Why greenhouse agricultural workers do not use pesticide protection methods? A case study

Abstract Background Exposure to pesticides in individuals working in greenhouse agriculture is an important public health problem that threatens their health more than individuals working in other agricultural jobs for the same period of time, causing an increase in mortality and morbidity rates. Applying protection methods plays an important role in reducing/preventing exposure-related health risks. It is aimed to explore the reasons why greenhouse agricultural workers do not use pesticide protection methods. Methods This case study was adopted the descriptive qualitative approach between February-March 2024. Individual in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with semi-structured interviews, resulting in 20 participants. The inclusion criteria for participants include being a greenhouse agricultural worker (at least 1 year), being 18 years of age or older, using pesticides, not using any personal protective equipment, and not engaging in protective behavior. Braun and Clark’s (2021) reflexive thematic analysis methodology was used to analyze the data. Results In this study generated three main themes and fourteen subthemes. The main themes identified were a) personal attitudes/ characteristics b) negative features of the physical environment, c) negative features of personal protective equipment. Conclusions The reasons why greenhouse agricultural workers do not use pesticide protection methods are individual attitudes/characteristics such as laziness and not to care about, negative characteristics of the environment such as temperature, humidity and wetness, and negative characteristics of personal protective equipment such as being heavy and inflexibility. Health institutions and health professionals serving in regions where agricultural workers should develop interventional studies, intervention programs and strategies to protect and improve the health of these individuals. Key messages • Greenhouse agriculture workers do not use any of the pesticide protection methods due to individual attitudes/characteristics, negative characteristics of environment and personal protective equipment. • Health professionals can ensure that greenhouse agricultural workers use pesticide protection methods by increasing their awareness of health risks and planning interventional studies.