Assessing Engagement, Needs, and Resources to Promote Child and Youth Safety on the Farm and Ranch

The Childhood Agricultural Safety Network (CASN) is a coalition of diverse individuals and organizations working together to safeguard children in agriculture. This study assessed CASN memberships' interests, priorities, and use of resources to help plan future activities and assess member engagement and satisfaction. We electronically surveyed 201 CASN members; 60 responded (29.85%). Respondents were asked about their affiliations, participation in agricultural associations, past and future level of engagement, agricultural safety interests, use of agricultural resources, and future activities of interest. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to understand heterogeneity in the CASN members based on their selected interests. Classes were then tested in logistic regression models to determine how they might differ based on how much of a problem they perceived injury in youth to be, their level of past and future engagement, and their years with CASN. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to estimate effect sizes. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the patterns of use of resources by respondents. Frequencies were reported for use of resources and future interests. Two groups of CASN members were identified based on reported topics of interest. Specialists (58.9%) were focused on the use of motorized vehicles and roadways. The second group, Generalists (41.1%), had more diverse interests. The two groups differed on how seriously they viewed the problem of agricultural injury in youth (Generalist vs Specialist: OR = 6.27; 1.56, 25.2) and their interest in participating in future CASN activities (Generalist vs. Specialist: OR = 8.75; 1.76, 43.5). The use of 11 resources fell into two patterns. Nearly half of respondents reported current use of the Ag Youth Work Guidelines, Ag Injury News, and the Child Ag Injury Prevention Workshop. CASN is heterogeneous in their agricultural interests around youth safety and their use of resources. In planning future campaigns, it is important to meet the needs of both groups, with activities planned around ATV/UTV and roadway safety and keeping young children out of the worksite, as well as specific topics of concern such as manure ponds, skid steers, and agritourism.