ansina Kony (COM-Chuuk).

Funding for this project was provided by USDA-CREES Grant Number 00-38826-9180 (Amendment #2) through the Agricultural Development in the American Pacific (ADAP) Project.

References

Barker, D. (2001). The malnourished baby and infant. Br Med Bull. 2001: 60:69-88.

Coyne, T. (2000). Lifestyle diseases in Pacific communities. Technical paper no. 219. Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, New Caledonia.

Duncan, S. F., & Marotz-Baden, R. (1999). Using focus groups to identify rural participant needs in balancing work and family education. Journal of Extension [On-line], 37(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1999february/rb1.html

Ewert, M. D., & King Rice, J. A. (1994). Managing diversity within Cooperative Extension. Journal of Extension [On-line], 32(2). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1994august/a1.html

Feasley, J. C., & Lawrence, R. S. (eds) (1998). Pacific partnerships for health: Charting a course for the 21st century. National Academy Press, Washington, DC

Gamon, J. A. (1992). Focus groups--A needs assessment tool. Journal of Extension [On-line], 30(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1992spring/tt2.html

Hobbs, B. B. (2001). Diversifying the volunteer base: Latinos and volunteerism. Journal of Extension [On-line], 39(4). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2001august/a1.html

Hockenberry Meyer, M. (1999). Native Americans' interest in horticulture. Journal of Extension [On-line], 37(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1999february/a4.html

Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2000). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, California.

Malek, F. (2002). Using the focus group process to assess needs of a growing Latino population. Journal of Extension [On-line], 40(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2002february/tt2.html

Martorell, R., Stein, A., & Scroeder, D. (2001). Early nutrition and later adiposity. J Nutr. 13: 874S-880S.

Nyden, P. (2003). Academic incentives for faculty participation in community- based participatory research. Journal of General Internal Medicine Vol. 18 (7) 576-585.

O'Toole, T., Aaron, K., Chin, M., Horowitz, C., & Tyson, F. (2003). Community based participatory research: Opportunities, challenges, and the need for a common language. Journal of General Internal Medicine Vol. 18 (7) 592-594.

RSC. Royal Society of Canada (2002). Guidelines for participatory research in health promotion. Retrieved March 14, 2002 from: http://www.ihpr.ubc.ca/guidelines.html

Body-Image, Self-Esteem, and Nutrition Concerns of Parents of 6th- and 7th-Grade Students

Carolyn Dunn
Associate Professor & Nutrition Specialist
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina
Carolyn_Dunn@ncsu.edu

Kristine Kelsey
Research Assistant Professor & Clinical Scientist
Department of Nutrition
School of Public Health
Center for Development and Learning
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Kristine.Kelsey@cdl.unc.edu

Wayne Matthews
Associate Professor and Human Development Specialist
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina
Wayne_Matthews@ncsu.edu

L. Melissa Sledge
Clinical Dietitian
Brandon, Florida
melissa_sledge@hotmail.com

Introduction

Body image has been described as a combination of how accurately one perceives his/her body size, the feelings this perception creates, and the behaviors that are initiated or avoided because of these feelings (Heinberg, Wood, & Thompson, 1996).

The age at which distortions in body image develop is beginning at alarmingly younger ages than in the past (Koff & Rierdan, 1991; Maloney, McGuire, Daniels, & Specker, 1989; Mellin, Irwin, & Scully, 1992; Sands, Tricker, Sherman, Armatas, & Maschette, 1997; Thelen, Powell, Lawrence, & Kuhnert, 1992; Wardle & Marsland, 1990). In a study of pre-adolescent children aged 10 and 11, girls were already demonstrating a desire to be thinner (Sands, et al., 1997). Results from a study by Koff and Rierdan (1991) revealed that of 206 sixth grade girls, 83% responded that they diet occasionally and 17% that they diet frequently.

To combat the rise in unhealthy eating patterns and poor body image in youth, the root of the problem must be determined. Knowledge gain alone is not enough to address these issues (Killen, et al., 1993). Body image and self-esteem are multi-faceted issues, thus a simple solution does not exist. In order to fully address the issues of self-esteem and body image, parents, teachers and youth must be involved in creating meaningful solutions. While the schools can play a role, parents have a major role to play in addressing this issue.

The purpose of the study discussed here was to ascertain concerns of parents related to their children's body image, self-esteem, and eating behaviors. This information will be used to assist Extension professionals as they work with youth and parents in these areas of concern.

Methods

A questionnaire was developed to assess parents' opinions on children's body perceptions and self-esteem and their views on the best ways to teach children about positive body image, self-esteem, and healthy eating. Questions were based on results of four focus groups with 6th grade children, one focus group with 6th grade teachers, and input from family and consumer science Extension specialists and nutritionists. The focus groups with students and teachers provided basic information about topics of interest and concern with respect to body image and self esteem.

The parent survey included demographic information (age, gender, race, education, income, marital status, number of children living at home) and questions about parents' perceptions of their child's body image and self-esteem. The parent survey was pre-tested with 25 parents to determine its clarity as well as its appropriateness and breadth of content and was revised accordingly. The survey was distributed to Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Agents with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service across the state.

Agents were instructed to distribute the survey along with a letter explaining the purpose of the project to parents of children in either the 6th or 7th grade. Agents used a convenience sample of all parents with which they worked who had children in the targeted age range. Surveys included a memo explaining the purpose of the study and indicated that all responses would be anonymous.

Data analysis was performed using the software application, SPSSX 7.5 (Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2000). Analyses included descriptive statistics, one-tailed t-tests, and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric tests.

Results and Discussion

A supply of surveys were mailed to 110 FCS Agents for potential distribution, and 419 of these were in fact distributed to adults who were known by the agents to have children in either the 6th or 7th grade. Two hundred eighteen respondents (return rate = 52%) returned the completed questionnaire to the investigators in a pre-addressed, stamped envelope. Respondents to the parent survey (n=218) were primarily female (90%).

Parents were asked what factors affect how their child feels about his/her body. They were allowed to select more than one answer. The number one influence as perceived by parents was peers (92% indicating that it influenced their child's attitude about their body), followed closely by parental influence (88%). Other researchers have found similar results, thus concluding that numerous factors (media, family, friends, etc.) influence a child's development of body image (Feldman, Feldman, & Goodman, 1988; Field, et al., 1999; Levine, Smolak, & Hayden, 1994; Winn, Reif, & White, 1997).

When the gender of the child was taken into account, a significant difference was noted (p<.05) in influence of relatives and influence of magazines, with parents of girls observing a stronger influence from both of these sources. Other researchers concur with the observation of parents in the current study. Not only do a high percentage (60%) of girls aged 10-14 turn to fashion magazines as a prime source for information on physical appearance and dieting behaviors, but a positive correlation exists between reading fashion magazines and dieting (Levine, et al., 1994; Field, et al., 1999).

When asked how satisfied their children were with their own body weight, more parents of girls indicated that their children thought they were too heavy (38% vs. 18% for boys, p<.05). This is consistent with what was found in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey that indicated that girls were more likely than boys to try to lose weight or to think they were overweight even if they were not (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000).

Parents were asked if they were concerned about six different issues: body image, physical activity, nutrition, eating disorders, self-esteem, and depression. Parents were mostly concerned about nutrition and self-esteem (75%), followed by physical activity (65%) and body image (64%). These data are presented in Table 1. Parents were less concerned about eating disorders (48%) and depression (52%).

Parents were asked what is the best way to teach your child about positive body image, self-esteem and proper nutrition? They could check as many answers as applied. Parents indicated that programs at school (78%) and materials for use at home (64%) were the best way to educate children about these issues (Figure 1).

Figure 1.
Preferred Formats for Receiving Free Programs Related to Self-Esteem, Body Image, and Nutrition for Youth

When asked what format would be of most interest for free in-home materials, video was by far the most popular (64%). None of the other possible formats were acceptable in large numbers: newsletter (19%), audiotape (1%), computer program (5%),Web site (4%), don't want or need (7%). These data indicate that there is substantial interest on the part of parents for in-home materials to inform them about body image, self-esteem, and nutrition. However, there still is the perception that this is a topic that should be addressed in the school environment.

Data were examined with respect to education, race, and income of the parents. There were no differences seen in the pattern of answers with respect to education. When race was examined, several differences were found. African American parents were more concerned about depression and eating disorders (p<.05) than other parents in the sample. This is consistent with recent data that suggests that African American young women may exhibit more eating disorder pathology than previously expected (Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992; Striegel-Moore, Schreiber, et al., 2000; Striegel-Moore, Wilfley, et al., 2000; Yanovski, 1993).

Historically, problems associated with poor body image were seen mostly in Caucasian youth. However, this survey revealed that both Caucasian and African American parents were concerned to a similar extent about body image. Other studies have revealed these similarities as well (Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992; Hill, Draper, & Stack, 1994; Mendelson & White, 1982; Robinson, et al., 1996; Wardle & Marsland, 1990). Problems with body image are no longer reserved for Caucasian females. Caucasian parents thought movies, peers, and parents had more influence on how their child felt about their body than did African American parents (p<.05).

To examine income, a variable was created using household income and number of children in the home. Respondents were then placed in two groups. Group 1, low-income, was classified as <20K for household income per child (n=93); Group 2, higher-income, was classified as >20K for household income per child (n=113). (Note: 12 respondents did not answer the income questions.) The low-income group wanted home materials and was more concerned about depression in their children (p<.05) than the high-income group. The high-income group wanted schools to teach about positive body image, self-esteem, and proper nutrition more than did the low-income group.

Application

Adolescence is a time of rapid change with respect to social, physical, and emotional development. Creating meaningful solutions to address body image, self esteem, and healthy eating is of great importance for parents of teens. These data indicate that parents are very interested and concerned about issues of body image and self-esteem for their children.

While parents believe that schools are the best place for children to learn about these issues, they also indicated an interest in receiving in-home materials, specifically video. Extension professionals play a vital role in working with parents and youth on self-esteem, body image, and healthy eating. Schools are often sought out to address these issues; however, if education for youth is not coupled with education for parents and other family members, it will fail to achieve maximum effectiveness.

Extension professionals can educate parents and youth, as well as begin dialog within the family, about these complicated issues, e.g., lesson plans could be developed for Junior High School teachers with follow-up materials sent home for parents that would promote such dialog. Extension professionals can be leaders in educating families about these issues. Extension programs should be created to address the influence of peers and the media on body image and self-esteem. There is a need for curricula that addresses these issues and that includes both school and family components. School materials that are already in place can be expanded to involve outreach to parents.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2000). CDC surveillance summaries, MMWR 2000;49 (No. SS-5).

Feldman, W., Feldman, E., & Goodman, J. T. (1988). Culture versus biology: Children's attitudes toward thinness and fatness. Pediatrics, 81 (2), 190-194.

Field, A. E., Cheung, L., Wolf, A. M., Herzog, D.B., Gortmaker, S. L., & Colditz, G. A. (1999). Exposure to the mass media and weight concerns among girls. Pediatrics, 103 (3), E36.

Gustafson-Larson, A. M., & Terry, R. D. (1992). Weight-related behaviors and concerns of fourth-grade children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 92 (7), 818-822.

Heinberg, L. J., Wood, K. C., & Thompson, J. K. (1996). Body image. In Rickert, VI (Ed), Adolescent nutrition: Assessment and management (pp.136-152). New York: Chapman and Hall.

Hill, A. J., Draper, E., & Stack, J. (1994). A weight on children's minds: Body shape dissatisfactions at 9-years old. International Journal of Obesity, 18, 383-389.

Killen, J. D., Taylor, C. B., Hammer, L. D., Litt, I., Wilson, D.M., Rich, T., Hayward, C., Simmonds, B., Kraemer, H., & Varady, A (1993). An attempt to modify unhealthful eating attitudes and weight regulation practices of young adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 13 (4), 369-384.

Koff, E., & Rierdan, J. (1991). Perceptions of weight and attitudes toward eating in early adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 12, 307-312.

Levine, M. P., Smolak, L., & Hayden, H. (1994). The relation of sociocultural factors to eating attitudes and behaviors among middle school girls. Journal of Early Adolescence, 14 (4), 471-490.

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Robinson, T. N., Killen, J. D., Litt, I. F., Hammer, L. D., Wilson, D. M., Haydel, K. F., Hayward, C., & Taylor, C. B. (1996). Ethnicity and body dissatisfaction: Are Hispanic and Asian girls at increased risk for eating disorders? Journal of Adolescent Health, 19, 384-393.

Sands, R., Tricker, J., Sherman, C., Armatas, C., & Maschette, W. (1997). Disordered eating patterns, body image, self-esteem, and physical activity in preadolescent school children. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 21 (2), 159-166.

Striegel-Moore, R. H., Schreiber, G. B., Lo, A., Crawford, P., Obarzanek, E., & Rodin, J. (2000). Eating disorder symptoms in a cohort of 11 to 16-year-old black and white girls: The NHLBI Growth and Health Study, International Journal of Eating Disorders, 27:49-66.

Striegel-Moore, R. H., Wilfley, D. E., Pike, K. M., Dohm, F. A., & Fairburn, C. G. (2000). Recurrent binge eating in black American women. Archives of Family Medicine, 9:830-87.

Thelen, M. H., Powell, A. L., Lawrence, C., & Kuhnert, M. E. (1992). Eating and body image concerns among children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 21 (1), 41-46.

Wardle, J., & Marsland, L. (1990). Adolescent concerns about weight and eating; A social-developmental perspective. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 34 (4), 377-391.

Winn, K. I., Reif, L., & White, J. M. Perception of family appraisal as an influence on body image. Paper presented November, 1997 at the 59th Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, Arlington VA.

Yanovski, S. Z. (1993). Binge eating disorder: Current knowledge and future directions. Obesity Research, 1:306-318.

Parents' Perceptions of Life Skills Gained by Youth Participating in the 4-H Beef Project

Chris T. Boleman
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
ct-boleman@tamu.edu

Scott R. Cummings
Assistant Department Head and Program Leader for Extension Education
s-cummings@tamu.edu

Gary E. Briers
Professor and Associate Department Head
g-briers@tamu.edu

Department of Agricultural Education
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas

Introduction

What life skills are youth gaining by participating in the 4-H beef project? According to Boyd, Herring, and Briers (1992), the development of life skills through experiential learning is the cornerstone of the 4-H program. Several studies have been conducted to determine benefits youth gain from participating in 4-H livestock projects. Ward's (1996) study of 4-H alumni in New Jersey revealed that 4-H participation built seven life skills, including responsibility, relating to others, spirit of inquiry, decision making, public speaking, maintaining records, and building self esteem. Another study by Rusk, Martin, Talbert, & Balshweid (2002) concluded that the Indiana 4-H livestock judging program has positively affected the lives of its participants.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of the discussed here study was to determine the life skills gained by youth participating in the 4-H beef project in Texas by asking parents to address the life skill development of their children. The objectives were more specifically defined as:

1. Determine the life skills gained by youth participating in the 4-H beef project as perceived by their parents;

2. Measure the relationship between individual life skills and days of ownership of the 4-H beef project; and

3. Measure the relationship between individual life skills and years of participation in the 4-H beef project.

Methods and Procedures

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board-Human Subjects in Research, Texas A&M University (project # 2002-307). The study used an ex post facto approach and a correlational design. The purpose of the correlational research was to evaluate the relationships between variables by using correlational statistics (Gall, Borg, & Gall, 1996).

The target population was defined as parents of 4-H youth participating in the 4-H beef project. Texas 4-H (2000) revealed that there were 6,347 youth who completed an enrollment form and said that they had intentions during 2001 to own a beef project. Parents of these 6,347 youth were considered the accessible population for this study. These youth were described as 4-H members ranging in age from 8-19 and were in 3rd to 12th grade in school. Youth names and mailing addresses were generated from the Texas 4-H enrollment report and placed into a data base management system. This database served as the sampling frame for this study.

A simple random sample was used as the sampling procedure for the study. Therefore, a 5% random sample was drawn from these 6,347 names in the database.

A mailed questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was designed to determine the perceived life skills gained from youth participating in the 4-H beef project. The specific life skills measured are listed below.

• Decision making

• Ability to relate to others

• Develop and maintain records

• Accepting responsibility

• Build positive self esteem

• Self motivation

• Knowledge of the livestock industry

• Develop organizational skills

• Ability to problem solve

• Develop oral communication skills

• Setting goals

• Develop self-discipline

• Work in teams

Respondents were asked to provide their perceptions of the magnitude for life skill development as a result of raising the 4-H beef project. The scale was slightly modified from Rusk et al. (2002) and was defined as 1 = Not Influential At All, 2 = Mildly Influential, 3 = Moderately Influential, 4 = Highly Influential, and 5 = Essential. A second section was included to ask background information and demographic information.

The questionnaire was developed with input from 14 Texas Cooperative Extension employees at Texas A&M University and one individual from Texas Tech University. More specifically, these individuals included: three faculty members in the Department of Agricultural Education, three faculty members from the Department of Animal Science, one faculty member from the Department of Agricultural Economics, three faculty members from the 4-H & Youth Development Program, four County Extension Agents-Agricultural and Natural Resources, and one faculty from the Department of Agricultural Education and Communications at Texas Tech University. As suggested by Gall et al. (1996), face and content validity were assessed by these 15 individuals.

Twenty-five students from Texas A&M University enrolled in Animal Science 315 (Principles of Livestock Evaluation) were used to pilot the instrument. These respondents evaluated the instrument to assess for face validity. Several noted instructions and wording that were unclear to the reader. These students were also asked to complete the instrument and turn it in to the researcher with only the instructions provided in the document. Reliability (internal consistency) of the life skill development scale was estimated from these data. SPSS 11.0 for Windows was used for analysis. A Cronbach's coefficient alpha was computed to be .87 for the 13 statements in the life skill development section. As a result of this pilot test, final corrections were made, and the instrument was deemed ready for mailing.

Procedures outlined in Dillman's Tailored Design Method were used for mail survey implementation and data collection (Dillman, 2000). A pre-notice letter was mailed to the parents of each youth in the original database. The purpose of this letter was to alert parents of these youth that a survey would be arriving shortly for them to complete. Also, the Assistant Director-County Programs for Texas Cooperative Extension sent an e-mail message to all County Extension Agents in 4-H and Agricultural and Natural Resources to make them aware of the survey that was being mailed directly to parents of youth participating in the 4-H beef project. Questionnaires, cover letters signed by the researcher and the Assistant Director for 4-H and Youth for the Texas 4-H Program, and business reply envelopes were sent to each parent.

Each questionnaire was identified with an identification number keyed to each of the participants. This number was used to identify and follow-up with nonrespondents. Two follow-up notifications were sent to participants. After 6 weeks, a second complete packet was mailed to each nonrespondent. Throughout survey implementation, returned letters and packets with incorrect addresses were updated, where possible, and re-mailed.

Handling Nonresponse Error

To handle nonresponse error, the researcher used procedures outlined by Lindner, Murphy, and Briers (2001). This encompassed contacting nonrespondents to compare their data to respondents. A phone survey was developed to gather data for comparison. Thirty parents of youth participating in the 4-H beef project were randomly selected from the nonrespondent database for participation. After random selection, the researcher contacted parents to interview using a phone survey. After data collection was complete, comparisons between respondents and nonrespondents were computed. Differences between respondents and nonrespondents were examined using an independent samples t test. No significant differences (p > .05) were calculated comparing respondents and nonrespondents.

Data Analysis

SPSS 11.0 for Windows software was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data. Frequencies, percentages, central tendency measures, and variability were used to describe the data. To determine the extent of the relationships between parents of youth participating in the 4-H beef projects and the life skills gained, inferential correlational or comparative techniques were used. These techniques included analysis of variance. Confidence intervals and tests for statistical significance were set a priori at the 0.05 level.

Results

One-hundred thirty-three of 317 surveys were returned (41.9%) from respondents. However, of these 133, only 89 were used for analysis. Several were returned blank or with a note saying they could not provide responses to the questions asked in the mailed survey.

Demographics

Participants were parents of youth involved in the 4-H beef project. The data that were reported reflect the parents' responses to questions/statements concerning their children's participating in the 4-H beef project. Of the 89 respondents to the gender question, 43 (48.3%) were male, and 46 (51.7%) were female. The mean age of the 4-H youth was 14.92 years of age (SD = 2.9), with 53 of the 89 (59.6%) revealing that their child was 15 years or older. The mean for years of participating in the beef project was 5.00 (SD = 3.0). Parents indicated that the mean projects purchased by their child was 2.38 (SD = 1.58). They also said that their child owned these projects an average of 287.66 days (SD = 71.4)

The last demographic-type question asked respondents to estimate the total number of hours per week their child worked with their beef projects. The categories provided were: 0 = 0 hours 1 = 1-4 hours, 2 = 5-8 hours, 3 = 9-12 hours, 4 = 13-16 hours, 5 = 17-20 hours, 6 = 21 or more hours per week. Of the 86 respondents, 44 (51.2%) said their children worked with their beef project either 5-8 hours or 9-12 hours per week. This was an even distribution, with each of these categories having a frequency of 22.

Objective 1

To determine the perceived life skills gained from youth participating in the 4-H beef project, 13 life skills were developed from previous studies by McCann and McCann (1992) and Rusk et al. (2002). The scale used for analysis was also used by McCann and McCann (1992) and Rusk et al. (2002). It was defined as: 1 = Not Influential At All, 2 = Mildly Influential, 3 = Moderately Influential, 4 = Highly Influential, 5 = Essential to the ultimate development of this attribute. Each of the projects was analyzed separately for life skill development.

The 13 life skills were analyzed individually to reveal mean values and standard deviations (Table 1). Parents were asked to determine if participating in the 4-H beef project influenced the development of these attributes in their children. The rank order for the top five mean scores was: "accepting responsibility" (4.48, SD = .62), followed by "setting goals" (4.28, SD=.82), "develop self-discipline" (4.24, SD = .72), "self motivation" (4.17, SD = .69), and "knowledge of the livestock industry" (4.16, SD = .86). In addition, 54% of the respondents of the beef project survey said that the beef project was essential in the development of "accepting responsibility" for their children. These results for the life skill "accepting responsibility" are supported by similar findings noted by Ward (1996).

Also, 47.8% of these respondents said that participating in the 4-H beef project was essential in teaching the life skill of "setting goals." An additional 38% said that participating in the 4-H beef project was essential in their children's "knowledge of the livestock industry." Rusk et al. (2002) found similar results in relation to the "knowledge of the livestock industry" life skill.

However, Ward's (1996) conclusions pertaining to "ability to relate to others" were not consistent with this study. This study revealed a mean score of 3.84 (SD=.84) for the life skill, "ability to relate to others," ranking this life skill 10th among the 13 life skill statements.

Different results were noted between this study and studies conducted by Ward (1996) and Vondy Wacker and Boyd (1992) for the life skill "develop and maintain records." This life skill revealed the second lowest mean response and the highest frequency for the "not influential at all" category.

Objective 2

A Pearson product moment correlation was used to measure the relationship between life skill development and days of ownership of the 4-H beef project. No life skill yielded a significant relationship (p < .05) with ownership days.

Objective 3

A Pearson product moment correlation was used to measure the relationship between life skill development and years of participation in the 4-H beef project. Low, positive relationships were noted for all 13 life skills (Table 2). Seven of the 13 life skills yielded (p < .05) significant relationships. These included: "Developing self discipline" = .348, "self motivation" = .300, "develop and maintain records" = .296, "accepting responsibility" = .292, "work in teams" = .283, "ability to relate to others", and "setting goals" = .267.

Davis (1971) provided adjectives to describe these magnitudes. Developing self discipline" = .348 and "self motivation" = .300 can be described as moderate, positive relationships, while "develop and maintain records" = .296, "accepting responsibility" = .292, "work in teams" = .283, "ability to relate to others", and "setting goals" = .267 are best described as low, positive relationships.

The summed mean values and years of participation in the 4-H beef project were also measured for correlation. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient for this analysis revealed a low, (p < .05) positive relationship of .295.

Conclusions

Parents of youth participating in the 4-H beef project did suggest that life skills are being enhanced. They also indicated that there is indeed a low to moderate, positive relationship between years of participation and life skill development. This suggests that the longer children actively engage in the project, the more likely they are developing life skills that will hopefully make them more productive as adults.

Extension employees often say that life skills of youth are being developed because these youth actively participate in livestock projects. However, when asked which life skills or how much development of life skills is truly taking place, employees are not adequately equipped with research-based findings that reveal answers to these questions. This study reveals that at least seven of these life skills are being developed. According to parents of these youth, the seven life skills that revealed mean values of greater than 4.0 included:

• Accepting responsibility,

• Setting goals,

• Develop self-discipline,

• Self motivation,

• Knowledge of the livestock industry,

• Build positive self esteem, and

• Decision making.

Today, all of us in Cooperative Extension and the 4-H & Youth Development Program are asked to be accountable for the programs that we do. This includes a measurable impact educational programs have on youth participants. It is important that we answer these questions using reliable and valid data. In order to do this, specific studies on youth programs provide answers to these questions. This study measured the beef project. Additional studies should measure other projects to see what life skills are being developed as a result of active participation in that specific 4-H project.

References

Boyd, B. L., Herring, D. R., & Briers, G. E. (1992). Developing life skills in youth. Journal of Extension [On-line], 30(4). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1992winter/a4.html

Davis, J. A. (1971). Elementary of survey analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Dillman, D. A. (2000). Mail and Internet surveys: The tailored design method (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Gall, M. D., Borg, W. R., & Gall, J. P. (1996). Educational research: An introduction (6th ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman Publishers USA.

Lindner, J. R., Murphy, T. H., & Briers, G. E. (2001). Handling nonresponse in social science research. Journal of Agricultural Education, 42(4), 43-53.

McCann, J. S., & McCann M. A. (1992). Judging team members reflection on the value of livestock, horse, meats, and wool judging programs. Professional Animal Scientist, 8:3, 7-11.

Rusk, C. P., Martin, C. A., Talbert, B. A., & Balshweid, M. A. (2002). Attributes of Indiana's 4- H livestock judging program. Journal of Extension [On-line], 40(2). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2002april/rb5.html

Vondy Wacker, D. A., & Boyd, G. W. (1992). Livestock projects for urban youth. Journal of Extension [On-line], 30(2). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1992summer/iw1.html

Ward, C. K. (1996). Life skill development related to participation in 4-H animal science projects. Journal of Extension [On-line], 34(2). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1996april/rb2.html

Family Violence Education in Public Waiting Rooms

Patrick Day
Area Extension Specialist
dayp@unce.unr.edu

Molly Latham
Area Extension Specialist
lathamm@unce.unr.edu

Geoffrey K. Leigh
Area Extension Specialist
leighg@unce.unr.edu

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension
Las Vegas, Nevada

Video instruction is a powerful tool for American learners of all ages. Currently, the average American child or adolescent spends more than 21 hours per week viewing television, not all of which is educational or even positive (American Academy on Pediatrics, 1999). Adults in households with televisions also are affected by the onslaught of video information, resulting in a culture dominated by television and comprised of "visual learners" (Strommen, 1998).

While much of the material offered on television is primarily for entertainment, The Effective Public Health Practice Project in Canada has found the use of video instruction to be useful in teaching mandatory programs in public health issues. The public's familiarity and comfort level makes video an important tool for health educators because it encourages and emotionally involves an audience, personalizes the issues, overcomes difficulties with literacy, and engages populations which prefer information in a visual format.

Cooperative Extension professionals at Utah State have recognized the benefits of video instruction for sensitive social education topics. Recognizing that hectic schedules, family responsibilities, and discomfort with sharing family problems in public or with strangers can get in the way of parents in crisis, community access cable has been used to teach parenting education classes (Dennis, Lee, & Jensen, 1995).

Programs such as this rely on advertising to stimulate interest for the program, and then learners choose to watch a particular program in the privacy of their home. In this scenario, exposure to the educational program is dependent upon the potential learner recognizing his or her own need for such information and taking the necessary action to view the program.

Exposure to an educational video on a topic relevant to the current environment or situation of the potential learner recognizes and utilizes the learning impact of the "teachable moment." The VOICES/VOCES program from the Center for Disease Control is a video-based HIV/STD prevention program designed to encourage condom use and to improve condom negotiation skills (O'Donnell, San Doval, Duran, & O'Donnell, 1995). Participants viewed the videos while visiting an STD clinic at a time when a person is more motivated to change behavior. After viewing the video, the participants in the survey had increased knowledge, had more realistic assessment of personal risk, and had fewer repeat STD infections.

The large population of family violence victims in need of information and education on available legal responses makes this topic ideal for media (video) instruction. The FBI estimates that, annually, a woman is beaten by her intimate partner every 15 seconds, for an estimated total victim population of three to four million women in the United States. In addition, there is a large child abuse problem in this country, with an estimated 963,000 victims of abuse and neglect in 1997, or approximately 109 cases being reported every hour in this country (National Clearinghouse, 2002), adding to the critical need for family violence educational intervention.

Video education is just one component of a multimedia approach that could enhance community efforts to address this problem, (Hillis, 1998). Video is the richest form of multimedia to present an entire program or shorter bites of information to raise awareness and refer to additional information. Yet little is known about the effects of such video education methods, especially in a social service setting.

The project discussed here explores the feasibility of using television and videotapes to provide education relevant to family violence and violence prevention to waiting room audiences. The study addresses the following questions:

• Will it be practical to conduct education regarding family violence using videotapes in a public waiting room?

• Will this method have an impact on the viewing audience, and will they report the possibility of change in the way they respond to anger as a result of watching the videos?

Methods

Four focus groups held at a large social service agency indicated the need for materials related to family violence. The project subjects were clients of this social service agency in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were a total of 27 participants in the four groups, and their demographic composition is reported in Table 1.

This agency agreed to test the use of family violence videos for delivering topical, relevant educational content to waiting room audiences. The clients would view the videos while waiting to be called for appointments with various social service staff. Due to the limitations of available staff, the agency decided to use agency volunteers to inform waiting room audiences of the available videos on family violence intervention and prevention, and to request that adults complete a short survey after watching the videos.

The videos selected are from a catalog of professionally produced products designed for the mass market. The production company produces quality products based on current research and practices in social issues. The videos focus on generic issues of family violence and avoid an emphasis on any particular type of client. The research team purchased the videos specifically for this project.

The team conducted a preliminary training session with the volunteer coordinators responsible for task assignment of the volunteer work force. This training consisted of previewing the videos to be shown, providing training in the collection of questionnaires, and stressing the importance of confidentiality for study participants. After the training, questionnaire forms were distributed, and the volunteers were trained in their completion and collection.

The survey instrument consisted of a one-page survey containing 6 questions (Figure 1). These questions covered possible ways the videos may have been of benefit to the participants; whether they prefer to watch videos, TV, or both in waiting rooms; and whether they might be interested in attending free violence prevention classes in the community if they were offered.

In order to ensure complete anonymity, volunteers were used to conduct the surveys after a video was shown. The participants then placed their completed surveys in one of three collection boxes for pickup by project staff. The three boxes were in different locations to make it convenient for client response and increase client anonymity. The volunteer staff never saw the completed surveys, nor did they ever see which box the participants used because they were placed in areas removed from the waiting area where the volunteers worked.

In addition to the confidentiality issue, every effort was made to ensure that the participants did not feel coerced to complete the survey in order to receive services. The survey had a prominent disclaimer that read: "This is strictly a voluntary program. Your participation or nonparticipation in this program will have no effect on the decision by the Social Service Department to grant or to deny you services or assistance." To reinforce this disclaimer, the surveys were collected separate from service interview areas, away from eligibility staff.

The project took place more than 18 months. Approximately 500 surveys were given to the agency, and a total of 126 completed surveys were returned. A number of surveys were misplaced or lost at the agency, so it is difficult to determine an accurate response rate. The overall participation rate of 25% was affected by the availability of volunteer staff, with several weeks passing without volunteer availability to show videos or to distribute surveys.

Nevertheless, there were enough responses returned to do some analysis of participant responses to the videos and the method in a waiting room setting. While the number of participants was lower than desired, the importance of their response relative to program planning should not be discounted, given the statistical significance of the responses from the survey.

Results

Of the 126 responses to the video survey, all but two provided some readable responses. In these two cases, the people could not hear the video. One of the two participants did not check any boxes, while the other checked the last two boxes anyway. Thus, we had 124 usable responses to the survey (including the one who checked the last two questions).

There were between three and 20 missing responses, with only three missing responses for the question about whether they would prefer to watch educational videos or regular television in the waiting room, and there were 20 missing responses on the questions about the video helping them manage their children's anger. All of the statistics were calculated only on the given responses for each question (pair-wise deletion) with no replacement used for missing data.

The very strong majority of the respondents found that the videos provided value in the following ways (Table 2).

• The videos gave them a better understanding of issues related to anger and violence (79%).

• The videos provided ways to manage their children's anger (70%).

• The videos gave them ways to manage their own behavior (77%).

• The videos were an additional benefit of the agency services (84%).

• The participants were interested in taking a prevention class if offered (64%)

• A slightly larger number of participants preferred watching regular television (46%), while others preferred videos (41%) or liked both (11%).

The initial test of significance was a simple t-test of whether the respondents were likely to report that the videos provided useful information to those watching. For the first three questions, there was a significant difference between those who said they found that the videos gave them useful information about issues related to anger and violence, managing their children's anger, and looking at new ways to manage own anger (p< .001). In each case, participants who responded to the questions found that the videos provided a significant increase in information regarding family violence.

People also found the videos to be an additional benefit offered by social services for those in the waiting room (p< .001). People seemed to like the videos and took advantage of them while waiting for services at the agency. In addition, respondents were more likely to report being interested in a prevention class if one were offered.

In order to determine if the differences were due to watching preferences, a basic chi-square test was conducted using the three categories of watching preference with two categories of gaining benefit, learning ways to manage anger, considering the videos a benefit of service, and a desire to attend a free violence prevention class in the community (Table 3). There was a significant difference between those who preferred watching videos and learning ways to manage their children's behavior (p< .001) and managing their own anger (p< .05). There also was a significant difference (p< .01) between those who were interested in attending a free anger management class, with the vast majority wanting to attend, and those who preferred to watch videos instead of regular television. Those who preferred regular television also were less interested in attending free classes in the community. There was no significant relationship between gaining a better understanding or seeing the videos as an additional service and the viewing preference.

Discussion

While those who preferred to watch educational videos in a waiting room seemed to get more ideas for dealing with issues in their lives and preferred to attend additional classes, there was no difference with those who preferred watching television for the general understanding of issues or seeing the videos as an additional benefit of the service. The videos were regarded as a benefit to the vast majority of clients in this service, whether or not they preferred watching such videos.

This perceived benefit has important implications relevant to the value of sharing educational information, at least with some clients, such as those who responded to this survey. Such a prevention method seems to have some impact on clients and is seen as desirable from their point of view, with only a small cost to an agency.

Further study will be necessary to test the impact of showing films on an on-going basis and with other topics. To evaluate the impacts, an agency simply could provide brief questionnaires for easy responses. This would ensure a constant stream of informational viewing opportunities. The agency staff would show the videos daily at different times with breaks in the content to ensure the "freshness" of information being provided.

While the videos were not shown in the privacy of the clients' homes, as with the Dennis et al. (1995) study, the processing of information was private. In this study, people watched and listened to the videos, incorporating information into their lives, without divulging personal information or history.

Similar to the study using STD videos (O'Donnell et al., 1995), the individuals in this study reported that the videos provided useful information and gave them ideas of how to change behaviors. While there is no measure as to actual changes in behaviors, it appears that such a method is useful in increasing information as well as increasing possible ways to change behavior in different sensitive topics.

One problem with this study was that volunteers were not always available to show the videos. If videos had been shown more consistently, there is greater likelihood that more people would have been reached. The availability of such staff or volunteers would take some commitment on the part of any agency to have such videos shown regularly. If such a small effort were made, it appears that an agency or office could increase the intervention that could take place with their clients.

References

Dennis, S. A., Lee, T. R., & Jenson, G. O. (1995). Using community access cable in an extension parenting education program. Journal of Extension, [On-line], 35(5). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1995april/a5.html

Eiser, R. J., & Eiser, C. (1996). Effectiveness of video for health education: a review. Health Education Authority, London.

Hillis, B. J. (1998). Internet multimedia in domestic violence prevention. Court Technology Bulletin, [On-line] 10(3). Available at: http://www.ncsc.dni.us/ncsc/bulletin/V10n03.htm

National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect (2002). Data from child maltreatment: Reports from the states to the national child abuse and neglect data system (MCANDS) and the national incidence study (NIS). Available at: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/news/stats/caperps.htm

O'Donnell, L. N., San Doval, A., Duran, R., & O'Donnell, C. (1995). Video-based sexually transmitted disease patient education: Its impact on condom acquisition. American Journal of Public Health, 85(6). 817-822.

Machinery Cost Estimates for Amish Farms

Randall E. James
Extension Agent, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Ohio State University Extension
Geauga County, Ohio
james.7@osu.edu

Introduction

There are now over 1,400 congregations, or church districts, of old and new order Amish spread across 33 states in the United States. The districts are clustered into more than 250 settlements of various sizes. The total Amish populations exceeds 170,000, and it more than doubles every 20 years. Over 40 new congregations are formed each year (Kraybill & Hofstetler, 2001).

Participation and presentations at recent conferences focused on Amish communities demonstrate that Extension workers are routinely asked to assist with Amish agricultural problems. Finding technically accurate, up-to-date information that is relevant to horse powered, Amish farm systems can be extremely challenging.

Extension workers have available a great deal of information to assist farmers in decision making on various crop and livestock enterprises. For example, Ohio State University annually produces farm enterprise budgets that list costs and returns for various crops and livestock (Moore et al., 2002). These budgets can be very helpful for modern agriculture; however, they are of marginal use to the Extension worker advising Amish farmers. While portions of the budgets, like seed costs and fertilizer, are similar in Amish and non-Amish farms, other portions are completely different.

One of the most difficult numbers to estimate on an Amish farm is machinery costs. The equipment used on Amish farms is largely dictated by the ordnung (spoken rules of the church district) of each church district (Kraybill & Olshan, 1994; Drake & James, 1993). A study conducted in 2002 estimated the major machinery costs on Amish farms in the Geauga Settlement, which is centered in Geauga County, Ohio. The settlement is the fourth largest Amish settlement in the world, with approximately 1,800 families and over 80 church districts (Kraybill & Hofstetler, 2001; Miller, 2001).

Methodology

Two county Extension workers facilitated discussions with three small groups of Amish farmers in the Geauga Amish settlement on machinery costs. Using a set interview guide, each group was asked to discuss and agree upon the average cost, average useful life, salvage value, and annual maintenance cost of 23 common pieces of machinery used on Amish farms. The participants were encouraged to discuss each piece of equipment individually and come to consensus on the various values. A maximum average life of any piece of equipment was set at 30 years, even though it is recognized that some equipment may last longer.

Because most of the equipment used on Amish farms is no longer manufactured, the farmers were instructed to establish the values based on a good, serviceable, used piece of equipment that a full time farmer might buy. The harrow, hay wagons, forecart, and hay tedder are typically bought new, so the farmers developed values based on new equipment in these cases. In addition, it was identified that manure spreaders are often purchased new, but a large number of farmers also buy used. Therefore, in the case of manure spreaders, values on both new and used equipment were generated.

In the studied Amish settlement, each farm typically owns a complete line of machinery, with the exception of the threshing machine, which is typically owned by a "threshing circle" of 2-6 farms. To derive each farm's machinery costs, it is necessary to divide the threshing machine numbers by the total number of farms in the circle.

Each group interview lasted approximately 45 to 60 minutes and was conducted in three different Amish homes. A host Amish farmer invited neighboring farmers to participate in the meetings. At the conclusion of all three meetings, mean values for each item were calculated and are presented in Table 1, in the Results and Discussion section. Total annual cost was established by:

(Mean Purchase Price - Mean Salvage Value) / (Mean Useful Life) = Depreciation,
Depreciation + Annual Maintenance + Opportunity Costs = Total Annual Cost

At the conclusion of the study, the researchers realized two important pieces of equipment, a pesticide sprayer and a broadcast fertilizer spreader, had been inadvertently omitted. Both of these pieces of equipment are ordinarily purchased new. The researchers visited and interviewed an Amish equipment dealer who supplies these to the community. This equipment dealer was able to provide the necessary information to include these items in Table 1.

A mechanical corn picker was not included in Table 1 because dry ear corn destined for the corn crib is picked and husked by hand in the Geauga Amish Settlement.

Results and Discussion

Some of the equipment in Table 1 is not common to conventional farms; therefore, additional explanation is needed.

• Corn Planter and Grain Drill - the same ground driven pieces of equipment that might be used on small non-Amish farms.

• Drag - a homemade wooden drag to be pulled by horses in the final tillage operation. The price listed reflects the cost of materials.

• Feed Grinder - standard hammer mill used on non-Amish farms, except it is converted to steel wheels and powered by a stationary tractor.

• Fertilizer Spreader - small hopper and broadcast spreader mounted on the running gears of a hay mower so that it is ground driven and pulled by horses.

• Field Sprayer  - small pesticide sprayer mounted on steel wheels, powered by gasoline engine and pulled through the field by horses.

• Forecart - a recent innovation in the Geauga Amish Settlement. This cart is hooked directly behind the horses and has a seat for the driver and a short drawbar to attach other farm implements. The forecart has greatly reduced the time it takes to change the horses from one farm implement to another. The carts are produced in local Amish blacksmith shops.

• Grain Binder and Corn Binder - cuts and ties bundles of small grain and silage corn, respectively, and drops them on the field. The sheaths of small grain are then picked up and shocked by the farm family and allowed to dry for approximately 2 weeks in the field prior to threshing. Bundles of silage corn are generally picked up by hand and thrown on a wagon to transport to the barn and silo within a day of being cut.

• Grain/Hay Elevator - standard web-type elevator used on conventional farms, except that it is always powered by a small gasoline engine.

• Harness - leather harness for draft horses. Harness for one draft horse costs approximately $200. Most Amish farms have at least four draft horses, but many farms have six or more draft horses, and the costs of harness may be proportionately larger.

• Hay Baler - conventional square bale baler modified with steel wheels and a gasoline motor mounted on the baler, that serves as a power source for the machine, instead of the normal power take off shaft coming from the tractor. This modified baler is then pulled through the field by a team of horses.

• Hay Loader - old style loose hay loader used in Amish church districts where the modified hay balers are not permitted. The loader, which is hitched behind the hay wagon, pulls hay off the field and deposits it on the wagon, where the farmer redistributes the load with a pitchfork. The hay loader is ground driven; therefore, no gasoline motor is needed for power. In this case, the power source is the team of horses pulling the wagon and loader.

• Hay Tedder - normally bought new and is a standard ground-driven piece of equipment used on both Amish and non-Amish farms.

• Hay Wagon - the same running gears and 8' x 16' bed that would be found on non-Amish farms. However, the pneumatic tires are replaced with steel wheels. Because the hay balers used do not have bale throwers, high sidewalls on the wagons are not needed. Baled hay is hand stacked by the farmer against a back upright, wooden standard. In the case of loose hay, wagons are also equipped with a shorter standard in the front. These wagons are also used to bring shocked small grain out of the field to the thrashing machine and bundled corn to the silage chopper, along with a variety of other farm tasks.

• Manure Spreader - new or used, ground-driven, box-type spreader for solid manure and bedding, which holds approximately 80 bushels of material.

• Plow, disc, and harrow - essentially the same pieces of equipment that would be used on a small conventional farm, except the tongue may be modified to accommodate a horse hitch. The plow is typically a one bottom "sulky," which means the farmer sits on a metal seat above the plow and drives a team of up to six draft horses. The disc is a standard conventional 8' disc, and the harrow is an 8' spring tooth.

• Rake - standard ground-driven, side-delivery 12' rake with steel wheels.

• Sickle Bar Hay Mower - simple old style riding hay mower, pulled by horses.

• Silage Chopper - an old style cutter box with blower. Chopper is powered by a flat belt connected to a stationary tractor. Whole corn stalks are brought from the field and fed into the machine, which chops them into silage length and blows them into the silo.

• Threshing machine - used to separate small grain seed from chafe and straw. Typically owned by a "threshing circle" of 2-6 farms, each farm's annual cost should be divided by the total number of farms in the circle. For example, each farm in a three-farm circle would have a total annual cost of one-third of $96 or $32.

• Tractor - McCormick Deering W6, Oliver 88, John Deere 40 or 50 series, or any similar tractor produced by other manufacturers. Most of these tractors were produced in the 1940's and 50's. They are kept in use by periodic major overhaul of the entire machine. Most are approximately 45 horse power, and all are steel wheeled. If they did not originally come with steel wheels, they are retrofitted with steel wheels prior to use on  Amish farms. These tractors are not permitted in the field in the Geauga Settlement. They are used as a stationary power source to operate equipment such as the threshing machine or a silage chopper in the barnyard. Power is transferred from the tractor to the equipment through a pulley on the side of the tractor and an old style flat belt.

Because draft horses are a major power source on Amish farms, the cost of their ownership and maintenance must also be included in the total machinery and maintenance costs. Discussions with local Amish farmers and horse producers, along with local auction prices, indicate that a serviceable 2-year-old draft horse mare or gelding, broke to harness, costs between $1,000 and $1,200, or a rough average of $1,100. The actual price range is much wider, varying from a few hundred dollars for animals unfit for farm work and often destined for export and human consumption, to many thousands of dollars for animals of show ring quality.

Barring an accident or fatal disease, most draft horses should have a working life of approximately 12 years. At the end of the good working years, they are often kept for light work until they die or get sick and have to be killed and buried. Thus, there is no salvage value. Therefore, $1,100 divided by 12 years is $91.67 per year, or about 25 cents a day for horse depreciation.

Valuing hay at $90 per ton and oats at $1.50 per bushel, it should cost approximately $675 per year to feed a working draft horse, (Kline, Porr, & Cardina, 2000). This figure includes hay, grain, and minerals. Approximately $25 per year should be added for vaccines and health care.

Most working draft horses are not shoed. The small amount of trimming and foot care necessary is typically performed by the farmer at little to no cost. Bedding costs are trivial. Because draft horses sleep standing up in stalls and rarely lay down, bedding is largely unnecessary.

The cost of housing and pasture are very difficult to estimate because horses are typically housed in the barn with dairy cattle or other livestock and also graze with the other livestock. Therefore, it is easiest to charge all the pasture and housing costs to the cows or other livestock. This is particularly valid because the horses are primarily there to serve the needs of the cows and other livestock.

Therefore, the total annual cost of owning and maintaining a draft horse can be estimated as $92 per year for depreciation and $700 per year for feed and health care, for a total of $792 per year, or $2.20 per day. Because a harness is absolutely necessary to utilize the power of the draft horse, the cost of the harness should be included with the cost of the horse. The total annual cost of single harness is $30, or $0.08 per day. Therefore, the total daily cost of the draft horse, including harness, is approximately $2.28 per day. This number is rounded to $2.30 per day so as not to imply greater accuracy than the calculation methods support.

A remaining challenge is to estimate the number of "horse days" allocated to each enterprise in order to calculate an enterprise budget. A "horse day" is simply the amount of time that goes into a project or enterprise. For example, if a farmer plows all day with five horses, that's five horse days, with a value of $11.50. Horse days needed for each farm enterprise can be estimated through discussions with local Amish farmers.

Implications for Extension

Information from this study will be most helpful for Extension workers preparing farm enterprise budgets and educational presentations for Amish clientele. Individual equipment budgets can be constructed for various crops. For example, an oat crop would need a grain drill, plow, disc, harrow, drag, wagon, threshing machine, hay baler, grain elevator, and tractor. It would not need a rake, hay tedder, sickle bar mower, corn binder, silage chopper, etc. Dividing the necessary complement of equipment for each crop by an average number of acres produced will generate an approximate equipment cost. Table 2 provides an example of annual machinery costs for an oat crop on an Amish farm.

If it was found through discussions with local Amish farmers that, if 5 horse days, at $2.30 per day, are needed to produce small grain, then $12  per acre should be added to the total machinery costs. In this example, $12 for horse time would be added to the $33 machinery cost per acre generated in Table 2 for a total machinery and horse charge of $45. In the case of the Ohio State University Enterprise Budgets, this is $15 per acre less than the non-Amish budget.

The Extension worker can then use this number ($45) to replace the machinery charge in existing enterprise budgets and estimate total costs of small grains in horse drawn systems. The new budget would be much more realistic for Amish farmers and would provide a powerful educational tool to the Extension worker.

References

Drake, B., & James, R. (1993). Extension in Religious Communities. Journal of Extension [On-line], 31(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1993spring/a6.html

Extension Education in Amish and other Anabaptist Communities. Conference Proceedings (1998). Shipshewana, Indiana.

Kline, R., Porr, S., & Cardina, J. (2000). Horse Nutrition. Bulletin 762. Ohio State University Extension.

Kraybill, D., & Olshan, M. (1994). The Amish struggle with modernity. University Press of New England.

Kraybill, D., & Hofstetler, N. (2001). Anabaptist world. Herald Press, Scottsdale, Pennsylvania.

Miller, A. (2001). Ohio Amish directory, Geauga County and vicinity. Carlisle Printing, Sugarcreek, Ohio.

Moore, et al. (2002). Ohio enterprise budgets. Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, Ohio State University Extension. Available at: http://aede.ag.ohio-state.edu/people/moore.301/index.htm

Serving Amish and Anabaptist Communities. Conference Proceedings (2001). Walnut Creek, Ohio.

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