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Hopelessness Levels in Northern Ireland Farmers

Hopelessness Levels in Northern Ireland Farmers. Claire Fowler 1 , Tony Gallagher 1 , Kieran McGlade 2 1 School of psychology, 2 Department of General Practice, Queens University Belfast. Email: k.mcglade@qub.ac.uk. What we already know: Largest number of suicides in any occupational group

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Hopelessness Levels in Northern Ireland Farmers

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  1. Hopelessness Levels in Northern Ireland Farmers Claire Fowler1, Tony Gallagher1, Kieran McGlade2 1School of psychology, 2Department of General Practice, Queens University Belfast Email: k.mcglade@qub.ac.uk • What we already know: • Largest number of suicides in any occupational group • Suicide is the second most important cause of death among young farmers1 • Hopelessness is the key variable linking depression to suicidal risk2. Mean Beck Scores:Farmers 8.78 (SD 5.74)General Pop 4.45 (SD 3.09) – Greene 19813The distribution of the scores among the farmers is shown below. • Aims: • To measure hopelessness levels among farmers • To determine correlation between hopelessness levels and a variety of potential stressors in farming – in particular, social isolation. • Method: • Questionnaire sent to Random sample of 3000 on the UFU Farmers database • Four part questionnaire: • Basic socio-demographics • Details about the farm • Personal and social circumstances • The Beck 20 item Hopelessness scale Conclusion: The primary focus for combating the high suicide rate among farmers should be addressing ways of changing the social isolation which seems to be the lot of many farmers. A multiple regression analysis was carried out. The model used accounted for 29.3% of the variance in the hopelessness scores and looked at general stressors in farming as predictor variables of hopelessness (table opposite). Certain characteristics in farming seem to be related to the development of hopelessness, a major marker for suicide risk. Social isolation, particularly a lack of opportunity to confide in others, has a large impact on hopelessness. Farmers reporting daily contact with others during the working day had a mean Beck score of 7.16 whereas the 16 reporting only monthly contact had a mean score of 12.31. Results: 543 questionnaires returned (18.1%), 531 valid questionnaires 522 men (98.3%) 9 women (1.7%) Mean age 52 years (range 23-83) • References: • 1. Gregoire A The Mental Health of Farmers. Occup Med 2002; 52(8): 471-6. • 2 Beck AT, Kovacs M, Weissman A. Hopelessness and suicidal behaviour, an overview. JAMA 1975 Dec 15;234(11):1146-9. • 3. Greene SM. Levels of measured hopelessness in the general population. Br J Clin Psych 1981; 20:11-14. 70% of respondents scored 5 or more on the Beck scale and 46.9% of the farmers scored 9 or above!

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