The Effects of Agricultural Experience Program on Agricultural Literacy and Hand Function Improvement of Adolescents Living in Self-reliance Residence Hall

Background and objective: This study was conducted to increase understanding of agriculture through agricultural experience programs for adolescents living in self-reliance residence hall, and to investigate changes in work performance ability through changes in hand function. Methods: There were 11 subjects, and the average age was 18.2 years, all males without disabilities. The agricultural experience program consists of a total of 10 sessions including orientation and watching videos on future agriculture, creating vegetable gardens, planting, managing each crop, harvesting, visiting the processing room, and selling at a local food store. Results: The change in agricultural literacy by the agricultural experience program positively improved from a score of 113.73 to 127.91 (p = .008). The changes by sub-item are as follows. The value and safety of agri-foods (p = .020) and agriculture and natural environment (p = .007) were significantly improved. The function and value of rural areas (p = .050), production of agricultural products (p = .160), processing and distribution of agricultural products (p = .248), and agricultural policies (p = .058) were not significantly changed. The simple function of the hands was measured by the number of pegs inserted during 30 seconds, and the assembly function was measured by the number of pegs inserted during 60 seconds. In the case of simple function, the dominant hand was improved from 14.82 to 15.83 (p = .014), andthe non-dominant hand was also significantly improved from 13.79 to 15.01 (p = .002). There was no significant improvement in the simple function (p = .153) and assembly function (p = .770) of both hands. Conclusion: It is considered that the agricultural experience program will enable youths living in self-reliance residence halls to enhance their understanding of agriculture as an occupation, and enable them to play a role as wise consumers by positively affecting improvements in their agricultural literacy and simple hand functions.