| The purpose of the study was to compare over-the-road (OTR) and local male married truck drivers with a child or children in the home on the “Driver Associate Family Issues Assessment” (Hill, 1996), identify materials needed to assist families of commercial truck drivers to improve their quality of life, and determine how to best communicate this information to the truck drivers and their families.; Convenience and opportunistic sampling strategies were utilized in the study to provide a nonprobability respondent group of 21 OTR and 20 local truck drivers. The researcher solicited OTR and local male married truck drivers' participation at truck stops and distribution centers located in a southwestern state. The male truck drivers had to be married with a child or children in the home in order to be included in the study. When criteria were confirmed, the truck drivers were asked to participate on a voluntary basis. The data were collected on self-report questionnaires. Descriptive and frequency statistics were computed for each category of truck drivers.; Results indicated significant differences between OTR and local male married truck drivers with a child or children in the home on work and family interfering with one another, who makes the decisions in the family, and how family leisure time is spent the majority of the time. No significant differences were found on informational needs between the two groups. When communicating informational needs to truck drivers and their families, OTR male married truck drivers with a child or children in the home were more likely to prefer receiving information about personal and family issues through workshops as a family.; The informational needs of the truck drivers were found to be in the areas of familial communication, budgeting and financial planning, and physical well-being. OTR truck drivers reported more frequently that they would like to receive information through workshops as a family; however, for both groups of truck drivers, toll-free telephone assistance was the most preferred method of communicating information. |
