A few weeks ago, Iowa’s crops were off to a strong start; however, it has become apparent that a prolonged heat wave can change things in a hurry—and corn isn’t the only thing that can suffer. Ongoing UI research is looking at how heat stress impacts local migrant farmworkers.

The summer of 2012 has been, by and large, a scorcher. Much of the country is enduring record temperatures and cumulative rainfall totals, particularly in the Midwest, are well below average.

Soaring temperatures have prompted the National Weather Service to repeatedly issue heat advisories, forced utility companies to curtail energy, and caused farmers to fret over potential crop damage. While scenarios such as these might result in most of us flocking to the nearest industrial strength air-conditioned interior, the research of one College of Nursing professor has thrown him right into the proverbial fire.

Professor Kennith Culp, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been studying heat stress this summer—particularly in terms of how it affects minority farmworkers.

“I was originally responding to a program announcement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which was looking for proposals addressing health promotion and disease prevention in minority men,” said Culp. “We reviewed the literature and discovered that very little is written about working in the heat as applied to minority farmworkers. Most of the research is about sun exposure and skin cancer risk in Caucasian farmers. The risk of death from heat stroke is alarmingly high for minority men.”

This summer, Culp plans to test 40 Latino men engaged in crop production tasks at two farms in Iowa (he did not wish to disclose the precise locations). Subjects will wear electrodes on their chests while they work in the field over three consecutive days between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Professor Culp has three undergraduate students, one from the College of Nursing (Jim Kinney) and two from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (Amna Rizvi-Toner and Ashley Baeten) to assist with the study.

“These students must record wet bulb globe temperature, which is a scientific geographical measure of heat and humidity,” explained Culp. “The subjects will wear a chest strap containing two electrodes that transmit their breathing and heart rate, body position, estimated core temperature and calorie expenditure over a wireless network—making this the most labor intensive aspect of the data collection.”

The research assistants are required to track the workers in corn field plots and plant antennas nearby, so the investigative team must stay mobile and move along with crop production tasks as they progress. This entails following the buses as they travel around these plots, and keeping up with the workers.

In addition to monitoring and recording subject vitals, Dr. Culp and his team will be testing alternate clothing material (fibers made from soy beans and bamboo) to see if different materials can help to reduce body temperature.

“We are also testing a revised method of hydration. We teach workers to consume about 1 liter of water every 30 minutes,” noted Culp. “The specific bottle we use also sprays a comforting mist on the face—something other water bottles don't typically do. In general, the response of the test subjects has been positive; however, the reliance isn't on qualitative data as much as it is on evaluating actual reductions in core body temp and heart rate to determine if these interventions truly work.”

Dr. Culp first started studying self-reported traumatic injuries in Latino workers in the meat packing industry several years ago. Since that time, his research has evolved to study heat stress, relying more heavily on objective physiological measures and not on symptom reporting (previous research indicated that Latino men were less likely to report their injuries).

“We are certainly very concerned and do give an opportunity for subjects to report heat stress, but as a rule we are relying more on our wireless transmission of live physiological data.”

Dr. Culp and his team will finish this round of testing by late August.

# # #

Dr. Kennith R. Culp, RN, FAAN, conducts research related to the aging workforce, preventing heat stress in Latino farmworkers and nursing assistants who are employed in long-term care. He also has conducted studies involving pesticide exposure in cotton farm workers in the Gambia (West Africa).

He is also interested in research related to modifying the workplace for older employees and injury prevention in under-served worker populations. Dr. Culp holds a secondary appointment in the College of Public Health. More information pertaining to his research can be found online at http://works.bepress.com/kennith_culp [1].