An Ontario researcher is attempting to determine what triggers stress among Canadian farmers.
“There’s a quite surprising lack of research done into the mental well being of Canadian farmers,” said Andria Jones-Bitton, a veterinarian and epidemiologist in the population medicine department at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College.
“So we decided in the summer of 2015 that we would conduct a baseline survey of farmers to have a look at how they were doing in terms of their mental well being and the perceived stresses they were experiencing.
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Jones-Bitton kept the survey short and provided a validated scale of depression, anxiety, perceived stress and the ability to manage stresses and hardships, which she said made it possible to collect a large amount of data.
“We also asked farmers about any resources they might have used to manage their stress or mental health, what they thought of the resources they used and how satisfied they are with the current resources available to them,” she said.
“If the results show there are higher levels of depression, anxiety or stress among farmers compared to the general population, then I’m hoping that will help in terms of resource allocations: hard statistics to show we need to be dedicating more resources to helping farmers improve their resilience and deal with those issues.”
Another option is to provide training-specific interventions for the agricultural community so that farmers can develop skills to manage stress, depression and anxiety and increase their ability to cope with those stresses.
“We’re also looking at developing a mental health literacy training program for the entire agricultural sector,” said Jones-Bitton.
“This will provide mental health literacy training programs or mental health first aid for the general population, as well, and basically teach people how to recognize signs of depressions, anxiety or other potential mental health problems.”
The goal is to provide support that is specific to agriculture and recognize the unique characteristic of farmers and their culture, which is, in some aspects, different from the general population.
Jones-Bitton hopes to provide training for the various segments of food production: farmers, veterinarians, agricultural support staff, agricultural industry groups, feed and seed companies and dairies.
She said she has been moved by some of the responses to the survey, which concluded Jan. 31.
“I feel quite honoured to be able to hear what producers are thinking and for them to have shared their feelings through the survey,” said Jones-Bitton.
“You know, just looking at some of the open ended responses, it would appear that they’re facing some pretty significant stresses from lots of different avenues. One of the participants stuck with me and has popped into my head al-most on a daily basis.
“He/she described how they feel like their entire way of life is under attack. I think that speaks to basically the severity and the multi-directionality of the stresses they are experiencing.”
She said farmers who are feeling stressed and need someone to talk to should seek out counselling, including the farmer help lines that are available in some provinces.
