Recognising and Managing Distress Among Farming Clients: An Evaluation of Brief Training for Rural Financial Counsellors and Other Non-Clinical Rural Support Workers
Gemma Skaczkowski, Donna Hughes-Barton, Sophie Loxton, Kate Gunn
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引用次数: 0
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.
期刊介绍:
The Australian Journal of Rural Health publishes articles in the field of rural health. It facilitates the formation of interdisciplinary networks, so that rural health professionals can form a cohesive group and work together for the advancement of rural practice, in all health disciplines. The Journal aims to establish a national and international reputation for the quality of its scholarly discourse and its value to rural health professionals. All articles, unless otherwise identified, are peer reviewed by at least two researchers expert in the field of the submitted paper.