Heat Strain Prevention in Elderly Agricultural Workers

April 21, 2024 updated by: Mostafa Shaban, Cairo University

The Impact of a Sustainable Prevention Program on Heat Strain Among Agricultural Elderly Workers in the Context of Climate Change

The study explores a multi-component heat strain prevention program for older agricultural workers in response to climate change. It assesses hydration, rest breaks, reflective clothing, and shade provision. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, it targets 120 elderly workers, evaluating core temperature, heart rate, and heat strain symptoms. The goal is to establish the program's effectiveness in safeguarding worker health and safety amidst increasing temperatures, offering evidence-based recommendations for this vulnerable group and potentially other occupations affected by climate change.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This intervention study is designed to assess the efficacy of a sustainable heat strain prevention program tailored for elderly agricultural workers. It targets a specific population of 120 workers aged 60 years and above from Manial Shiha village. The study utilizes a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design, dividing participants into intervention and control groups.

The core of the study involves a 4-week Sustainable Prevention Program, emphasizing practical and adoptable strategies like adequate hydration, regular rest breaks, the use of lightweight reflective clothing, and the provision of portable shade covers. This program is delivered through interactive methods including lectures, demonstrations, and group discussions, supplemented with educational materials.

Physiological responses to the program will be rigorously measured, employing core temperature sensors and heart rate monitors to provide objective data on the physical impact of the interventions. These measures, along with self-reported symptoms and heat strain levels collected through structured questionnaires, form the basis for a comprehensive evaluation of the program's effectiveness.

The study aims to provide a quantifiable reduction in heat strain indicators, offering insights into the program's potential for broader application in similar vulnerable populations

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

120

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 60 years or older
  • Actively working in agricultural occupations (farming, field labor, etc.)
  • Available to participate during the 4-week intervention timeline
  • Fluent in spoken and written Arabic
  • Agree to wear physiological monitoring devices during work

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to provide informed consent
  • Cognitive impairments affecting ability to understand and implement program guidelines
  • Dependence on supportive equipment like canes or wheelchairs
  • Chronic medical conditions expected to worsen with heat exposure (e.g. uncontrolled cardiovascular disease, kidney failure)
  • Required regular medications that impair thermoregulation
  • Allergies or sensitivities to monitoring devices and their attachments that cannot be mitigated

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sustainable Prevention Program

Participants will receive the 4-week Sustainable Prevention Program consisting of lectures, demonstrations, group discussions, and educational materials focused on:

Hydration strategies (proper amounts and types of fluids, reminders for intake) Rest breaks (frequency, duration, scheduling) Lightweight reflective clothing

Device: Core Temperature Sensor

Participants might be equipped with a core temperature sensor to monitor their internal body temperatures. This device will provide continuous, real-time data crucial for understanding the physiological impacts of the prevention strategies and ensuring participant safety.

Device: Heart Rate Monitor

A heart rate monitor will be used to track the cardiovascular responses of the participants to heat and physical activity. This data is essential to assess the strain on participants' bodies and the effectiveness of the prevention strategies in mitigating stress.

Portable shade covers
Other: Sustainable Heat Strain Prevention Program for Agricultural Elderly Workers (SHiP-AEW)
The SHiP-AEW is a 4-week multifaceted intervention program focused on evidence-based heat strain prevention strategies for agricultural workers over 60 years old. Delivered through weekly 1-hour sessions, the program incorporates the following primary components:
No Intervention: Control
Participants will receive no intervention and follow their usual workplace heat strain prevention measures such as basic hydration and voluntary rest breaks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in heat strain score from baseline to post-intervention
Time Frame: Baseline heat strain scores will be calculated from questionnaires completed 1 week prior to launching the program Post-intervention heat strain scores will be calculated from questionnaires completed within 1 week after finishing the 4-week program

The heat strain score is calculated from participant questionnaires assessing environmental conditions, workload, access to shade, and individual heat tolerance symptoms. Scores range from 0-30, with higher scores indicating greater levels of heat strain. Heat strain levels are categorized as low/no strain (score <13.5), potential risk (13.6-18), or high risk (>18).

The primary outcome measure will evaluate the change in heat strain score from baseline (before starting the Sustainable Prevention Program) to post-intervention (after completing the 4-week program).
Baseline heat strain scores will be calculated from questionnaires completed 1 week prior to launching the program Post-intervention heat strain scores will be calculated from questionnaires completed within 1 week after finishing the 4-week program

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Cairo University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 10, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 18, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 20, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 18, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 4, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

January 5, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 23, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 21, 2024

Last Verified

April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • sustenableheat

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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