From Suffering to Silence to Health Empowerment: A Proposed Research Agenda for Agricultural Worker Health
Author: Lighthall, David PhD; Mines, Rick PhD
Date Published: 2001
By sponsoring of the California Agricultural Workers Health Survey (CAWHS) and publishing the survey's results in Suffering in Silence: A Report on the Health of California's Agricultural Workers. The California Endowment has achieved several notable goals to date. First, reminiscent of Edward R. Murrow's Fields of Shame, the Suffering in Silence report has helped focus national and, in particular, state public attention to the plight of the state's 1.3 million farmworkers and their families. Second, the report, the ensuing media coverage, and numerous public presentations of the results by CIRS has energized California's farmworker advocacy organizations and given new hope for long-term policy solutions to farmworker health and housing needs. Third, the large volume of empirical data gathered by the California Institute for Rural Studies in the CAWHS and the companion study, the Binational Health Survey (BHS), has led to additional research reports highlighting new findings. These insights reinforce Suffering in Silence and the larger rationale for a policy development agenda. And fourth, as originally intended, the CAWHS and BHS have provided TCE with a sound basis for further programmatic development in the area of farmworker health, a critical component of its larger commitment to multicultural health in California. This document sets forth general conceptual framework for a continuation of this productive collaboration between The California Endowment and the California Institute for Rural Studies. With the recent five year commitment on the part of the Endowment Board of a $50 million investment in this program area and the empirical base provided by the two CIRS surveys, the opportunity for creative solutions in the field of farmworker health is clearly in place. Specifically, the research agenda outlined below is designed to act as a bridge between the baseline of farmworker health information established by the two CIRS surveys and TCE's programmatic development. The concept paper begins with a problem statement outlining the survey findings and their place within the larger matrix of challenges and constraints faced by California's farmworker population. This is followed by a summary of CIRS' research role in the program to date and a discussion of its qualifications for further involvement. The main body of the paper then discusses a set of prospective goals and objectives for CIRS research efforts across the duration of TCE's farmworker health initiative. Short-term objectives-those preparatory to the launching of the initiative in fall 2001, are discussed in some detail. Equally important, we place these efforts within a larger functional and temporal framework based on Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III nomenclature.
Date Published: 2001
By sponsoring of the California Agricultural Workers Health Survey (CAWHS) and publishing the survey's results in Suffering in Silence: A Report on the Health of California's Agricultural Workers. The California Endowment has achieved several notable goals to date. First, reminiscent of Edward R. Murrow's Fields of Shame, the Suffering in Silence report has helped focus national and, in particular, state public attention to the plight of the state's 1.3 million farmworkers and their families. Second, the report, the ensuing media coverage, and numerous public presentations of the results by CIRS has energized California's farmworker advocacy organizations and given new hope for long-term policy solutions to farmworker health and housing needs. Third, the large volume of empirical data gathered by the California Institute for Rural Studies in the CAWHS and the companion study, the Binational Health Survey (BHS), has led to additional research reports highlighting new findings. These insights reinforce Suffering in Silence and the larger rationale for a policy development agenda. And fourth, as originally intended, the CAWHS and BHS have provided TCE with a sound basis for further programmatic development in the area of farmworker health, a critical component of its larger commitment to multicultural health in California. This document sets forth general conceptual framework for a continuation of this productive collaboration between The California Endowment and the California Institute for Rural Studies. With the recent five year commitment on the part of the Endowment Board of a $50 million investment in this program area and the empirical base provided by the two CIRS surveys, the opportunity for creative solutions in the field of farmworker health is clearly in place. Specifically, the research agenda outlined below is designed to act as a bridge between the baseline of farmworker health information established by the two CIRS surveys and TCE's programmatic development. The concept paper begins with a problem statement outlining the survey findings and their place within the larger matrix of challenges and constraints faced by California's farmworker population. This is followed by a summary of CIRS' research role in the program to date and a discussion of its qualifications for further involvement. The main body of the paper then discusses a set of prospective goals and objectives for CIRS research efforts across the duration of TCE's farmworker health initiative. Short-term objectives-those preparatory to the launching of the initiative in fall 2001, are discussed in some detail. Equally important, we place these efforts within a larger functional and temporal framework based on Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III nomenclature.
