The role of agricultural professionals in identifying, mitigating and supporting farming families during times of stress: Findings of a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of suicidality within the farming community, especially during time of stress, is well documented. During 2016, the global milk prices fell, impacting the New Zealand dairy farm profitability and viability, as well as taking a toll on farmer well-being. This article discusses the role of agricultural professionals as a support mechanism for farming families during times of stress and their ongoing contribution in recognising and mitigating stress on farmers. DESIGN: Qualitative, using thematic analysis. SETTING: North Island, New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: Dairy farming women, large animal veterinarians, farm consultants and members of rural support organisations. RESULTS: Thematic analysis demonstrated the following aspects: the value of the long-term relationships between agricultural professionals and their clients; the duty of care agricultural professionals feel towards their clients; and the benefits of the planning and practical problem-solving services offered by these professionals, especially in times of crisis. CONCLUSION: Farmers prefer to use established relationships with agricultural professionals and focus on problem-solving in times of stress. Agricultural professionals should therefore be included as part of any integrated approach to addressing farmer stress.

The role of government policy in service development in a New Zealand statutory mental health service: implications for policy planning and development.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between government policy and service development in a New Zealand statutory mental health provider, Living Well. METHOD: An organisational case study utilising multiple research techniques including qualitative interviews, analysis of business and strategic documents and observation of meetings. RESULTS: Staff understood and acknowledged the importance of government policy, but there were challenges in its implementation. CONCLUSION: Within New Zealand's statutory mental health services staff struggled to know how to implement government policy as part of service development; rather, operational concerns, patient need, local context and service demands drove the service development process.

Implementing a new governance model.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the lessons learnt from the process of implementing a new model of governance within Living Well, a New Zealand statutory mental health agency. Design/methodology/approach - It presents the findings from an organisational case study that involved qualitative interviews, meeting observations and document analysis. Archetype theory provided the analytical framework for the research enabling an analysis of both the formal structures and informal value systems that influenced the implementation of the governance model. Findings - The research found that the move to a new governance model did not proceed as planned. It highlighted the importance of staff commitment, the complexity of adopting a new philosophical approach and the undue influence of key personalities as key determining factors in the implementation process. The findings suggest that planners and managers within statutory mental health agencies need to consider the implications of any proposed governance change on existing roles and relationships, thinking strategically about how to secure professional commitment to change. Practical implications - There are ongoing pressures within statutory mental health agencies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organisational structures and systems. This paper has implications for how planners and managers think about the process of implementing new governance models within the statutory mental health environment in order to increase the likelihood of sustaining and embedding new approaches to service delivery. Originality/value - The paper presents insights into the process of implementing new governance models within a statutory mental health agency in New Zealand that has relevance for other jurisdictions.

Peer review versus editorial review and their role in innovative science.

Peer review is a widely accepted instrument for raising the quality of science. Peer review limits the enormous unstructured influx of information and the sheer amount of dubious data, which in its absence would plunge science into chaos. In particular, peer review offers the benefit of eliminating papers that suffer from poor craftsmanship or methodological shortcomings, especially in the experimental sciences. However, we believe that peer review is not always appropriate for the evaluation of controversial hypothetical science. We argue that the process of peer review can be prone to bias towards ideas that affirm the prior convictions of reviewers and against innovation and radical new ideas. Innovative hypotheses are thus highly vulnerable to being "filtered out" or made to accord with conventional wisdom by the peer review process. Consequently, having introduced peer review, the Elsevier journal Medical Hypotheses may be unable to continue its tradition as a radical journal allowing discussion of improbable or unconventional ideas. Hence we conclude by asking the publisher to consider re-introducing the system of editorial review to Medical Hypotheses.