Farmers solving problems for financial and mental well-being |
Thank you so much your interest in participating in an interview about problem-solving for financial and mental well-being on the farm and at home. These interviews are part of a research project conducted by three universities: University of Minnesota, South Dakota State University, and Pennsylvania State University. This project is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. We are planning on talking with about 60 other farmers in the Midwest. We will use the valuable insights that you share to inform policymakers, farm organizations, and service providers about the agricultural sector's financial and mental health well-being and what they could do to support it. The information from you and other farmers will be shared anonymously.
Today, we are asking you to agree to participate in the study and to fill out a short background survey. Right after you complete the survey, you will be directed to a new page with a few questions to work out the logistics of your participation in the interview. This includes a question about your mailing address so that we can mail you the $50 gift card to your home address as a thank you for your time to participate in the study (electronic gift cards sent by email are not available). Your responses to the survey you will complete on the next page will be stored with a coded number and not associated with your mailing information. You are not required to provide your mailing information to participate in the study.
Here is the practical information about how we are conducting this research project:
- Participating in this study is voluntary. Whether or not you decide to take part in this research is completely up to you. You do not have to answer questions that you do not want to answer, and you may withdraw from the study at any time.
- The short survey that you to fill out today should take 5 to 10 minutes to complete. The survey asks you about your financial and mental well-being, your farm business, and your family. This background information will help us understand the variations in the problem-solving strategies and experiences that we will discuss during the interview.
- The interview will last 60 minutes and will take place through the online call platform Zoom or over the phone. If you choose to do the interview over Zoom, you will not be required to turn your camera on. During the interview, we will ask about what you, or other farmers in your area experience in terms of financial and mental health challenges, what your approach to navigating these challenges is, what is available to help in the area, and what you wish was available.
- To make sure that we do not miss anything we will be recording the interview. The recording of the discussion will only be used for the purpose of the research study and will not be shared with researchers outside the project.
- All information will be kept confidential and the only reasonably foreseeable risk or discomfort associated with your participation would be a break of confidentiality. However, we have taken precautions against that. Your personal information will not be disclosed. Your survey responses will be stored with a coded number and not associated with your contact information. We will only use first names during the interview. Last, we will only report results in summary form. If we were to use a quote to illustrate the findings, your name will not be associated with the quote. Your name and identity will never be used or reported.
If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact the research lead: Dr. Florence Becot from the Pennsylvania State University at (814) 865-1783 or Florence.becot@psu.edu. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact the Penn State's Institutional Review Board at (814) 865-1775 or orp@psu.edu. The board is responsible for helping protect the rights and welfare of research participants.
By clicking on the 'next page' button, you consent to participating in the research study and indicate that:
- You have read the above and that the study's general purposes, details of involvement, and possible risks have been explained to you.
- You have freely decided to take part in the research study.
- You are at least 18 years old.
- You are a farmer or live on a farm in either Minnesota (with a focus on Fillmore and Wright counties), South Dakota (focus on Brown and Minnehaha counties) or Wisconsin (focus on Clark and Dodge counties).