Alison J Kennedy

Deakin University · School of Medicine

Introduction: Farmers face a range of factors that negatively influence their mental health and suicide risk, yet have limited access to appropriate support. Behavioural activation (BA) is an evidence-based therapy that can be effectively delivered by nonclinical workers. Working with members of farming communities to deliver BA to their peers has...

Objective: This paper draws on the principles of suicide risk safety planning to co-design a farming community resource for preventing and managing risks to mental health. Setting: This project was undertaken in the Great South Coast Region of Victoria, Australia. Participants: A working group (n = 6-8) from the Victorian farming community con...

Children on farms are at increased risk of injury. In Australia, children under 15 years consistently represent ~15% of all farm-related fatalities. This study aimed to develop parent and child surveys to gain a greater understanding of children's (5–14 years) exposure to occupational risk on farms by exploring their exposure to farm hazards, risk-...

Background Unlike most workplaces, farms are both a workplace and a home often resulting in a blurred division between the two. Sadly, children represent 15% of all farm-related fatalities in Australia and this has remained consistent over the last 20 years. Additionally, child farm-related injury statistics have been interpreted without an underst...

Introduction: Investigating how co-designed knowledge can be translated to co-produce a public health capacity-building solution for difficult-to-engage population groups drawing on the co-production experience of a prevention-focused, capacity-building mental health solution targeting primary producers. Design: A qualitative study undertaken in...

Objective: To explore participant experiences of an online co-design process to develop a web-based preventative mental health and well-being intervention targeting primary producers in rural Australia. Setting: Rural Victoria, Australia. Participants: Participants from a primary producer background, including horticulture, fisheries, animal c...

Objective To gain new insight into contextual factors shaping how physical ill health acts as a stressor in rural suicides—informing the development of appropriate targeted interventions. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Non-metropolitan Victoria, Australia. Sample 802 rural (non-metropolitan) suicide deaths between the years 2009 and...

Children on farms have been identified as a population vulnerable to injury. This review seeks to identify child farm-related injury rates in Australia and to determine the key hazards and contributing risk factors. This critical review utilised the PRISMA guidelines for database searching. Research from the year 2000 onward was included as well as...

Primary producers face considerable risks for poor mental health. While this population can be difficult to engage in programs to prevent poor mental health, approaches tailored to reflect the context of primary producers’ life and work have been successful. This paper reports on the co-design phase of a project designed to prevent poor mental heal...

Farmers are at higher risk of suicide than other occupations and the general population. The complex suicide risk factors have not been examined in a large, population‐wide study across a significant time period. This observational study draws on existing data from the United States’ National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), including 140,52...

Background: Compared with the general population, Australian farmers-particularly men-have been identified as at greater risk of suicide. A complex range of factors are thought to contribute to this risk, including the experience of Stigma. stigma also impacts those who have attempted suicide, their carers, and those bereaved by suicide-manifestin...

Rural Australians experience a range of health inequities—including higher rates of suicide—when compared to the general population. This retrospective cohort study compares demographic characteristics and suicide death circumstances of farming- and non-farming-related suicides in rural Victoria with the aim of: (a) exploring the contributing facto...

Background This study investigated if implementation of a 20-min rounding intervention can reduce falls in aged care settings. Methods Participants (aged 66–99 years) from five aged care facilities were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 20) or control groups (n = 21). The intervention consisted of 20-min rounding observations over a six mont...

Background: Globally many farming populations have been identified as having higher rates of suicide, in comparison to those living in metropolitan, rural and regional communities. The reasons for this are unclear although occupational risk and stigma are considered risk factors. This Australian study sought to understand the role of suicide litera...

This article presents qualitative data to explore the experience of farming family members faced with accidental or suicide death and understand how this is experienced within the farming context. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with 25 members of Australian farming families bereaved by suicide or accidental death. Qualitative d...

Background Worldwide, approximately 800,000 persons die by suicide every year; with rates of suicide attempts estimated to be much higher. Suicidal persons often suffer from a mental disorder but stigma, lack of available and suitable support, and insufficient information on mental health limit help seeking. The use of internet-based applications c...

The current literature acknowledges that occupational exposures can adversely affect mental health. This review seeks to elucidate the current understanding of the effect of agrichemical exposure on mental health in the agriculturalsector, including low-dose, chronic pesticide exposure. This scoping review adopted a snowballing and saturation appro...

Background: In Australia, farming populations have been identified as having higher rates of suicide, in comparison to metropolitan, rural and regional communities. The reasons for this are unclear although stigma is considered a risk factor. This study was designed to understand the role of suicide stigma and suicide literacy and the relationship...

Background Australian farming communities have up to twice the suicide rate of the general population. Men, particularly, demonstrate debilitating self- and perceived-stigma associated with an experience of suicide. The Ripple Effect is aimed to reduce suicide stigma within the social, cultural, geographical and psychological contexts in which it o...

Rural farming families constitute a heterogeneous slice of Australia’s population, frequently existing in unique psychological, social and geographical contexts, and subject to numerous heightened mortality risks including suicide and accidental death. Despite efforts to measure and understand such deaths, there is a dearth of knowledge on how such...

Rural farming families constitute a heterogeneous slice of Australia’s population, frequently existing in unique psychological, social and geographical contexts, and subject to numerous heightened mortality risks including suicide and accidental death. Despite efforts to measure and understand such deaths, there is a dearth of knowledge on how such...

Introduction: Geographical isolation, lack of access to internet connectivity, social isolation and poor quality information have been cited as influencing health, wellbeing and safety outcomes for rural and remote populations. Of particular concern has been the dearth of rural topics on the highly accessed Better Health Channel (BHC) website devel...

Introduction: Australia’s farmers constitute a heterogeneous group within the rural population. This literature review incorporates four broad areas: an understanding of farming communities, families and individuals and the contexts in which they live and work; an exploration of the challenges to morbidity and mortality that these communities face;...

Introduction: Australia's farmers constitute a heterogeneous group within the rural population. This literature review incorporates four broad areas: an understanding of farming communities, families and individuals and the contexts in which they live and work; an exploration of the challenges to morbidity and mortality that these communities face...

Aim This paper reports on the development, implementation and evaluation of the Alcohol Intervention Training Program (AITP) designed to enhance nurses’ capacity to work with farming men and women who misuse alcohol. Background In rural and regional areas where alcohol-related behaviours and problems are relatively elevated, nurses may be the key...

Alcohol misuse by farmers continues to challenge rural nurses. This article reports on the experiences of Australian nurses participating in the Alcohol Intervention Training Program (AITP). Qualitative interviews of 15 rural and remote nurses. Semi-structured phone interviews were utilized to assess the response to and implementation of the AITP-a...

Alcohol consumption patterns nationally and internationally have been identified as elevated in rural and remote populations. In the general Australian population, 20.5% of adult males and 16.9% of adult females drink at short-term, high-risk levels. Farmers are more likely to drink excessively than those living in major cities. This study seeks to...

Farm men and women in Australia have higher levels of problematic alcohol use than their urban counterparts and experience elevated health risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption. The Sustainable Farm Families (SFF) program has worked successfully with farm men and women to address health, well- being and safety and has identified that...