Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to blood cholinesterase level among tobacco farmers in Northern Thailand
Metadata
Authors
Norkaew, S., Punkhun, S.
Document title
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to blood cholinesterase level among tobacco farmers in Northern Thailand
Publication title
Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal.
Year of publication
2018
Abstract
Tobacco is one of the crops using a lot of pesticides, especially organophosphate and carbamate pesticides. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate knowledge, attitudes, and Practices (KAP) related to blood cholinesterase levels related to pesticide use among tobacco farmers. A questionnaire and a reactive-paper finger blood test were completed by 44 tobacco farmers. The results showed that most of the participants were females (75.0%) between 51 and 60 years old (54.5%). Almost 95.5% of respondents acknowledged that they should wear a mask while spraying and most of them read pesticide labels before use (93.2%). Most of the tobacco farmers had moderate level of knowledge and attitudes, 63.6% and 70.5%, respectively and good practice (84.1%). The prevalence of risky levels of blood cholinesterase among tobacco farmers in the study area was high. The study found a strongly significant association between level of knowledge and blood cholinesterase level (P < 0.001). Policy implementation and risk communication will be introduced to the community in order to develop a safety program. Government authorities should be provided with the appropriate recommendations regarding pesticide exposure of tobacco farmers in this area.