Abstract

Background: In recent decades, unsafe use of pesticides has caused different cancers in human beings as well as damages to environment and organisms. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the predictors of safety behavior among greenhouses spray workers in Jiroft city based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). Methods: This cross-sectional study with descriptive-correlation approach was conducted in 2016 on 229 greenhouse spray workers in Jiroft city selected via proportional stratified random sampling using a researcher-made questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of demographic variables and PMT constructs such as perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, costs, rewards, fear, self-efficacy, response-efficacy, and protection motivation, as well as safety behaviors. Results: All workers were male in the age range of 19 to 72 years, most of whom (47.6) had previously been poisoned by pesticides. The mean scores of all the PMT constructs were in range of 50 to 75 except for perceived rewards that its mean score was between 75 and 100. There was a significant correlation between response-efficacy and all the constructs at P < 0.01, except for the perceived rewards that was significant at P < 0.05. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between all the constructs other than perceived rewards and fear (P < 0.01). The predicted amount of spray workers' preventive behaviors by protection motivation theory constructs was 41 and the role of perceived vulnerability (beta = 0.310), perceived severity (beta = 0.303), self-efficacy (beta = 0.166), and response-efficacy (beta = 0.140) was greater than the role of other constructs. Conclusions: Concerning predictive power of protection motivation theory constructs for safety behaviors related to spray workers' health and due to the important role of perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, self-efficacy, and response-efficacy, educational interventions are necessary for training protective principles to prevent health problems resulted from exposure to pesticides in workers.