Stress, coping and help-seeking among male farmers: a gender analysis

Centre for Mens Health Seminar Series

Philippe Roy Ph.D Candidate in Social Work, Universit Laval, Qubec, Canada.
3rd June, 12:00-13:00 Queen Square House 203 Leeds Metropolitan University, 80 Woodhouse Lane, LS2 8NU
In many regards, male farmers can be considered to be a vulnerable group, experiencing high rates of suicide, psychological distress and low use of health services. This seminar aims to highlight important connections

between rurality, farming and masculinities in the context of mens mental health. The seminar reports early findings from an ongoing project in which 32 male farmers from Qubec, Canada have been interviewed about sources and manifestations of stress, coping strategies and their perception of male roles. Preliminary reflections on the data indicate some coping

strategies such as taking vacations are considered useful but, somehow unacceptable based on the social ideals of what a male farmer should be. Those developing help-seeking strategies face many challenges, but they can be legitimated by certain alignments with male roles. Furthermore,

gender-based strengths and recommendations for practice will be discussed. To reserve a place please email the faculty Research Support Unit:

HSSResearchSupportUnit@leedsmet.ac.uk