Farmers experience a disproportionate burden of physical and mental health issues, but agricultural advisors can help by signposting them to support services.
This is according to the research team at South East Technological University (SETU), which is showcasing ongoing projects focused on men’s health in recognition of international men’s health week, which runs until Sunday, June 16.
SETU is home to the National Centre for Men’s Health (NCMH) based on the Kilkenny Road campus in Carlow, and is led by Dr. Noel Richardson and his team.
Dr. Richardson, lecturer and co-director of SETU healthCORE, has extensive experience in men’s health at a research, policy and advocacy level.
He has published a broad range of research reports and academic papers concerning men’s health.
Although efforts to engage farmers in their health can be challenging, increasing evidence supports the integration of such efforts into farmers’ pre-existing resources, according to Dr. Richardson.
“We know that farm advisors have earned the respect of farmers, are relatable to farmers, and have a safe and trusting relationship with their clients, their family backgrounds and personal circumstances,” he said.
Dr. Richardson continued:
“While previous research has highlighted that advisors are open to supporting farmers’ health, they feel ill-equipped to do so, and have expressed a need for education and training to engage farmers with their health.
“‘On Feirm Ground’ was designed to train advisors to have a proactive role in promoting farmers’ health and signposting farmers with health issues to appropriate services and supports.
“Advisors’ self-reported knowledge of mental health, capacity to recognise the signs and symptoms of health challenges, and willingness to signpost and advocate for farmer wellbeing significantly improved after training.
“The improvements remained statistically significant six months post-training.”
Advisors said that the training was an eye-opener in terms of becoming more aware of the high levels of adverse health outcomes associated with the farming population in Ireland, as well as acting as a catalyst for reconfiguring their interactions with the farmers they serve, he added.
Support services
Findings on advisors’ increased capacity to identify signs of poor mental health and in signposting farmers to appropriate support services, were particularly noteworthy, in light of the prevalence of mental health issues within the farming community.
Advisors did, however, express some concerns about the paucity of appropriate health and support services in rural Ireland.
Findings from this study could be a springboard for extending the reach of training to other aspects of farming support services, such as agri-banking, agri-business and veterinary services, the researchers found.
Another project, ‘Farming Minds’, is a collaboration between the national centre for men’s health at SETU; agricultural science and psychology at UCD, and UCD agri-mental health group team.
Funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM), it aims to develop and test the feasibility and effectiveness of a scalable psychological intervention for farmers to target the key areas of mental health, stress and resilience in terms of prevention and early intervention.
In collaboration with and building on the existing framework of ‘On Feirm Ground’ with farmer health, the aim is to develop evidence-based interventions that go beyond signposting to support the development of key psychological skills.