Abstract
Farming is dangerous, with fatalities among the highest in any occupation. Farmers often work alone, for long hours, with unreliable equipment and in difficult weather conditions with hazardous chemicals and livestock. In addition, farmers make large financial commitments exposing them to high levels of financial risk. Exposure to such financial risk can give rise to subjective experiences of financial threat (FT) that are psychologically challenging. The current study attempted to characterize the role that FT plays in farm injuries. One hundred and twenty one dairy farmers completed a battery of questionnaires assessing FT, social support (SS), depression, anxiety, farm job stress, and health and safety beliefs. Mental distress directly predicted farmers’ expectations of injury and a direct effect of non-financial farm stress (FS) approached significance. Mental distress mediated these relationships as evidenced by significant indirect effects of FS and FT, and SS served to reduce distress. These findings support calls for interventions designed to reduce FS and FT and increase SS for farmers.
Highlights
Farming is one of the most dangerous occupation in Ireland [1] and worldwide [2]; with fatalities five times higher than construction, with self-employed or family farmers at significantly increased risk
The current study investigated relationships between financial threat (FT), social support (SS), farm job stress, mental distress, and Farmer’s Expectations of Injury (FEI)
The findings support the conclusion that mental distress mediates the effects of non-financial farm stress (FS) and FT FEI
Summary
Farming is one of the most dangerous occupation in Ireland [1] and worldwide [2]; with fatalities five times higher than construction, with self-employed or family farmers at significantly increased risk. The job demands-resources model [JDR; [20]] provides a useful descriptive framework for conceptualizing the effects of workplace stress on farmers It has been supported in many studies across different job contexts [21]. In the current study, were the effects that financial worries may have on mental health and farmers’ health and safety behaviors. Strong mental health may function to reduce the impact and effect of financial worries and other stressors on injury expectations; possibly buffering the effect of stress on behavior by using mental resources to deal with the negative effects of stress [41]. The current study assessed the negative effects of FS and financial worries and the positive effects of SS on self-reported injury expectations and assessed whether these effects were mediated by mental distress
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