Health Communications for Migrant Produce Workers in the U.S. Open Access

Rodriguez Morales, Coralis K. (Spring 2021)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/1n79h5351?locale=en
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Abstract

In April 2020, produce workers were declared “essential workers” to protect America’s food supply chain. This meant that produce workers had to work during stay-at-home orders enacted nationwide. Workers were disproportionally impacted by COVID-19 outbreaks which created the need to inform this community on COVID-19 preventive measures. High prevalence of limited literacy, a monolingual Spanish population, and difficult to understand guidance, produced gaps in information among produce workers. The goal of this special studies project was to protect produce workers and their community by keeping them informed on COVID-19 protective measures through the development of a series of infographics with COVID-19 information using visuals and plain language. A total of 20 messages were developed based on information obtained from federal and non-federal resources. The messages covered topics related to direct and indirect transmission of COVID-19, face coverings, and symptoms. These messages were transformed into infographics with concise messaging and visuals that could deliver the message to workers with limited literacy. The English versions of these infographics were analyzed to determine the readability level and were later manually translated into Spanish. To ensure that the content and visuals were meeting the project’s goal, partners from Oregon State University and Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León assisted with providing important feedback during the development of infographics. With this feedback, several changes were made to improve the messages and general aesthetics of the infographics. A total of 42 infographics were developed with the English versions ranging from 3rd to 8th grade level of readability. A guiding document on how to use these infographics was also created describing original source content, usage, placement, grade level of the infographics, and descriptions of the images included in each infographic. This project produced new communications materials available to workers and growers to download for free, helping close some gaps in access to information. Lastly, it has provided one more tool to the food and agriculture industry to help keep produce workers informed on COVID-19.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Literature Review 1

Essential Workers 1

Vulnerability of Produce Workers 2

Vulnerability to COVID-19 7

Effective Communication for Produce Workers 11

Significance of Informing Produce Workers 15

Chapter 2: Methods 16

Developing the Infographics 16

Selecting sources of information 16

Selecting the Messages 17

Selecting a Software 17

Selecting Sizes and Fonts 17

Selecting Color Palettes 18

Selecting Text Colors 18

Spanish Translation 19

Readability 19

Obtaining Feedback 20

Incorporating Feedback 20

Chapter 3: Infographics 22

Messages and Categories 22

Workplace Infographics 24

Housing Infographics 27

Transportation Infographics 29

Guiding Document 30

Chapter 4: Discussion & Public Health Implications 32

Discussion 32

Infographics 32

Guiding Document 33

Overall Strengths and Limitations 34

Public Health Implications 35

Future Research 36

Takeaways 36

Bibliography 38

Appendix 1: English Infographics 48

Appendix 2: Spanish Infographics 70

Appendix 3: Guiding Document 92

 

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