Recognising and Managing Distress Among Farming Clients: An Evaluation of Brief Training for Rural Financial Counsellors and Other Non-Clinical Rural Support Workers

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the impact of a tailored, brief, 3-h training program to help Rural Financial Counsellors and other non-clinical rural support workers recognise and manage distress experienced by their farming clients.

Setting

Rural, regional and remote Australia.

Participants

Rural support workers (N = 75; primarily Rural Financial Counsellors and Family and Business mentors) undertaking a 2-part, online training programme for recognising and managing distress in farmers.

Design

Individual questionnaires were collected before the first workshop, after the second workshop, and 3 months post completion of both workshops.

Results

Seventy-five participants provided pre-training data. A series of mixed models for repeated measures identified significant improvements in participants' confidence in recognising and managing farmers' distress pre- to post-training. Specifically, increases in confidence in differentiating mild distress from distress requiring professional help (F = 11.30, p < 0.001), skills to use time well (F = 14.17, p < 0.001), recognising distress (F = 9.16, p < 0.001), dealing with the needs of distressed farmers (F = 22.93, p < 0.001), talking to farmers about their wellbeing (F = 16.47, p < 0.001), knowing when to refer farmers for additional support (F = 19.10, p < 0.001), knowing where to refer farmers for additional support (F = 14.00, p < 0.001), were maintained at the 3-month follow-up. Pre- post-training, participants' behavioural intentions to refer their clients to a farmer-specific mental health intervention (www.ifarmwell.com.au) increased (F = 48.26, p < 0.001), which was maintained at 3-month follow-up. The training did not significantly change participants' quality of life or work stress.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that a brief, tailored training programme significantly increases rural support workers' confidence in recognising and managing distress in their farming clients.