Using the Health Action Model to plan food safety educational materials for Hispanic workers in the mushroom industry

Sometimes educational materials do not work because they are designed without examining the worksite social and environmental factors affecting the target audience. Educational materials based on application of theory-based models may address more effectively the cause of food safety problems. The objective of this project was to use the Health Action Model (HAM) as a framework for developing food safety educational materials for Hispanic workers in the mushroom industry. HAM identifies five constructs or systems that represent conditions surrounding mushroom workers: Baseline food safety knowledge, normative system, motivational system, food safety/belief system, and appropriate working environment and conditions. Some refinements of the motivational construct were made for its use in this research. The Health Action Model provided a framework in which the variables that influence food safety behaviors were identified and described. The findings provided by using this framework were helpful to identify factors that should be taken into account in designing an educational intervention for Hispanic workers in the mushrooms industry. It is felt that the HAM model can be used as a guide to develop customized food safety educational materials at a variety of different settings and target audiences in food production facilities.