Rural Mental Health challenges and suicide disproportionately affect rural residence and in particular farmers, farmworkers, and their families. In Kentucky, 43.6% of Kentucky adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression while 3.2 million Kentuckians were without adequate mental health access. In farmers, their suicide rates parallel or exceed the rates of the national population. More concerning is a recent reported rise in suicide rates among younger farmers.

Nurses are at the forefront of healthcare and are one of the most trusted professions in our nation. In addition to providing individual care, nurses frequently serve as community leaders and are positioned to advocate for community members at the local, state, and health systems levels. However, the scope of nursing practice frequently focuses on traditional medical models that do not account for social determinants of health, rurality and the stresses of farm living that adversely impact mental health and the nervous system.

To better equip nurses and reduce mental health challenges and suicides, it is important to provide nurses with education about rural mental health challenges and the unique stressors experienced by farmers. Further, it is important to identify how mental health challenges and stress adversely impact the nervous system and lead to deleterious outcomes like suicide. Lastly, it is imperative to provide nurses insights as to how they utilize evidenced-based tools in their nursing practice to help assess and care for their rural patient populations.

All licensed nurses in Kentucky and Nursing compact states were eligible to take the CE. Since deployment on August 17, 2022, approximately 1,063 nurses have taken the CE for credit toward the licensure renewal. After participating in the course, 98% of course evaluation respondents reported that they learned about the impact of self-care in farming populations, and 99% reported that they learned how to distinguish the effects of stress. Likewise, 98% learned to recognize stressors among farming populations and 99% learned about how to identify rural mental health challenges. Moreover, 99% reported that the course was appropriate for their level of practice. Author Credit: Subsance Use and Mental Health Collective Impact Team