Tick-borne disease occupational risks and behaviors of Florida Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Service employees – A health belief model perspective

Abstract

Early research indicates that outdoor workers, such as park rangers and land managers, are at greater risk of tick-borne disease (TBD) infection because of their repeated occupational exposure to ticks, yet few studies have sought to determine predictors of personal protective behavior in this population. The purpose of this study was to identify within the framework of the Health Belief Model, relevant demographic and psychosocial predictors of TBD personal protective behaviors (PPB) among Fish and Wildlife, and State Parks employees in the U.S. State of Florida. Following informed consent, an e-survey was used to obtain cross-sectional data from 631 study participants. Seven scales and one index of items were adopted to operationalize the independent variables in this study. Study findings revealed that only twenty-five percent of respondents reported receiving occupational risk training about TBD from their employer. ‘Checking for ticks on skin’ was the TBD PPB most adopted by study participants, while the least adopted TBD PPB was ‘tucking pants into socks’. We found the most significant predictors of checking for ticks on skin to be ‘high specific knowledge of TBD PPB’, ‘high perceived risk for TBD’, ‘high intention of taking action to prevent tick bites’, and ‘high perceived self-efficacy for taking action to prevent tick bites’. This study represents a response to the collective call for TBD research focused on the unique issues in Florida. Study findings suggest that occupational training of employees should tailor interventions toward males. Such efforts should focus on increasing specific knowledge of TBD PPB. Management implicationsManagers of nature-based destinations for which exposure to ticks poses a significant risk to employees will find it useful to develop interventions for reducing tick exposure among employees using the following guidelines:I.Educational curriculum for occupational training programs should be tailored to increasingly target behavior modification among male employees.II.Content for curriculum to be used in training programs should emphasize specific, rather than general knowledge of tick-borne disease personal protective behavior. Suggestions for content includes the social, economic and health risks of TBD, specific action that can be taken to prevent TBDs, benefits of taking preventive action, role of checking for ticks, tucking shirts into pants and overall TBD PPB in TBD prevention.