Mental wellbeing of Norwegian farmers: what are the main facilitators and barriers? An exploratory study.

INTRODUCTION

Farmers are among the occupational groups with the highest risk of mental illness. This exploratory study aimed to investigate how Norwegian farmers perceive different facilitators of and barriers to mental wellbeing in their everyday lives, and the possible relationships between these factors and overall mental wellbeing.

METHODS

This study included 265 Norwegian farmers (142 males and 123 females) who responded to an online survey. The five-item WHO Well-Being Index was employed to evaluate farmers' mental wellbeing.

RESULTS

The results showed that 34.7% of the respondents reported wellbeing scores that indicated they should be further screened for major depression. Female farmers reported significantly lower mental wellbeing scores than male farmers. Furthermore, full-time farmers had lower wellbeing scores than part-time farmers. The factors that most respondents perceived to be barriers to wellbeing in everyday life were unstable economics and a lack of appreciation for their work. The primary facilitators were stable and secure economics and a good social network within and outside of agriculture.

CONCLUSION

Analysis suggests that perceived barriers seem to have a higher importance for farmers' wellbeing than the perception of facilitators. Future studies should further investigate the effects of individual barriers on mental wellbeing.