Cargando…

Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome

This research aimed to explore the self-management strategies that Australian male farmers use to improve or maintain their psychological wellbeing and their views on what would assist them to overcome barriers to seeking professional mental health assistance. Individual semi-structured telephone in...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Woolford, Dale D., Smout, Matthew F., Turnbull, Deborah, Gunn, Kate M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9564662/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36231558
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912247
_version_ 1784808700698951680
author Woolford, Dale D.
Smout, Matthew F.
Turnbull, Deborah
Gunn, Kate M.
author_facet Woolford, Dale D.
Smout, Matthew F.
Turnbull, Deborah
Gunn, Kate M.
author_sort Woolford, Dale D.
collection PubMed
description This research aimed to explore the self-management strategies that Australian male farmers use to improve or maintain their psychological wellbeing and their views on what would assist them to overcome barriers to seeking professional mental health assistance. Individual semi-structured telephone interviews were audio-recorded with consent. Qualitative data were analysed inductively using thematic analysis. Fifteen male farmers participated, who were an average of thirty-nine years of age (23–74 years) with twenty years of farming experience (5–57 years). Seven themes relating to self-management strategies were identified: (1) interacting with a supportive network; (2) involvement in groups and teams; (3) physical activity; (4) proactively educating themselves; (5) self-prioritising and deliberately maintaining work–life balance; (6) being grateful; and (7) focusing on the controllable aspects of farming. Five themes were identified that related to mitigating barriers to seeking mental health assistance: (1) actively welcoming mental health professionals into the community; (2) normalising help-seeking; (3) making seeking mental health assistance a priority; (4) offering services that are culturally appropriate and accessible for male farmers; and (5) tailoring mental health information delivery to farming populations. Australian male farmers already use strategies to maintain and improve their mental health that are culturally and contextually appropriate. These proactive strategies could form the basis of interventions aiming to further promote male farmers’ wellbeing. Barriers to seeking professional mental health assistance may be overcome by implementing solutions directly suggested by male farmers. Given the elevated risk of suicide in this group, investment in trialing promotion of these strategies is warranted.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9564662
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-95646622022-10-15 Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome Woolford, Dale D. Smout, Matthew F. Turnbull, Deborah Gunn, Kate M. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article This research aimed to explore the self-management strategies that Australian male farmers use to improve or maintain their psychological wellbeing and their views on what would assist them to overcome barriers to seeking professional mental health assistance. Individual semi-structured telephone interviews were audio-recorded with consent. Qualitative data were analysed inductively using thematic analysis. Fifteen male farmers participated, who were an average of thirty-nine years of age (23–74 years) with twenty years of farming experience (5–57 years). Seven themes relating to self-management strategies were identified: (1) interacting with a supportive network; (2) involvement in groups and teams; (3) physical activity; (4) proactively educating themselves; (5) self-prioritising and deliberately maintaining work–life balance; (6) being grateful; and (7) focusing on the controllable aspects of farming. Five themes were identified that related to mitigating barriers to seeking mental health assistance: (1) actively welcoming mental health professionals into the community; (2) normalising help-seeking; (3) making seeking mental health assistance a priority; (4) offering services that are culturally appropriate and accessible for male farmers; and (5) tailoring mental health information delivery to farming populations. Australian male farmers already use strategies to maintain and improve their mental health that are culturally and contextually appropriate. These proactive strategies could form the basis of interventions aiming to further promote male farmers’ wellbeing. Barriers to seeking professional mental health assistance may be overcome by implementing solutions directly suggested by male farmers. Given the elevated risk of suicide in this group, investment in trialing promotion of these strategies is warranted. MDPI 2022-09-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9564662/ /pubmed/36231558 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912247 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Woolford, Dale D.
Smout, Matthew F.
Turnbull, Deborah
Gunn, Kate M.
Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome
title Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome
title_full Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome
title_fullStr Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome
title_full_unstemmed Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome
title_short Male Farmers’ Perspectives on Psychological Wellbeing Self-Management Strategies That Work for Them and How Barriers to Seeking Professional Mental Health Assistance Could Be Overcome
title_sort male farmers’ perspectives on psychological wellbeing self-management strategies that work for them and how barriers to seeking professional mental health assistance could be overcome
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9564662/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36231558
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912247
work_keys_str_mv AT woolforddaled malefarmersperspectivesonpsychologicalwellbeingselfmanagementstrategiesthatworkforthemandhowbarrierstoseekingprofessionalmentalhealthassistancecouldbeovercome
AT smoutmatthewf malefarmersperspectivesonpsychologicalwellbeingselfmanagementstrategiesthatworkforthemandhowbarrierstoseekingprofessionalmentalhealthassistancecouldbeovercome
AT turnbulldeborah malefarmersperspectivesonpsychologicalwellbeingselfmanagementstrategiesthatworkforthemandhowbarrierstoseekingprofessionalmentalhealthassistancecouldbeovercome
AT gunnkatem malefarmersperspectivesonpsychologicalwellbeingselfmanagementstrategiesthatworkforthemandhowbarrierstoseekingprofessionalmentalhealthassistancecouldbeovercome