Health Risks Faced by Turkish Agricultural Workers

Abstract

Background. Individuals who make a living through agriculture and animal husbandry are faced with a variety of physical and psychological health risks. In many international studies, it has been shown that these risks can result in disease. The purpose of this study is to summarize the health risks faced by Turkish agricultural workers. Materials and Methods. This study used a nonrandom, convenience sample. The biopsychosocial health statuses of 177 farmers from 11 central villages in Kars, Turkey, were examined. Results. It was determined that the depression rate among the study group was 62.1%, the rate of physical health problems was 52.0%, and the rate of social isolation was 53.7%. There was a statistically significant difference between the depression scale scores and lower education levels, having ≥ three children, and physical health problems, as well as the physical condition of the farmers' homes. There was a significant difference between poor physical health and older age, lower education levels, having ≥ three children, and social isolation. Conclusions. In providing data-based evidence, it is believed that this study will contribute considerably to understanding the causality of health problems in this population and in planning the development of public health and veterinary services based on regional needs.

Key Risk Factors Affecting Farmers’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review

“…Greater mental illness amongst farmers who have poor physical health, past injury or work disability has also been found [50,52,66,150]. Farming is one of the highest risk groups for occupational injury and illness [151].…”

“…Several other risk factors and symptoms predictive of psychological distress in farmers have been identified by researchers, such as government policies [5,17,18,22,67,77], isolation [9,17,18,37,163], heavy workload [7,37], role conflict [7,16], time pressure [7,67,79], poor housing conditions [11,22,32,66], foot and mouth disease among livestock [57,61,80,164], coal and gas development [165,166], beef crisis [167,168], lower levels of mindfulness and farmers’ work ability [78]. Overall these risk factors were stated in almost 42% of the identified studies on farmers’ mental health.…”

“…This was most likely associated with higher debt levels. However, Çakmur [66] found that the frequency of depressive symptoms was higher among farmers who were 35 years or older. It has also been found that there are more mental impairments observed with aging farmers [96,97,100,129,180].…”

“…Scarth et al [162] found a farmer’s depressive symptoms were not significantly related to their age. In addition, lower education levels [13,61,66,77,82,91,161,165,179], being married and having marital stress [16,82,141], and not living in a joint family [82], were associated with poorer farmer mental health.…”

“…The most reported risk factors for farmers respectively were daily pesticides exposure [110,189], financial problems [37,129], unpredictable climate [139,143], and past injuries [52,66]. Furthermore, machinery breakdown [67], hearing loud machines [14], time pressure [79], and governmental regulations [6] were other identified risk factors.…”