IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i23p4849-d293350.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Key Risk Factors Affecting Farmers’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Sahar Daghagh Yazd

    (Centre for Global Food and Resources, Faculty of Professions, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia)

  • Sarah Ann Wheeler

    (Centre for Global Food and Resources, Faculty of Professions, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia)

  • Alec Zuo

    (Centre for Global Food and Resources, Faculty of Professions, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia)

Abstract

Recently, concern has increased globally over farmers’ mental health issues. We present a systematic review of the outcomes, locations, study designs, and methods of current studies on farmers’ mental health. In particular, this review aims to fill an important gap in understanding of the potential key risk factors affecting farmers’ mental health around the world. 167 articles on farmer mental health were included in a final systematic review using a standardized electronic literature search strategy and PRISMA guidelines. The four most-cited influences on farmers’ mental health in the reviewed literature respectively were pesticide exposure, financial difficulties, climate variabilities/drought, and poor physical health/past injuries. The majority of studies were from developed countries, most specifically from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Comparative studies on the mental health of farmers and other occupational workers showed mixed results, with a larger portion identifying that psychological health disturbances were more common in farmers and farm-workers. Knowledge of farmer psychological disorder risk factors and its impacts are essential for reducing the burden of mental illness. Further research will be required on climate change impacts, developing country farmers’ mental health, and information on how to reduce help-seeking barriers amongst farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Sahar Daghagh Yazd & Sarah Ann Wheeler & Alec Zuo, 2019. "Key Risk Factors Affecting Farmers’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-23, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:23:p:4849-:d:293350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/23/4849/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/23/4849/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aracely Serrano-Medina & Angel Ugalde-Lizárraga & Michelle Stephanie Bojorquez-Cuevas & Jatniel Garnica-Ruiz & Martín Alexis González-Corral & Arnold García-Ledezma & Gisela Pineda-García & José Manue, 2019. "Neuropsychiatric Disorders in Farmers Associated with Organophosphorus Pesticide Exposure in a Rural Village of Northwest México," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Margaret Alston & Josephine Clarke & Kerri Whittenbury, 2018. "Contemporary Feminist Analysis of Australian Farm Women in the Context of Climate Changes," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Vega, William & Warheit, George & Palacio, Robert, 1985. "Psychiatric symptomatology among Mexican American farmworkers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 39-45, January.
    4. Itishree Pattnaik & Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt & Stewart Lockie & Bill Pritchard, 2018. "The feminization of agriculture or the feminization of agrarian distress? Tracking the trajectory of women in agriculture in India," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 138-155, January.
    5. Anindya Das, 2011. "Farmers’ Suicide in India: Implications for Public Mental Health," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 57(1), pages 21-29, January.
    6. Lisa Kunde & Kairi Kõlves & Brian Kelly & Prasuna Reddy & Diego De Leo, 2017. "Pathways to Suicide in Australian Farmers: A Life Chart Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Helen L. Berry & Thomas D. Waite & Keith B. G. Dear & Anthony G. Capon & Virginia Murray, 2018. "The case for systems thinking about climate change and mental health," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 282-290, April.
    8. Daghagh Yazd, Sahar & Wheeler, Sarah Ann & Zuo, Alec, 2020. "Understanding the impacts of water scarcity and socio-economic demographics on farmer mental health in the Murray-Darling Basin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    9. Aiguo Dai, 2013. "Increasing drought under global warming in observations and models," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(1), pages 52-58, January.
    10. Steenland, K. & Jenkins, B. & Ames, R.G. & O'Malley, M. & Chrislip, D. & Russo, J., 1994. "Chronic neurological sequelae to organophosphate pesticide poisoning," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 84(5), pages 731-736.
    11. Jonathan Stieglitz & Eric Schniter & Christopher von Rueden & Hillard Kaplan & Michael Gurven, 2015. "Functional Disability and Social Conflict Increase Risk of Depression in Older Adulthood Among Bolivian Forager-Farmers," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(6), pages 948-956.
    12. Sahar Daghagh Yazd & Sarah Ann Wheeler & Alec Zuo, 2019. "Exploring the Drivers of Irrigator Mental Health in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-15, November.
    13. Alberto Modenese & Leena Korpinen & Fabriziomaria Gobba, 2018. "Solar Radiation Exposure and Outdoor Work: An Underestimated Occupational Risk," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-24, September.
    14. Ben Edwards & Matthew Gray & Boyd Hunter, 2009. "A Sunburnt Country: The Economic and Financial Impact of Drought on Rural and Regional Families in Australia in an Era of Climate Change," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 12(1), pages 108-131.
    15. Aiguo Dai, 2013. "Erratum: Increasing drought under global warming in observations and models," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(2), pages 171-171, February.
    16. Henderson, C. & Evans-Lacko, S. & Thornicroft, G., 2013. "Mental illness stigma, help seeking, and public health programs," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(5), pages 777-780.
    17. Holly Vins & Jesse Bell & Shubhayu Saha & Jeremy J. Hess, 2015. "The Mental Health Outcomes of Drought: A Systematic Review and Causal Process Diagram," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-25, October.
    18. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    19. Neil I. Huth & Brett Cocks & Neal Dalgliesh & Perry L. Poulton & Oswald Marinoni & Javier Navarro Garcia, 2018. "Farmers’ perceptions of coexistence between agriculture and a large scale coal seam gas development," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(1), pages 99-115, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Miho Sato & Hiromi Kato & Makiko Noguchi & Hiroshi Ono & Kuniyuki Kobayashi, 2020. "Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms and Work Environment Factors among Dairy Farmers in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-12, April.
    2. Alison Kennedy & Catherine Cosgrave & Joanna Macdonald & Kate Gunn & Timo Dietrich & Susan Brumby, 2021. "Translating Co-Design from Face-to-Face to Online: An Australian Primary Producer Project Conducted during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.
    3. Emelynne Gabrielly de Oliveira Santos & Paulo Roberto Queiroz & Aryelly Dayane da Silva Nunes & Kelly Graziani Giacchero Vedana & Isabelle Ribeiro Barbosa, 2021. "Factors Associated with Suicidal Behavior in Farmers: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Moshe Gish & Aya Shalmon & Ofira Ayalon, 2023. "The Destructive Effects of Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles on Farmer Well-Being: Mental Health Consequences Outweigh Economic Losses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-12, February.
    5. Manel Díaz Llobet & Manel Plana-Farran & Micaela L. Riethmuller & Victor Rodríguez Lizano & Silvia Solé Cases & Mercè Teixidó, 2023. "Mapping the Research into Mental Health in the Farming Environment: A Bibliometric Review from Scopus and WoS Databases," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Marita Stier-Jarmer & Cornelia Oberhauser & Dieter Frisch & Götz Berberich & Thomas Loew & Carina Schels-Klemens & Birgit Braun & Angela Schuh, 2020. "A Multimodal Stress-Prevention Program Supplemented by Telephone-Coaching Sessions to Reduce Perceived Stress among German Farmers: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Terasa Younker & Heidi Liss Radunovich, 2021. "Farmer Mental Health Interventions: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-30, December.
    8. Syadani Riyad Fatema & Leah East & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2021. "Health Impact and Risk Factors Affecting South and Southeast Asian Women Following Natural Disasters: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, October.
    9. Florence Becot & Casper Bendixsen & Kathrine Barnes & Josie Rudolphi, 2021. "Broadening Our Understanding of Farm Children’s Risk Exposure by Considering Their Parents’ Farming Background," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-18, May.
    10. Bjørnåvold, Amalie & David, Maia & Bohan, David A. & Gibert, Caroline & Rousselle, Jean-Marc & Van Passel, Steven, 2022. "Why does France not meet its pesticide reduction targets? Farmers' socio-economic trade-offs when adopting agro-ecological practices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    11. Fadare, Olusegun & Zanello, Giacomo & Srinivasan, Chittur, 2023. "Stressor or succour? Examining the association between conflict, livestock assets, and farmers’ mental health in Nigeria," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    12. Matthew Abunyewah & Mitchell K. Byrne & Carol A. Keane & Daniel Bressington, 2023. "Developing Psychological Resilience to the Impact of Drought," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-11, February.
    13. Danni Feng & Quan Wang & Sufang Huang & Xiaorong Lang & Fengfei Ding & Wei Wang, 2022. "The Effect of Perceived Stress, Family Companionship, and Mental Health on the Subjective Happiness of Chinese Healthcare Workers: A Mixed Research Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-17, September.
    14. Saju Madavanakadu Devassy & Shilpa V. Yohannan & Lorane Scaria & Sunirose Ishnassery Pathrose, 2024. "Tangible to Non-Tangible Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Life Satisfaction of Farmers in Kerala, India," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, September.
    15. Jing Hou & Linhai Wu & Bo Hou, 2020. "Risk Attitude, Contract Arrangements and Enforcement in Food Safety Governance: A China’s Agri-Food Supply Chain Scenario," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-16, April.
    16. Jungsun Park & Hanjun Kim & Yangho Kim, 2021. "Factors Related to Psychological Well-Being as Moderated by Occupational Class in Korean Self-Employed Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Brune, Sara & Vilá, Olivia & Knollenberg, Whitney, 2023. "Family farms' resilience under the COVID-19 crisis: Challenges and opportunities with agritourism," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    18. Briana N. M. Hagen & Alex Sawatzky & Sherilee L. Harper & Terri L. O’Sullivan & Andria Jones-Bitton, 2021. "What Impacts Perceived Stress among Canadian Farmers? A Mixed-Methods Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-14, July.
    19. Victoria Junquera & Daniel I. Rubenstein & Florian Knaus, 2024. ""How lonely are you?" The role of social contacts and farm characteristics in farmers' self-reported feelings of loneliness, and why it matters," Papers 2407.20136, arXiv.org.
    20. Jie Song & Yaping Cai & Yahong Wang & Salim Khan, 2022. "Health Risk, Income Effect, and the Stability of Farmers’ Poverty Alleviation in Deep Poverty Areas: A Case Study of S-County in Qinba Mountain Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-15, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jale Amanuel Dufera & Tewodros Addisu Yate & Tadesse Tujuba Kenea, 2023. "Spatiotemporal analysis of drought in Oromia regional state of Ethiopia over the period 1989 to 2019," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1569-1609, June.
    2. Jinhua Wen & Yian Hua & Chenkai Cai & Shiwu Wang & Helong Wang & Xinyan Zhou & Jian Huang & Jianqun Wang, 2023. "Probabilistic Forecast and Risk Assessment of Flash Droughts Based on Numeric Weather Forecast: A Case Study in Zhejiang, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Anna Jędrejek & Rafał Pudełko, 2023. "Exploring the Potential Use of Sentinel-1 and 2 Satellite Imagery for Monitoring Winter Wheat Growth under Agricultural Drought Conditions in North-Western Poland," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, September.
    4. Rengui Jiang & Jiancang Xie & Hailong He & Jungang Luo & Jiwei Zhu, 2015. "Use of four drought indices for evaluating drought characteristics under climate change in Shaanxi, China: 1951–2012," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(3), pages 2885-2903, February.
    5. Ashenafi Yimam Kassaye & Guangcheng Shao & Xiaojun Wang & Shiqing Wu, 2021. "Quantification of drought severity change in Ethiopia during 1952–2017," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 5096-5121, April.
    6. Gilles Dufrénot & William Ginn & Marc Pourroy, 2023. "ENSO Climate Patterns on Global Economic Conditions," AMSE Working Papers 2308, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    7. Nabeel Bani Hani & Fakher J. Aukour & Mohammed I. Al-Qinna, 2022. "Investigating the Pearl Millet ( Pennisetum glaucum ) as a Climate-Smart Drought-Tolerant Crop under Jordanian Arid Environments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Dingcai Yin & Xiaohua Gou & Haijiang Yang & Kai Wang & Jie Liu & Yiran Zhang & Linlin Gao, 2023. "Elevation-dependent tree growth response to recent warming and drought on eastern Tibetan Plateau," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(6), pages 1-18, June.
    9. Fangtian Liu & Erqi Xu & Hongqi Zhang, 2024. "Assessing typhoon disaster mitigation capacity and its uncertainty analysis in Hainan, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 120(11), pages 9401-9420, September.
    10. Hong, Minki & Lee, Sang-Hyun & Lee, Seung-Jae & Choi, Jin-Yong, 2021. "Application of high-resolution meteorological data from NCAM-WRF to characterize agricultural drought in small-scale farmlands based on soil moisture deficit," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    11. Daghagh Yazd, Sahar & Wheeler, Sarah Ann & Zuo, Alec, 2020. "Understanding the impacts of water scarcity and socio-economic demographics on farmer mental health in the Murray-Darling Basin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    12. Shan Jiang & Jian Zhou & Guojie Wang & Qigen Lin & Ziyan Chen & Yanjun Wang & Buda Su, 2022. "Cropland Exposed to Drought Is Overestimated without Considering the CO 2 Effect in the Arid Climatic Region of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-21, June.
    13. L. Lin & A. Gettelman & Q. Fu & Y. Xu, 2018. "Simulated differences in 21st century aridity due to different scenarios of greenhouse gases and aerosols," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 407-422, February.
    14. Adeline Bichet & Arona Diedhiou & Benoit Hingray & Guillaume Evin & N’Datchoh Evelyne Touré & Klutse Nana Ama Browne & Kouakou Kouadio, 2020. "Assessing uncertainties in the regional projections of precipitation in CORDEX-AFRICA," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 583-601, September.
    15. Trnka, Miroslav & Vizina, Adam & Hanel, Martin & Balek, Jan & Fischer, Milan & Hlavinka, Petr & Semerádová, Daniela & Štěpánek, Petr & Zahradníček, Pavel & Skalák, Petr & Eitzinger, Josef & Dubrovský,, 2022. "Increasing available water capacity as a factor for increasing drought resilience or potential conflict over water resources under present and future climate conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    16. Yu, Chaoqing & Huang, Xiao & Chen, Han & Huang, Guorui & Ni, Shaoqiang & Wright, Jonathon S. & Hall, Jim & Ciais, Philippe & Zhang, Jie & Xiao, Yuchen & Sun, Zhanli & Wang, Xuhui & Yu, Le, 2018. "Assessing the impacts of extreme agricultural droughts in China under climate and socioeconomic changes," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6, pages 689-703.
    17. Yuan Li & Yi Dong & Dongqin Yin & Diyou Liu & Pengxin Wang & Jianxi Huang & Zhe Liu & Hongshuo Wang, 2020. "Evaluation of Drought Monitoring Effect of Winter Wheat in Henan Province of China Based on Multi-Source Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, April.
    18. Ding, Yugang & Xu, Jiangmin, 2023. "Global vulnerability of agricultural commodities to climate risk: Evidence from satellite data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 669-687.
    19. Jing Peng & Li Dan & Jinming Feng & Kairan Ying & Xiba Tang & Fuqiang Yang, 2021. "Absolute Contribution of the Non-Uniform Spatial Distribution of Atmospheric CO 2 to Net Primary Production through CO 2 -Radiative Forcing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, September.
    20. Weili Duan & Bin He & Daniel Nover & Jingli Fan & Guishan Yang & Wen Chen & Huifang Meng & Chuanming Liu, 2016. "Floods and associated socioeconomic damages in China over the last century," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 82(1), pages 401-413, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:23:p:4849-:d:293350. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.