{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.01936026936026936, 'fraction_numerical': 0.002946127946127946, 'mean_word_length': 5.180104031209363, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 1, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on Knowledge regarding Occupational Health Hazards among Factory Workers in Selected Factory of Indore, M. P., India

Background: Factory workers are vulnerable to various diseases and accidents are common in factories. They do not have much knowledge on the various occupational health hazards and the way to preventing it. Methodology:Structured teaching programme followed by administration of structured knowledge questionnaire was used as an appropriate and effective method to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of factory workers regarding occupational health hazards. Ethical approval and patient consent was taken. The tool was found to be statistically reliable for the main study. Result:A significant improvement was seen in post-test average knowledge score of the workers after administration of structured teaching programme. Conclusion: The pre-test findings showed that knowledge of factory workers regarding occupational health hazards was inadequate. The structured teaching programme proved to be a very effective method of transforming information.


Introduction
Historically, the term health means the condition of being 'safe and sound' or 'whole.' To a lay person, health is freedom from pain, illness and disabilities. Even in present time, many people still believe in the same concept of health. There is change in this belief in the developed world and also in the developed areas of developing countries because of research and life experiences. 1 The World Health Organization (WHO) defines occupational health as a multidisciplinary activity aimed at "the protection and promotion of the health of workers, by preventing and controlling occupational hazards and accidents and by eliminating the occupational factors and conditions hazardous to health and safety at work. Factory workers face peculiar hazards in the workplace. 3,4 Health issues are the most significant among the vulnerabilities experienced by the workers during their working tenure in the Readymade Garment (RMG) sector. 6 The employees of this industry hardly ever benefit from occupational health-and-safety provisions. As a result their health suffers. Studies show that musculoskeletal problems, diseases of the respiratory system and eye, accidents, injuries, skin diseases, stress, insomnia, etc. are all common among these workers. The ill health is compounded by various socioeconomic factors such as poverty, lack of education, poor working conditions, excess working hours, and poor diet. 7 From investigator's experience in the accidental emergency department, she has identified that most of patients reported to the casualty with complaint of cut injuries and fractures. This increased incidence of injuries occurred due to occupational health hazards. When the investigator interviewed these patients she observed that they do not have much knowledge on the various occupational health hazards and the way to preventing it. . This experience of the investigator and the fact that this topic has been understudied has interested the researcher to do a study to identify occupational health hazards, particularly among people working in the garment industry. It is important that more and more research be conducted on the health and safety issues of factory workers in order to identify the associated hazards and find ways to reduce risks. The failure to identify and solve the health and safety issues of workers has potentially serious consequences for the health and well-being of workers and their families.

Operational Definitions
Assess: It refers to an activity to estimate the knowledge and attitude regarding occupational health hazards before and after the STP as revealed by suitable knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale.
Effectiveness: Refers to the extent to which the structured teaching programme on occupational health hazards has achieved the desired effect in improving the knowledge of factory workers as assessed by structured questionnaire. Structured Teaching Programme: Refers to systematically planned group instructions by lecture cum discussion method designed to provide information occupational health hazards among factory workers.
Knowledge: It refers to the understanding and awareness of occupational health hazards as measured by score obtained according to the items on the structured knowledge questionnaire.
Attitude: In this study, Attitude refers to the expressed belief and feeling of selected occupational health hazards among factory workers.
Occupational Hazards: In this study it refers to the undesirable effects of non-conductive occupational environment manifested in the form of physical, chemical, biological, mechanical and psychosocial hazards.
Factory Workers: In this study it refers to the male and female workers who are employed in factories.

Methodology
In view of the nature of the problem selected for the study, an evaluative approach and quasi-experimental one group pre-test post-test design without control group was found appropriate. A structured questionnaire was administered to workers working in factory. Post-test was conducted on day 7 to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 50 factory workers working in factory as the sample for the present study.

Ethical Approval
Before conducting this study, approval was taken from authorized body of factory in Indore (M.P.). A consent was also signed by participants. Confidentiality was maintained by assigning code to each subject.

Inclusion Criteria
• Factory workers willing to participate in the research study • Factory workers who are employed at various industries of Indore

Exclusion Criteria
• Factory workers outside Indore • Factory workers those who are not willing to participate • Office staff rather than factory workers

Selection and Development of the Tool
Structured teaching programme followed by administration of structured knowledge questionnaire was used as an appropriate and effective method to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of factory workers regarding occupational health hazards. The knowledge regarding occupational health hazards was measured in terms of knowledge score. Each correct answer was given a score of one mark and wrong answer or unanswered was given a score of zero. The maximum score was 27. To interpret level of knowledge the scores were distributed as follows: •

Demographical Profile (N=50)
Fidure 1, shows pre-test knowledge scores of the workers. Pre-test knowledge of the subjects was found to be below 50 in regard to safety measures. There was a marked improvement in post-test knowledge scores (Table 2).

Discussion
The key finding of the current study was that the structured teaching programme improved the knowledge of factory workers regarding occupational health hazards and safety.
A study by Mersal in Cairo showed that the structured teaching program improves the knowledge and practice of workers regarding occupational hazards. 8 National institute of health and family welfare in 2002 conducted a study to assess the level of knowledge of sedentary workers regarding occupational diseases. Hence, distribution of information booklet was found to be effective in assessing the knowledge of sedentary workers regarding occupational lung diseases. 9 Similarly, Zwerling in a study concluded that improving work environment and promoting safety education among workers is necessary. 10

Conclusion
The main aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding occupational health hazards among factory workers. The pre-test findings showed that knowledge of factory workers regarding occupational health hazards was inadequate. The administration of structured teaching programme helped the workers to understand more about occupational health hazards. Most of the workers were having adequate level of knowledge after the teaching programme. The structured teaching programme proved to be a very effective method of transforming information.
On the basis of the findings, the study can be replicated on a large scale to generalize the findings.

Basic Educational Information
a. High school b.
Higher secondary c. Graduated d.
Post -graduated e. Illiterate

Medium of Instruction in Basic Education
a. English b.
Regional language

6.
Place of Living a. Urban b. Rural

Source of Information about Occupational Health Hazard
In-service education

Section B
A. Introduction

Health is a) Absence of illness b)
Health means not seeing a doctor c) Presence of illness d) Absence of stress Health safety in home c) Health safety in work place d) Health safety in play ground

What is hazard a)
A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm b) A hazard is anything with the potential to cause accident c) A hazard is anything with the potential to cause risk d) None of above

6.
Occupational health hazards is a) Hazard experience in home b) Hazard experience in workplace c) Hazard experience in outside d) Hazard experience in market B.  Reduce the risk c) Increase the causing agent d) Increase the working efficiency

a) Employers b)
Employees c) The community d) The country.

27.
Purpose of the Workplace Safety and Health Act is a) To protect worker safety and health in the workplace b) To increase risk in work place c) To educate the worker d) To provide financial support for workers