Farmers are among the most vulnerable
when it comes to mental health, according to a new study from the University of
Guelph.
Yet they are reluctant to seek
medical help because of the stigma attached to fragile mental health.
Stress, anxiety, depression,
emotional exhaustion and burnout are all higher among farmers than among other
groups, early findings of the survey show.
As well, Canadian farmers are more
stressed than those living and working elsewhere.
Prof. Andria Jones-Bitton, a
professor in the Department of Population Medicine, analyzed more than 1,100
responses nationwide to an online stress and resilience survey, conducted on
agricultural producers from September 2015 to this past January.
“Some of the producer comments leave
little doubt about the impact their job and culture is having on them,”
Jones-Bitton said.
“One said, ‘We are not invincible,
but we feel we must be’. Another said, ‘What makes me the most upset is that I
have everything I dreamed of – love, family and a farm – and all I feel is
overwhelmed, out of control and sad.’”
The survey found 45 per cent of
survey respondents had high stress. Another 58 per cent were classified with
varying levels of anxiety, and 35 per cent with depression.
Overall, that’s two to four times
higher than farmers studied in the United Kingdom and Norway, Jones-Bitton
said.
Other signs of mental health problems
revealed by the survey are equally concerning, she added.
For example, significant numbers of
farmers had high levels of emotional exhaustion (38 per cent) and cynicism (43
per cent).
And resilience, popularly believed to
be a strength among producers, is lower among two-thirds of the respondents
than it is among a comparative U.S. population.
Indeed, in agriculture, a stigma is
associated with mental health treatment, Jones-Bitton said.
So it follows that the survey showed
40 per cent of respondents said they’d feel uneasy getting professional help
“because of what people might think.”
Another 31 per cent said seeking
professional help could stigmatize a person’s life. Fewer than half believe
there is adequate mental health support from the industry.
At the same time, more than
three-quarters of those surveyed said professional mental services can be
helpful in times of struggle, and almost as many said they would seek out such
help.
Jones-Bitton sees that as good news.
She is building a team of producers, industry representatives, veterinarians
and mental health professionals to create, deliver and evaluate a mental health
literacy training program for farmers.
This program would train people to
recognize and respond to mental distress, and reduce stigma around mental
health issues in Ontario’s agricultural sector.
“We need to do something,” she says.
“Farmers want help, and we’re going to find ways for them to receive it.”
Jones-Bitton and the Ontario
Veterinary College AWAR2E group – an acronym for Advancing Wellness and
Resilience in Research and Education — started out studying mental health among
veterinarians. The scope grew as it became clear producers also had issues.
