Other – Irish farmers' mental health literacy and help-seeking behavior explored in FarMHealth study – Teagasc

June 29, 2024

Research has found that lack of awareness of mental health symptoms, social stigma, self-stigma, rural male norms and poor social support are barriers that prevent farmers from seeking help from mental health services.

The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Research and Development, Farm Safety and New Market Development, Martin Heydon TD, today visited the School of Health and Human Performance (SHHP) of the City University of Dublin (DCU). for a presentation on 'Skills for Sustainability', an educational intervention which improves farmers' knowledge of their mental health and how to seek help while tackling the stigma against it.

The intervention is part of the overall FarMHealth project which was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Reflecting on the findings, Minister Heydon said:

“Awareness of the importance of positive mental health is growing throughout society and farmers are no exception. FarMHealth has highlighted that many farmers lack the knowledge to recognize poor mental health and how to seek appropriate support. There is also a reluctance among farmers to seek professional help when they are in trouble.”

“It is encouraging to see how the one-off 'Skills for Resilience' educational programme, when incorporated into focus groups, can improve farmers' knowledge of mental wellbeing and help remove the stigma around discussing mental health and seeking help.”

Speaking about the FarMHealth project, Dr Siobhán O'Connor who is the principal investigator on the project said:

“An important part of looking after your mental health is knowing when, where and how to seek help when needed; we call this mental health literacy. In our research, we found that farmers face a massive amount of adversity in their daily lives and want support. We found that many farmers would seek mental health care if it was tailored to farmers, if there was no stigma against it and they knew how to use the services.”

Dr Anna Donnla O'Hagan, co-investigator of the project said:

“This initiative was created in partnership with the Irish farming community to increase farmers' mental health literacy and empower them to get help when they need it.

The research involved 72 Irish farmers from across the country who took part in facilitated discussions on resilience, mental health and healthcare as part of their regular discussion groups led by Teagasc. After participating in this discussion, farmers reported increased knowledge of and how to access mental health support, greater intentions to seek help if struggling, increased confidence in seeking mental health care, and greater comfort in discussing their mental health.

Dr Anna Donnla O'Hagan added:

“Farmers told us that even this short discussion on resilience that broached the topic of mental health in a focus group, done in a way they could relate to, made a big difference in addressing the stigma around mental health.”

Dr John McNamara who is Health and Safety Specialist at Teagasc said:

“The intervention addresses the stigma around seeking help and equips farmers with coping skills. Research shows that when a farmer-centred approach is used, farmers can benefit from and enjoy mental health skills training.”

For more information, visit the FarMHealth website to find informative videos on how to recognize the signs of poor mental health, how to be resilient and how to access support. There are also real-life stories from farmers describing their mental health challenges and how they sought help.

The FarMHealth project was funded (€210,569) by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine under its Thematic Research Call 2021.

The research team for the FarmHealth project included: Dr. Siobhan O'Connor; Dr. Anna Donnla O'Hagan; Dr. Joseph Firnhaber, Mrs. Sandra Malone and Dr. Sinead O'Keeffe, School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University together with Dr. John McNamara of Teagasc. The team would like to sincerely thank everyone who participated in the research.