Methods for recruiting white, black, and hispanic working-class women and men to a study of physical and social hazards at work: the United for Health study

Int J Health Serv. 2007;37(1):127-44. doi: 10.2190/B0N2-5850-6467-0230.

Abstract

Despite research on work and health having a long-standing concern about unjust exposures and inequitable burdens of disease, there are few studies that document the joint distribution and health effects of physical and psychosocial hazards (e.g., noise, dusts, fumes, and job strain) and social hazards (e.g., racial discrimination and gender harassment) encountered at work. Also, there is a paucity of data on how these exposures, singly and combined, are distributed in relation to sociodemographic characteristics including race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic position, and nativity. This article presents a conceptual model for redressing these knowledge gaps and describes recruitment strategies and the characteristics of study participants in the United for Health study. Working with labor unions, the authors recruited 14 (67%) of 21 worksites from manufacturing, meat processing, retail, and transportation, and 1,282 workers (72% response rate), of whom 62 percent were men, 36 percent were women, 39 percent were black, 23 percent were Hispanic, 25 percent were white, 31% earned less than a living wage, 40 percent were below the poverty level, and 23 percent had less than a high school education.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Black or African American / education
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Hispanic or Latino / education
  • Hispanic or Latino / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Labor Unions
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Occupational Diseases / ethnology
  • Occupational Exposure*
  • Occupational Health*
  • Patient Selection*
  • Prejudice
  • Research*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • United States / epidemiology
  • White People / education
  • White People / statistics & numerical data*
  • Workplace*