DCU Initiative Boosts Mental Health Literacy and Help-Seeking Among Farmers
The ‘Skills for Resilience’ program is a key component of the DCU FarMHealth project, which is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The research involved 72 Irish farmers from across the country who participated in facilitated discussions on resilience, mental health, and healthcare. These discussions were integrated into their regular Teagasc-led discussion groups. The study, published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, revealed that participating farmers reported notable increases in mental health literacy, a greater intent to seek help when needed, and a boost in confidence in accessing support.
Dr. Siobhán O’Connor, from DCU, lead investigator on the project, highlighted the initiative's origins and impact:
“In our research, we found that farmers deal with lots of adversity in their daily lives, and want support for it as well. In fact, we found that many farmers would seek mental healthcare if it was catered for farmers, or if there wasn't a stigma against it, or if they knew how to access the services that are available. In response, we created ‘Skills for Resilience’ alongside the Irish farming community to raise farmers' mental health literacy and empower them to get help when they need it.”
Dr. O’Connor emphasised the power of the discussion-based approach:
“Farmers told us that even this short discussion on resilience that broached the topic of mental health at a discussion group, in a way that people could relate to, made a big difference in addressing stigma around mental health.”
The program's success is rooted in its collaborative design. Dr O'Connor added:
“From the beginning, we designed this programme alongside our farming community. We listened to the problems farmers faced in accessing mental health support in their communities and applied their recommendations for how to solve them. This programme’s success really shows how engaged farmers can be in programmes integrated into the farming lifestyle. For example, 100% of the farmers we followed up with said they enjoyed the programme and would recommend it to other farmers."
Dr. O’Connor encourages farmers to regularly assess their own wellbeing and to check in on friends and family within the farming community. She outlined the program’s core principles:
“In this programme, we talked about the 4 R’s of being resilient. Recognising signs and symptoms of poor mental health in yourself and others, Reaching out to others or to professional services, Referring to a core set of skills to support your health, and Remaining supportive of yourself and others.”