The Farm Stress Production Meeting: An Innovative Extension Program Addressing Farmer Stress
ISSN 2158-9429
Volume 16, Issue 2 - December 2023
Editor: Linda Chalker-Scott
Abstract
Farmers experience high levels of stress and suicide risk, complicated by strong values of independence and stoicism. In addition, farmer time demands make it unlikely that many will attend stress management programming. We have developed an innovative Extension program, The Farm Stress Production Meeting (FSPM), infusing conversations on stress into existing commodity production meetings to provide stress management skills to farmers in acceptable and time-efficient ways. Mixed-method evaluation of FSPM showed significant positive change in farmer thinking about stress management and increased openness to discussing stress. FSPM holds promise as an accessible, acceptable, and effective intervention to help farmers manage stress.
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