Prevalence of Foot Injuries and Related Risk Factors in Rice Sowing Process of Farmers in Sena District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province

Abstract

The sowing process is a process that causes injuries in farmers because it is a step that farmers must walk down in rice fields and most of them do not wear shoes because of inconvenience in walking and delayed work. Although injuries in sowing process are common injuries, no researches had been found. Therefore, this research aims to study the prevalence of injuries, characteristics of the injury, cause of injury, the association with personal factors and job factors. The data were collected by interviewing farmers in Sena District, Phra Nakhon Si- Ayutthaya Province, who were working in rice sowing process. The sample were selected by convenience sampling through invitation announcement of agricultural coordinators in Sena District. The sample of 58 farmers were interviewed by asking the personal data, working procedure, experience of injury, cause of injury, characteristics of the injury during the sowing process in last 1 year.

          The results showed that farmers (69%) had foot injuries and injuries (78.9%) were caused by stepping on golden apple snail. According to the Chi-Square Test, the risk factors that related to injuries were gender (p-value = 0.025) and alcohol consumption (p-value = 0.043) The results of this study showed that personal factors in terms of gender and drinking alcohol were related to foot injuries in the sowing process with statistical significance. Therefore, the recommendation of safety practice in sowing process to male farmers and stop alcohol drinking campaign should provide to prevent work injury.