Mental health among owners of Quebec agricultural businesses: current situation and intervention prospects

  • Gabriel Gingras-Lacroix is ​​a postdoctoral fellow at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. He holds a research doctorate in health sciences from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke, as well as the Department of Health Sciences at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue. His main research expertise concerns the mental health of farm business owners, the experience of paternal involvement and the request for help among men.

According to international studies, farm business owners face various sociocultural, economic, environmental and climatic contexts that generate intense stress, which has a negative impact on their mental health. In Canada, the last study on the mental health of farmers, published in 2016, revealed that nearly 60% of them were at risk of experiencing psychological distress. Since this study recruited very few Quebec farmers, their mental health status is currently unknown.

Quantitative research will therefore be conducted to update this knowledge. Three variables will be examined: the prevalence of psychological distress among Quebec farm business owners; their attitude toward using mental health support services; and the resilience vectors of farm business owners.

Comparative analyses will be conducted between various subgroups established according to the characteristics of the participants. The identification of variables associated with the presence of psychological distress, attitude towards recourse to mental health support services and resilience vectors will be carried out using linear regression models. The results of this research could thus contribute to improving psychosocial interventions for this population group.

This project is co-funded in partnership with Mitacs and iA Financial Group.