Week 3: Rural Mental Health

Question 1

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are now x_____ more likely to die by suicide than their non-aboriginal counterparts

Answer 1

6

Question 2

What can health services do to improve indigenous health

Answer 2

• Be more considerate, and work harder to understand the intricacies of aboriginal culture and identity, so that we can understand mental illness from a cross cultural context (we need to be more fluent across cultures)
• We can work to fill the gaps in services and systems (for example information is lost between hospital and remote communities)
• We need aboriginal people in management to develop policy (in counselling and education roles)
• We need to improve communication and involve the community

Question 3

What are some health issues that are related to mental health in farming populations?

Answer 3

1. Emotional and Social Factors
   - People are emotionally and socially isolated in rural areas
   - The practice of agriculture requires long, hard work (sometimes with not much reward)
   - Many farmers do not have employees
2. Diseases
   - Many people who spend their life on the land open themselves up to many physical problems e.g. back pain, skin cancer rates
   - Poor diet can also cause disease
   - These health practices can contribute to someone’s mental health
   - Vice versa, the stress of mental health can worsen physical symptoms
3. Stress in Rural life
   - Increased agricultural stressors
   - Causes increased suicide
   - Farmers hopes diminish
4. Environmental
   - Climate changes causes significant stress (drought, flood, cyclones etc.)
   - There is evidence that suicide can be linked to drought conditions
   - Neighbours can be a source of stress in rural areas. This can be from boundary issues, road closures, development plans and easements etc.
   - Physical workplace factors like pollution, heat, noise and potential for injury
5. Job control and Job demand
   - The less control someone has, and the higher the demands of the job, the more stress that someone will experience
   - If someone has high control and low physical demand, they will have low stress
6. Economy
   - Many farming enterprise require a high cash investment which exposes them to changes in market prices and effects of weather and natural disasters quite profoundly
   - Thus, there is constant worry about economic survival
7. Relationship with governmental authorities
   - Bans on live cattle exports
   - Farmers angry over land-clearing acts
   - Portrayed negatively in the media as polluters, inhumane treatment of animals
8. Family
   - Conflicts, dissolving family relationships (divorce, family living close by)
   - Succession planning (for those who own properties)
   - People having multiple roles which cause conflict and exacerbate factors

Question 4

List the differences between farming town and mining town

Answer 4

Question 5

Discuss some factors that can impact on mental health postively or negatively in Aboriginal communitites

Answer 5

• populations are young with high dependancy ratio
• some communitites lack elders, who help young parents manage and act as role models
• statistically low SES
• high levels of alcohol consumption in some communities (dry communitites also exist, but smuggling is a problem)
• strong connection to land (positive)
• cultural traditions and beliefs can be protective
• strong kinship (positive)