WKU News

In January 2021, Dr. M. Susan Jones, professor emerita in the WKU School of Nursing and Allied Health (SONAH), was awarded a grant from the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities, titled “Rural Suicide Prevention—WKU Farmer Cultural Humility Training.” The program’s initiative is the development of a training program for healthcare professionals to address farmer suicide, which includes response measures for farmers in crisis, and the application of cultural sensitivity and humility.

Farming is a stressful and challenging occupation due to variables, such as weather, the market, and financial considerations. The result is a high rate of suicide among the farming community. As an occupation group, farmers have one of the highest rates of suicide and the actual rate is likely higher than documented due to missing data on failed suicide attempts (Ringgenberg et al., 2017)

Dr. Jones’ work includes contributions from Dr. Dawn Garrett-Wright, professor in SONAH; Alicia Pennington, an instructional designer; and Catherine Malin, director of the South Central KY AHEC. Together, the team developed a 1-hour continuing education (CE) program, “CRUSHing Farmer Suicide – Cultural Respect, Understanding, Sensitivity, and Humility.”

“CRUSHing Farmer Suicide” incorporates interviews with local farmers, patient/provider scenarios, and interactive activities to educate healthcare providers on farming culture, common challenges experienced by farmers, signs and symptoms of common behavioral health issues among farmers, and techniques to use therapeutic communication to address these issues.

The CE program is available for free at https://www.cecentral.com/crush and offers continuing education credit for several disciplines:

• CME (through ACCME): 1.00
• CPE (through ACPE): 1.00
• CHES: 1.00
• ASWB ACE: 1.00
• CNE (through ANCC): 1.00

For more about WKU's School of Nursing and Allied Health, visit https://www.wku.edu/nursing/index.php

Ringgenberg, W. Peer-Asa, C. Donham, K., Ramirez, M. (2017). Trends and characteristics of occupational suicide and homicide in farmers and agriculture workers, 1992-2010, Journal of Rural Health, 34 (3), 246-253. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12245