Translating Co-Design from Face-to-Face to Online: An Australian Primary Producer Project Conducted during COVID-19

Abstract

Primary producers face considerable risks for poor mental health. While this population can be difficult to engage in programs to prevent poor mental health, approaches tailored to reflect the context of primary producers’ life and work have been successful. This paper reports on the co-design phase of a project designed to prevent poor mental health for primary producers—specifically, the advantages, challenges and considerations of translating face-to-face co-design methods to an online environment in response to COVID-19 restrictions. The co-design phase drew upon the existing seven-step co-design framework developed by Trischler and colleagues. Online methods were adopted for all steps of the process. This paper models how this co-design approach can work in an online, primary producer context and details key considerations for future initiatives of this type. The development of online co-design methods is an important additional research method for use not only during a pandemic but also when operating with limited resources or geographic constraints. Results demonstrate the following:
(i) co-designing online is possible given adequate preparation, training and resource allocation;
(ii) “hard to reach” populations can be engaged using online methods providing there is adequate early-stage relationship building;
(iii) co-design quality need not be compromised and may be improved when translating to online; and
(iv) saved costs and resources associated with online methods can be realigned towards intervention/service creation, promotion and user engagement. Suggestions for extending Trischler and colleagues’ model are incorporated.

Kennedy, A., Cosgrave, C., Macdonald, J., Gunn, K., Dietrich, T., and Brumby, S. 14 April 2021Translating Co-Design from Face-to-Face to Online: An Australian Primary Producer Project Conducted during COVID-19Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 202118(8)Go to page

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Media Release: Important regional COVID-19 study commenced

Some local people have recently received an SMS inviting them to part of a survey on how attending the COVID screening clinics has affected them. It is not a scam! ⁠
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Western District Health Service (WDHS), Hamilton and South West Healthcare, Warrnambool have been so important in screening and detecting COVID-19 cases in our region. Their COVID-19 services have been running consistently since March 2020 and have been vital in helping us keep an accurate finger on the pulse of COVID-19 in our region.⁠
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Researchers want to understand how people have coped before, after and whilst waiting for their COVID-19 results. To study this researchers from Federation University, Western District Health Service and South West Healthcare are collaborating to conduct the study, “Mental health at the COVID-19 frontline: An assessment of distress, anxiety and coping from attendees and staff at screening clinics”. ⁠
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Principal researcher Susan Brumby said “To date over 5000 people have attended these two regional clinics and people may feel anxious about the results, worried about being sick or having symptoms and having to go home and isolate.” she said. “Findings from this study will assist us in developing new ways to support regional Victorians and healthcare workers and improve services during such a crisis”. ⁠
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The study is voluntary. It uses a completely anonymous online survey that will not take more than 20 minutes to complete. People who are 18 years and older and attended either the Drive-through COVID-19 Clinic at Hamilton Base Hospital, WDHS, Hamilton OR, Respiratory Assessment Clinics South West Healthcare, Warrnambool will be contacted by SMS. ⁠

It will not take more than 20 minutes to complete and will be running until Feb 28, 2021.

The project has been approved by Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) at both South West Healthcare Human Research Ethics Committee (Ref: 2020 20) and Federation University Australia (Ref: B20-036). The research has been funded by Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre and supported by Western District Health Service, South West Healthcare and Federation University.

Non-participation in this research will not impact any service at these healthcare settings.

If you have any questions regarding this study, please contact the Principal Researchers of this project:

Susan Brumby
Director National Centre for Farmer Health
Western District Health Service (WDHS) and Deakin University
+61 3 5551 8533
Dr Muhammad Aziz Rahman
Associate Professor of Public Health
School of Health
Federations University Australia
+61 3 4313 7908

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A comparison of farming and non‐farming related suicides from the United States’ National Violent Deaths Reporting System, 2003–2016

Farmers are at higher risk of suicide than other occupations and the general population. The complex suicide risk factors have not been examined in a large, population‐wide study across a significant time period. This observational study draws on existing data from the United States’ National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), including 140,523 farming‐ or non‐farming‐related suicide decedents between 2003 and 2016 from across 40 states. “Farming‐related” decedents included 2,801 suicides. Farmers had higher odds of being male, older, less well‐educated, and American Indian/Alaska Native. Farmers had higher odds of using firearms and—when farmers used a gun—higher odds of using a long‐arm weapon. Farmers had lower odds of having a known mental health condition or job problem, and lower odds of having made a previous suicide attempt or leaving a suicide note. Findings highlight the complexity of suicide risk within the context of farming in the United States and reinforce the need for tailored prevention efforts; employing means restriction of firearms; and emphasizing that traditional risk factors may not be as common in the farming population.

Kennedy, A., Cerel, J., Kheibari, A., Leske, S. and Watts, J06 January 2021A comparison of farming‐ and non‐farming‐related suicides from the United States’ National Violent Deaths Reporting System, 2003–2016. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior(early view)Go to page

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Directors Blog – Podcast with the University of Iowa: Knowing the territory

This week, Alexis and Steve from the University of Iowa welcome Dr. Susan Brumby to the program. Dr. Brumby is the founding director of the National Centre for Farmer Health, an innovative partnership between Western District Health Service and Deakin University Australia.

She discusses the issues surrounding the health, wellbeing and safety of farmers and agricultural workers and how a practical understanding of rural communities helps create meaningful connections.

Read more about Dr. Brumby: https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/profile/9630/susan_brumby

A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3g5jzn6

Farmer Health eNews December 2020

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2020-11-23: Research looks at early suicide triggers – Farm Weekly

by Bree Swift

RESEARCH to develop more targeted suicide prevention strategies for farmers is being undertaken by the National Centre for Farmer Health.

AgSPACE is an agricultural suicide prevention project that analyses coronial evidence to reduce the reliance of anecdotal reporting of suicide in rural farming communites.

A partnership between Deakin University and the Western District Health Service, Victoria, the project aims to demystify farmer suicide and compare suicide data of Australian farming regions.

“The work is focussed on prevention and early identification of risk factors associated with farming populations, their health, wellbeing and safety,” said National Centre for Farmer Health research fellow Alison Kennedy.

The first stage of research was based on 1298 non-metropolitan suicide deaths, 133 of which were determined as farming related.

The project found that farming related suicides were more likely to occur with people who were identified as employed and less likely to have received mental health treatment more than six weeks before death.

“We found farming related suicides were less likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness and particularly a mood disorder and that may be through lower rates of diagnosis, but it also may be through reduced access to services and the flow-on effect of opportunities to have a condition diagnosed,” Ms Kennedy said.

“When people were seeking support it was more likely to be in that crisis stage.

“People were also less likely to have received mental health treatment from their GP and, we do know, often people in farming communities who struggle with their mental health are more likely to present to a GP with a physical health condition rather than their mental health condition – so that’s something to keep in mind for prevention efforts.

The second stage of the AgSPACE project took a more in-depth look at 820 rural suicide deaths and found that living with physical ill health within a rural area was a common theme, with limited specialist services, long wait times, the requirement for significant travel and cultural barriers to accessing health care (in that people didn’t like to ask for help and seek assistance) was prevalent.

“There was an unwillingness to confide in others about health and sometimes that even extended to family members and people within their friendship groups,” Ms Kennedy said.

“Physical ill health really increased that sense of isolation and that sense of geographic isolation really enhanced the sense of social isolation.”

Injuries often related to work, including farming or vehicle accidents that cause chronic pain were identified as a theme in the second stage of research

“There was a burden of not being able to actively contribute to work (particularly farming), family and society and a real shame and stigma surrounding the inability to manage pain on their psychological capacities,” Ms Kennedy said.

Following the outcomes of the AgSPACE research, the National Centre for Farmer Health has recommended the need for a culturally competent rural health workforce that understands the risks faced by those living in rural communities and the culture and context in which they live and work.

“We need methods where we can engage with people early in the piece so we can look after their physical and psychosocial health,” Ms Kennedy

Alternative support delivery is an area which the organisation plans to focus on through its MH4Ag program.

The program is focussed on developing a framework to deliver peer supported psychological therapy to farm community members experiencing depression or psychological distress by taking a pragmatic approach to therapy that ties into how farming communities operate.

The second aim of the project is to work with farmers and stakeholders to develop a personalised, practical action plan to help improve farmers and farming community members’ ability to proactively focus on what to do in a challenging situation, rather than what not to do.

“We’re in the co-design stage of this project and we are running some workshops to determine what the peer-supported delivery will look like, who would be most effective to deliver it, what training would be required and what are the most effective methods of engaging the community,” Ms Kennedy said.

“We have also engaged a working group to help us develop the action plan.”

For more information visit the National Centre for Farmer Health website https://farmerhealth.org.au

view full article here

Ideas to help manage the holiday and harvest season

In what has already been a challenging few years, we are approaching a season predicted to challenge us all even further. Managing the ‘end of year rush’, farm-related fatigue, over-indulgence in food and alcohol, and the challenges of social interaction (or isolation) means this is not always the joyful time portrayed.

Farmer Health resources:

Practical ways to support your mental health:

Fact sheets which are particularly helpful at this time of the year:

support contact numbers – click here

Learn where you live – Agricultural Health and Medicine goes online in 2021

For the first time in twelve years Australia’s only postgraduate agricultural health and medicine unit is going online for 2021. This internationally recognised, multidisciplinary course better equips health providers, rural professionals and our rural communities with the knowledge and skills they need to live, work and prosper. To date, over 230 professionals working in agriculture, medicine, allied health, and nursing from across Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Africa and the UK have undertaken the unit which confronts the high rate of injuries, fatalities and non-communicable diseases experienced by farming families and their communities.

Unit chair Dr Jacquie Cotton says “The global pandemic event of 2020 has changed the way we teach and work. This means that you can now learn where you live, and by moving the course online enable our international and interstate students to study with us in 2021.”  

The exciting 5-day intensive will be held online from February 22nd – 26th 2021 as a key part of the online unit. Agricultural Health and Medicine unit (HMF701) offered through Deakin University, School of Medicine. The presenters cover a broad range of health, safety and wellbeing issues ranging from mental illness and addiction through to emergency medicine, agrichemicals, zoonotic disease, non-communicable disease and agricultural trauma.

The course material shifts focus with the changing nature of adversity and health challenges faced by rural and remote agricultural communities, providing graduates with the necessary skills and knowledge to improve the social, physical and mental health of agricultural workforces and farming women, men and children across Australia.

NCFH Agrihealth professional, RN, and Agricultural Health and Medicine graduate, Amelia Cottrell from NSW is one of a team of rural nurses using their expert understanding of Agricultural Health to work with farmers and agricultural workers across the country. “The National Centre for Farmer Health has helped me fulfil my passion to improve the health and wellbeing of rural communities through conducting health assessments and educating farmers about the health risks associated with the agricultural industry and to make a positive change to farmers’ lives.” RN Amelia Cottrell said

Dr Cotton says “Registered nurses who successfully complete Agricultural Health and Medicine and meet requirements, are also ideally placed to join Australia’s only AgriSafe™ network.

To find out more about scholarships, AgriSafe™ career opportunities or apply for the Graduate Certificate of Agricultural Health and Medicine, visit www.farmerhealth.org.au/education, contact Dr Jacquie Cotton 03 5551 8533 or email j.cotton@deakin.edu.au.

 
*** ENDS ***

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: 

National Centre for Farmer Health:
Dr Susan Brumby
Phone: 03 5551 8460
or
Dr Jacquie Cotton
Phone: 03 5551 8585, 0409 287 497
Email: j.cotton@deakin.edu.au