Factors Affecting Farmers’ Safety Behavior in the Use of Personal Protective Equipments in Working with Pesticides in Zanjan County: An Application of Health Belief Model

The objective of this study was to identify factors affecting wheat farmers’ safety behavior in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in working with pesticides. The statistical population of present study comprised 4739 of wheat farmers in the central district of Zanjan County from whom which 322 farmers were selected through multi-stage sampling method. Data were collected through a questionnaire. A panel of experts confirmed the content validity of the questionnaire. Composite reliablility and construct validity of research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were fulfilled through making necessary corrections. The results indicated that farmers’ behavior in the use of PPE was at a low level (i.e., unsafe and potentially unsafe). Moreover, the empirical results of structural equation modeling multivariate technique revealed that the six components of health belief model including perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action had statistically significant impacts on the farmers’ use of PPE and explained about 64% of its variance.