Promoting Farmer Appreciation in Kentucky through a Farmer Cultural Awareness Project.

OBJECTIVES: To address the perception among farmers of lack of appreciation and being devalued by the non-farming public. METHODS: Oral history interviews were conducted to gather farmers' viewpoints of what the non-farming public needs to know about their occupation. RESULTS: The creation of a public awareness campaign utilizing interview data, including canvas bags, information cards, and a website. CONCLUSION: The public awareness campaign provides the non-farming public with opportunities to learn about the lives of farmers and their contributions to society.

Mental Health in Farming Communities.

Occupational stressors are causing unprecedented levels of stress, depression, and suicide among our nation's farmers, and little is known about how farmers view their personal stress and potential stress-relieving strategies. The current study used a descriptive qualitative approach to conduct focus groups comprising farmers and farm family members (N = 26). Participants were recruited using a snowball approach based on the investigators' connections to farming communities. Preliminary analysis indicates that primary stressors are: lack of control over many aspects of farming and the public's lack of understanding/appreciation for farming. In addition, two communities identified high levels of anticipatory stressors. Despite these stressors, they continue to farm because of their love for farm life and their generational connection with the land. To decrease farmer stress, participants suggested educating the public about farm life and the impact farming has on the general public, creating social groups for farmers to talk to each other, and sharing the farmer story. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 61(10), 39-43.].

Mental Health Issues Among Farmers: An Online Continuing Education Program for Nurses.

BACKGROUND: An asynchronous online continuing education (CE) program was created to increase nurses' awareness and knowledge of occupationally related mental health issues among farmers. METHOD: The ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation) model was followed to create the CE program. Articulate Storyline 3 (Articulate 360), a software tool, was used to build an interactive, e-learning, and virtual training module. RESULTS: The course was completed by 113 nurses. Eighty-two (72.5%) of these nurses completed the course evaluation. Of these, 69 (84.1%) reported that the course met their expectations. The majority of respondents indicated that the material was presented in a clear, organized manner (80.0%, n = 80) and that all course objectives were met, including being able to identify sources of stress among farmers (86.3%, n = 80), recognize manifestations of stress among farmers (86.4%, n = 81), understand farmers' mental health status (86.3%, n = 80), and identify mental health nursing practices (87.3%, n = 79). CONCLUSION: Nurses can provide more salient care to the farming population when they are equipped with an understanding of the culture and stress associated with farming. This online educational program has the potential to improve mental health care for farmers and their families. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2021;52(10):482-488.].