Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Program

Farmers and agricultural workers are at elevated risk of suicide, both in the United States and internationally. A study of violent deaths by occupation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the group Farming, Fishing, and Forestry had the third highest rate of suicide of all occupations. An examination of suicides among Georgia workers found that those in the occupational group Farming, Fishing, and Forestry had a suicide rate of 50.7 per 100,000 in comparison with 14.9 per 100,000 for the overall population of workers. Factors found to be associated with suicides included relationship struggles and loss, health and disability issues, and financial concerns. Thus, there are key players in the community—e.g. physicians, bankers, faith leaders—who see farmers during times of high stress and potential risk of suicide and could intervene. A recent study of Georgia farmers found that people perceive stress levels among Georgia farmers to be quite high, and identified additional stressors over which farmers have no control—weather, government regulations, operating costs, commodity prices. This suggests that support during times of hopelessness, which may be engendered by things over which farmers have no control, can be crucial to prevent farmer suicide and promote farmer mental health. All this points to a need for community-based interventions to give key players the skills to support farmers during times of stress, and to recognize and help when farmers may be at elevated risk of suicide. 

The Rural Georgia: Growing Stronger team will work together to develop such interventions. All participating team members are engaged in rural research or community support, and we share information amongst ourselves and with local community partners in Southwest Georgia through a Rural Stress network. However, to date we have not had the time, opportunity, or resources to create a collective vision for how all our “pieces” can work together. In partnership with communities, and using a community impact model, the team plans to develop a unified agenda for addressing farmer suicide and stress. Through intentional and frequent communication, we as a backbone team of researchers can also identify ways in which our current initiatives are mutually reinforcing and can identify common measurement tools to demonstrate impact. We can plan for systematic intervention research that will strengthen communities’ capacity to provide culturally-acceptable evidence-based supports to farmers experiencing stress and mental health challenges. We anticipate that this work will attract external funding from sources such as the USDA and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. 

Team Lead

Anna Scheyett
School of Social Work
amscheye@uga.edu

Team Members

Laura Perry Johnson
UGA Extension

Andrea Scarrow
UGA Extension

Barry Croom
Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication

Orion Mowbray
School of Social Work

Diane Bales
College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Rebecca Brightwell
College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Sharon Kane
Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development

Vanessa Shonkwiler
Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development

Mark McCann
UGA Extension

Virginia Brown
Office of Learning and Organizational Development