A STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IEC PACKAGE ON KNOWLEDGE REGARDING PREVENTION OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH HAZARDS AND PRACTICE OF SAFETY MEASURES AMONG BEEDI WORKERS IN SELECTED URBAN COMMUNITY, BANGALORE.

Background of the study: Beedi workers across India work in filthy, disease-causing conditions, breathing in tobacco fumes, often assisted by child workers who must be paid by the adult workers they help. Asthma, bronchitis, and tuberculosis are widely reported. More than 50% of beedi workers are women. A study to assess the effectiveness of IEC package on knowledge regarding prevention of occupational health hazards and practice of safety measures among beedi workers in selected urban community, Bangalore was conducted. Methodology: Quasi experimental-one group pre-test and post-test design was adopted in this study. Beedi workers were selected by simple random sampling technique. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics beedi workers 42(70.0%) had adequate knowledge, whereas 18(30.0%) of them had moderate knowledge and none of them had inadequate knowledge and 9(15.0%) had adequate practice of safety measures whereas 51(85.0%) had moderate practice of safety measures none of them had inadequate practice of safety measure. Results: The findings revealed that in pre-test, majority of the beedi workers 54(95.0%) had inadequate knowledge and 6(5.0%) had moderate knowledge and 21(35.0%) had inadequate practice of safety measures and 39(65.0%) had moderate practice of safety measures. This shows that the beedi workers had inadequate knowledge and practice of safety measures in the pre-test before administering structured IEC package. The findings revealed that in post-test knowledge majority of the beedi workers had 18(30.0%) moderate knowledge and 42(70.0%) had adequate knowledge and 9(15.0%) had adequate practice of safety measures whereas 51(85.0%) had moderate practice of safety measures none of them had inadequate practice of safety measure. There was a statistically significant association with religion and habits evidenced at p<0.05 level. Conclusion: The assessment of knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and practice of safety measures among beedi workers revealed that the overall mean score was 10.17 and the percentage was 36.32% for knowledge and 1.56 and 11.57% for practice. Hence there was adequate knowledge level and good practice among beedi workers.