Evaluation of Effectiveness of Information, Education and Communication Package on Knowledge Regarding Occupational Health Hazards and their Prevention among Sailors

Introduction: Working on ships has its perks, but it is a well known fact that working at the sea is one of the most hazardous occupations, in regards to personal health and safety concerns of sailors. Sailors are exceptional in their profession, having to spend a large part of their lives at sea. The main objectives of the study were to prepare IEC package on prevention of occupational health hazards, to evaluate the effectiveness of IEC package on knowledge regarding occupational health hazards among sailors, and to find out association between the knowledge scores of sailors regarding occupational health hazards and its management with selected demographic variables. Methods: A quantitative (experimental) research approach was used with Solomon group four designs in the present study. The study was conducted at Anglo Eastern Maritime Training Centre, New Delhi, on 60 sailors. The tool developed and utilized for the data collection were structured knowledge questionnaire to assess the knowledge regarding occupational hazards and their prevention among sailors before and after administration of the IEC package. Findings: The mean post knowledge scores were found to be higher than the mean pretest knowledge scores after administering IEC package. IEC package was found effective at 0.05 level of significance by using paired t test which showed increase in the knowledge to prevent occupational health hazards. Religion and work experience were found to be significantly related to knowledge regarding occupational health hazards and its management.