Mental and Physical Symptoms of Female Rural Workers: Relation between Household and Rural Work

Anxiety and Associated Stressors Among Farm Women in England and Wales

OBJECTIVES

The findings presented here derive from a wider study that sought to establish a baseline understanding of mental health and wellbeing among the agricultural community in England and Wales. This paper focuses on selected questions that investigated levels of anxiety and associated stress factors among farm women, a group which has been relatively neglected within previous research on farming mental health in the United Kingdom.

METHODS

A questionnaire survey was widely distributed to members of the agricultural community in England and Wales (n = 15,296) in both paper and online formats. The survey included a number of standardised instruments to assess mental health and wellbeing, including the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7). Focusing on a sub-sample of female respondents (n = 3487), this paper details the findings from the GAD-7, alongside those from a selection of other questions investigating sources of stress, loneliness and perceived business viability.

RESULTS

A significant proportion of female respondents were experiencing anxiety at the time of survey completion, with 23.3% reaching the threshold for clinically relevant anxiety based on their GAD-7 scores (medium or severe anxiety, scores≥10). A further 34.6% were classified as experiencing mild anxiety (scores 5-9) whilst 42.1% were not suffering from anxiety (scores 0-4). Medium/severe anxiety was identified as being associated with a number of stress factors, feelings of loneliness and pessimistic perceptions of farm business viability. There were important age-based differences, with working-aged women identified as more likely to suffer from anxiety, loneliness and certain stressors than older women.

CONCLUSION

The findings reported here indicate concerning levels of anxiety among farming women and this should be seen as a call to action. There are clear associations between anxiety and a range of stressors and, although we cannot ascertain causality, these point to issues that demand attention in efforts to improve mental health within this social group. The factors contributing to anxiety are, however, multiple and complex and farm women may be affected by particular gender-based challenges that have not yet been explicitly explored in relation to mental health. Further research is needed to investigate and understand these issues in greater depth.

Musculoskeletal Pain in the Neck and Lower Back Regions among PHC Workers: Association between Workload, Mental Disorders, and Strategies to Manage Pain

Scientific evidence indicates that workers in the health sector are commonly exposed to work-related musculoskeletal pain.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to identify the relationship between the presence and intensity of musculoskeletal pain in the neck and lumbar regions reported by Primary Health Care (PHC) workers with workloads and occupational risks, analyze musculoskeletal pain in the presence and absence of self-reported mental disorders based on a medical diagnosis, and identify workers' strategies to manage pain.

METHOD

This cross-sectional study addressed 338 health professionals working in PHC outpatient services in the extreme South of Brazil. One questionnaire addressed sociodemographic questions concerning occupation, occupational risks, and mental disorders. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to assess self-reported musculoskeletal pain. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) measured the workload. A descriptive and inferential analysis was performed using SPSS version 21.0.

RESULTS

Most (55.3%) participants reported neck and (64.5%) lower back pain in the previous 12 months, and 22.5% and 30.5% reported intense neck and lower back pain, respectively, in the previous 12 months. The results showed different independent associations with increased musculoskeletal pain among health workers. Dentists presented the highest prevalence of neck pain, while female workers presented the highest prevalence of lower back pain. Furthermore, the perception of ergonomic risk and virtually all self-reported mental disorders (except panic syndrome for neck pain) were associated with pain in the neck and lower back regions and a higher frustration level (mental demand). Additionally, professionals with graduate degrees, nurses, and professionals working the longest in PHC services reported seeking complementary therapies more frequently, while physicians and those with self-reported mental disorders self-medicated more frequently.

Mental health among the sugarcane industry farmers and non-farmers in Peru: a cross-sectional study on occupational health

OBJECTIVE

Describe the occupational characteristics of farmer and non-farmer workers and investigate critical occupational risk factors for mental disorders in sugarcane farmers in Peru.

METHOD

We conducted a cross-sectional study with occupational health and safety focus among farmers and non-farmers. Mental disorder symptoms were evaluated through the local validated version of the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). We explored the association between mental disorder symptoms, work conditions and known occupational risk factors (weekly working hours, pesticide exposures, heat stress and heavy workload). Negative binomial regression models were fitted, and 95% CIs were calculated.

RESULTS

We assessed 281 workers between December 2019 and February 2020. One hundred and six (37.7%) respondents identified themselves as farmworkers. The mean GHQ-12 scores for farmers and non-farmers were 3.1 and 1.3, respectively. In the fully adjusted multivariable model, mental disorder symptom counts among farmers were more than twice as high as those of non-farmers (β: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.48 to 3.01). The heavy workload increased the mean number of mental disorder symptoms by 68% (95% CI: 21% to 133%), and each additional working hour per day increased the mean number of mental disorder symptoms by 13% (95% CI: 1% to 25%).

CONCLUSION

Farmers have higher mental disorder symptoms than non-farmers. A heavy workload and more working hours per day are independently associated with more mental disorder symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of including mental health within occupational programmes and early interventions tailored to sugarcane industrial mill workers in the Latin American context.

Domains of Physical and Mental Workload in Health Work and Unpaid Domestic Work by Gender Division: A Study with Primary Health Care Workers in Brazil

Various studies indicate that workload metrics can be used to assess inequities in the division of labor according to gender and in the mental health of health care professionals. In most studies, the workload is portrayed in a way that does not integrate the different fields of work, that is, work in health services and unpaid domestic work. The objective was to determine the effects of the workload domains of health work and unpaid domestic work according to the gender division of health professionals working in primary health care (PHC), and to analyze the workload as an inducer of anxiety disorders and episodes of depression. This cross-sectional study consisted of 342 health care professionals recruited for interview at primary health care units in the extreme south of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Sociodemographic and occupational variables, workload in PHC and unpaid domestic work, and dichotomies of anxiety disorders and episodes of depression were considered. Poisson and multivariate linear regression models were used for data analysis. Cohen's standardized effect size was used to assess the magnitude of the difference between women and men in terms of workload. The female professionals presented higher scores in terms of PHC work and unpaid domestic work and higher proportions of episodes of depression and anxiety disorders compared to males. The male professionals showed that anxiety disorders presented a medium standardized effect size on domestic workload and the level of frustration with family involvement was higher in those with episodes of depression. The results illustrate that the workload metric is an important indicator of female vulnerability to working conditions in PHC and in the family environment.

Sintomas de ansiedade entre mulheres rurais e fatores associados

Resumo Objetivos identificar os sintomas de ansiedade em mulheres rurais e a influência de variáveis sociodemográficas, econômicas, comportamentais e de saúde reprodutiva sobre os sintomas de ansiedade. Método estudo observacional e transversal. Participaram 280 mulheres residentes na área rural. Foi utilizado o inventário de ansiedade Traço-Estado. Na análise bivariada, foram usados o teste t-Student e a correlação de Pearson. Para a análise multivariada, foi realizada a regressão linear múltipla. Resultados os escores médios das mulheres foram de 38,3 e 41,4 pontos na ansiedade-estado e ansiedade-traço respectivamente. As mulheres que referiram convivência “ruim” com o companheiro apresentaram maiores escores de sintomas de ansiedade-estado e ansiedade-traço. A variável número de filhos foi preditora dos escores dos sintomas de ansiedade-estado e ansiedade-traço e a variável idade, preditora do escore dos sintomas de ansiedade-traço. Conclusão os resultados evidenciaram a influência de diferentes fatores com os sintomas de ansiedade entre as mulheres rurais. A identificação dos sintomas e os fatores associados, por parte da equipe de saúde, pode contribuir para ações específicas e encaminhamentos adequados.

Work accidents with children and youth in a rural environment in southern Brazil

OBJECTIVE

to know the prevalence of occupational accidents in children and youth who work with their families in the rural environment and to identify the associated factors.

METHOD

exploratory, descriptive and analytical study with quantitative approach, developed in three rural areas. Participants were 211 children and young people who assisted the family in rural work. Data collection was performed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Bivariate analysis was performed using Pearson's chi-square, Fisher's exact, Student's t and Mann-Whitney tests and multivariate analysis using Poisson regression.

RESULTS

the prevalence of self-reported occupational accidents was 55%. It was highlighted: insect bites (44%), burns (40.5%), falls (27.6%), injury with a working tool (16.4%), electric shock (15.5 %), burn by animal (8.6%), animal bite (6.9%) and pesticide poisoning (2.6%). These were related to shared housing, leisure activity - riding a motorcycle, product resulting from lettuce cultivation and use of personal protective equipment.

CONCLUSION

it is believed that these findings may enhance the development of public policies aimed at preserving the health of these children and young people, regulate working conditions and reduce occupational risks in the rural environment.

Rural workload and factors associated with the use of medication by elderly people

OBJECTIVE

Identify the prevalence and factors associated with the use of medication by elderly rural workers and verify the association between the use of medication and rural workload.

METHOD

Cross-sectional, exploratory study, conducted among elderly rural workers from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The data was collected through interviews, using a structured questionnaire.

RESULTS

Ninety-five elderly people participated in the study. Prevalence of medication use was 32% higher among women than men, and the type of medication most used by women was for the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. One additional degree in the frustration level with farm work resulted in a 1% increase in the probability of elderly people using medication.

CONCLUSION

It is necessary to consider strategies that seek to reduce the physical and mental demand of rural work, through investments in public policies that enable elderly people to reduce rural labor for subsistence purposes and, consequently, their workload.

Work conditions in agriculture as risk factors of spinal pain in postmenopausal women

The aim of the study was to evaluate the risk factors for spinal pain in Polish postmenopausal women working in agriculture. The study included 1751 randomly selected postmenopausal women aged 45-65 years. The women were exposed to hazardous work conditions, in particular the use of force and heavy lifting, often more than 10 kg and with frequency of at least once a day. Two-thirds of them suffered from spinal pain, mostly in the lumbar spine and less frequently in the cervical and thoracic spine. The prevalence of spinal pain depended on exposure to health risks associated with overwork, early onset of menopause and increasing age. The prevalence of pain in the lumbar spine correlated positively with higher frequency of heavy lifting and using excessive force during agricultural work. The severity of spinal pain correlates positively with the age of pain onset and negatively with level of education.

Common mental disorders and associated factors: a study of women from a rural area

Abstract OBJECTIVE Identifying the prevalence of Common Mental Disorders and analyzing the influence of sociodemographic, economic, behavioral and reproductive health variables on Common Mental Disorders in women of childbearing age living in the rural area of Uberaba-MG, Brazil. METHOD An observational and cross-sectional study. Socio-demographic, economic, behavioral and reproductive health instruments were used, along with the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) to identify common mental disorders. Multiple logistic regression was used for multivariate data analysis. RESULTS 280 women participated in the study. The prevalence of Common Mental Disorders was 35.7%. In the logistic regression analysis, the variables of living with a partner and education level were associated with Common Mental Disorders, even after adjusting for the other variables. CONCLUSION Our findings evidenced an association of social and behavioral factors with Common Mental Disorders among rural women. Identification and individualized care in primary health care are essential for the quality of life of these women.

Socio-environmental approach in nursing: focusing on rural labor and the use of pesticides

Objective:

to apply a socio-environmental approach to the relationship between human health and rural labor through a link verification/association between health disorders and the use of pesticides.

Method:

this is a quantitative, cross-sectional, observational and exploratory study with 331 inhabitants of two cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data analysis was conducted by Poisson regression.

Results:

reported health disorders included: mental (62.2%); circulatory (49.8%); dermatologic (45%); respiratory (41%); and gastric (36.2%). Workers who apply pesticides showed a 90% higher prevalence of dermatological alterations when compared to those who did not.

Conclusion:

the socio-environmental approach, comprising elements of the rural environment, of workers, and of the use of pesticides in the work process in connection/association with potential health disorders has shown that rural workers who apply pesticides present a higher prevalence of dermatological alterations.