A tool from social marketing can help Extension agents understand distinct audience segments among their constituents. Defining targeted audiences for Extension programming is a first step to influencing behavior change among the public. An online survey was conducted using an Extension email list for urban households receiving a monthly lawn and garden newsletter. The results describe particular constituent groups or segments, defined by their landscape conservation practices. Extension agents can use audience segmentation to design programming that targets the behaviors, expectations, and lifestyles of specific members of their community and identify emerging issues.
Efforts to disseminate heat-related illness (HRI) prevention practices among Latino farmworkers represent a critical occupational safety strategy in Florida. Targeted initiatives, however, require understanding the workplace dynamics that guide agricultural safety behaviors. This article reports focus group data collected in 2018 from citrus harvesters in central Florida and provides an in-depth perspective on the workplace culture that shapes their implementation of heat safety measures. Results indicate that citrus harvesters regularly suffered HRI symptoms yet rarely reported or sought treatment for their injuries. In some cases, the risks of developing HRI were accepted as a facet of agricultural work and harvesters blamed themselves for their illnesses. Implementation of safety practices hinged less on knowledge than on the availability of water and rest breaks and the quality of employer-employee relations and exchanges. Thus, trust was a determinant of workers’ attitudes toward management that contributed to a harvesting operation’s safety climate. Results highlight the difficulties of putting into practice measures that are not rewarded by the workplace culture and suggest that the extent to which intervention strategies promote not only individual safety behaviors but organizational accountability may predict their effectiveness.
This study presents a program review of a Cooperating Teacher Preparation and Support Program intervention within school-based agricultural education teacher preparation programs, employing Diffusion of Innovations and the Concerns-Based Adoption Model to explore the adoption behaviors of agricultural education teacher preparation university program coordinators. The study reveals the crucial role of formalized preparation and ongoing support for cooperating teachers in fostering successful mentorship experiences during student teaching internships. Drawing from the insights of program coordinators, the findings highlighted the program’s compatibility with existing structures, addressing gaps in cooperating teacher training. The Diffusion of Innovations characteristics—relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and trialability—are pivotal in shaping coordinators’ perceptions and decisions. Concerns-Based Adoption Model stages of concern, ranging from informational to refocusing, illuminate the evolution of coordinators’ concerns during the adoption process. The study contributes essential insights into the complexities of implementing mentorship programs, emphasizing the need for ongoing support, collaboration, and adaptation. Recommendations advocate for integrating structured mentorship programs in teacher preparation, collaboration among universities, and a culture of continuous evaluation.
19 May 2020 in Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
JAFSCD: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Publication of the Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems