Using lay health promoters in occupational health: outcome evaluation in a sample of Latino poultry-processing workers.

Lay Health Promoters (LHPs) are widely used in community health education, but their use and evaluation in occupational health has been limited to farm workers. Evaluation data were collected from 30 randomly selected Latino poultry processing workers who had an encounter with an LHP who delivered Maria's Story, an occupational health lesson about cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs). Participants had good recall of Maria's Story. Most participants (n = 18, 60%) could identify the primary occupational health exposure linked to CTDs, more than 50% of participants (n = 16) could recall one or more ways of preventing CTDs, and 43.3% (n = 13) described in detail recommended treatments. Nearly one-half (n = 12) reported an occupational health behavior change after hearing Maria's Story. The results of this study suggest that LHPs may be effective in promoting occupational health and reducing occupational health disparities among ethnic minorities in high-risk occupations.