"Death by a Thousand Cuts": Agriculture Producer Resiliency in the Western United States.

OBJECTIVE: Agricultural producers face a wide array of stress triggers, shocks, and long-term pressures such as drought, flooding, fire, government policies, financial insecurity, and physical injuries. Extant research has revealed that mental health stigma, lack of access to care in rural areas, and negative coping responses (alcohol abuse, suicide, prescription drugs use) exacerbate the challenge of producer responses to short and long-term adversity. Resilience, the traits, processes, and capacities of producers to adapt and transform their approach to farming or ranching, when necessary, in response to stress triggers or long-term pressures, has received less research attention, particularly in the Western United States. The purpose of the study was to apply an interactionist occupational resilience theoretical perspective to the investigation of contextual factors contributing to resilience in Western United States agricultural producers. METHODS: Qualitative interviews (45 to 90 minutes) were conducted with agricultural producers (n=51) from Western states and territories. Applied thematic analysis with a phenomenological lens was utilized to analyze interview transcriptions. First and second level coding were conducted to derive themes. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that resilience is based upon the interactions between traits of producers and the context of agriculture. Four themes were generated (Agricultural Life, External Stressors, Traits and Adaptations, and Supports and Resources), supported by subthemes. The themes and subthemes are depicted in an agricultural producer resiliency model. The findings shed light on the equivocal role of neighbors in providing support for each other and the double-edged sword of co-working with family. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underscore that social capital is an important mechanism for supporting farmers and ranchers, as those with stronger social resources are more resilient. We recommend more funding to tailor stress and mental health programming to the specifics of agriculture, integration of behavioral health in primary care as a mechanism to increase access to care, and more intentional technical assistance for farmers and ranchers on strategic planning and problem solving.

The potential usefulness of standardized assessments to measure participant outcomes of adaptive/therapeutic horseback riding: a survey study.

Adaptive or therapeutic riding (A/TR) is a recreational activity which provides mounted and ground-based horsemanship opportunities adapted to the abilities of the participants. A/TR provides physical and psychological benefits to participants with diverse disabilities, including physical, developmental, cognitive, and age-related disabilities, promoting higher quality of life. A/TR professionals may be limited in their capacity to implement outcome assessments and report the benefits of their community-based A/TR services to a broad audience. The purpose of this study was to identify whether and how A/TR professionals currently measure participant outcomes; benefits and barriers to implementing standardized assessments in A/TR; and characteristics which would make assessments useful in the community-based A/TR environment. To address this purpose, we conducted a survey among A/TR professionals. We found that while A/TR professionals measure outcomes among their participants, they typically do not use standardized assessments. Survey respondents believed benefits of implementing standardized assessments included bolstering the A/TR profession, acquiring funding, and communicating about A/TR services to a broad audience. Respondents also identified several barriers to implementing standardized assessments including time, systemic, and expertise constraints. Respondents reported that useful standardized assessments would be relevant to all age groups and populations who receive A/TR services. Finally, respondents shared that for standardized assessments to be useful, they would need to be low-cost, require less than 10-20 min, and available in either paper or computer format. This study revealed that standardized assessments may be a strong support to the A/TR profession; however, assessments must meet the unique needs of A/TR professionals.

Sustainability and the Thoroughbred Breeding and Racing Industries: An Enhanced One Welfare Perspective.

As society debates the use of animals in sport, entertainment, and leisure, there is an increasing focus on the welfare, social, and ecological impacts of such activities on the animals, human participants, people close to them, and the physical environment. This article introduces the "Enhanced One Welfare Framework" to reveal significant costs and benefits associated with Thoroughbred breeding and racing globally. In addition, relative to calls to ban horseracing and similar activities as part of sustainability approaches that focus chiefly on animals, the "Enhanced One Welfare Framework" is better positioned politically to guide discussions that renegotiate the conditions under which horses are used for sport and the impact racing has on humans and the planet. In 2020, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities issued its minimum horse welfare standards based on the Five Domains model, positioning lifelong horse welfare as "fundamentally important to the viability and sustainability of the industry". In this article, we critique the One Welfare framework's historic lack of focus on sport and enhance it by including sport, leisure, and entertainment and framing it within the Five Domains model. We offer a novel extension of the Five Domains model beyond animal welfare to consider human welfare and the physical environmental impacts of the sport, leisure, and entertainment industries and propose innovations that may help thoroughbred breeding and racing assure a sustainable future.

A nationwide survey on producer and veterinarian perceptions of the painfulness of procedures and disease states in dairy and beef cattle.

Failure to adequately manage pain in cattle causes suffering and is thus a welfare concern for the livestock industry. The objectives of this study were to summarize caregiver perceptions of the painfulness of various procedures and disease conditions in cattle. This survey also assessed factors that impact the perception of painfulness and determined relationships between pain perception and mitigation in producers and veterinarians in the United States beef and dairy cattle industries. An online survey was distributed via organization listservs and social media groups representing beef and dairy veterinarians and producers. The survey included questions about respondent demographics and pain perception and frequency of pain mitigation use for a variety of common husbandry procedures and disease conditions in cattle less than 2 months, 2-12 months, and greater than 12 months of age. Descriptive statistics were generated, and ordinal logistic regressions were used to assess the relationship between perceived pain level, frequency of pain mitigation use, and respondent demographic factors (e.g., gender, age, and role). There was a relatively low percentage of respondents that identified there was "no pain" associated with the listed procedures and conditions. Across the majority of procedures and conditions and cattle age categories, men perceived procedures to be less painful than women (P < 0.05). Veterinarians and producer-veterinarians perceived procedures to be more painful than producers (P < 0.05) for the majority of procedures and conditions. There were some differences identified between respondent age groups in pain perception but the trends were not consistent across procedures and conditions. There was a significant positive linear trend, with greater perceived pain associated with greater likelihood of providing local and systemic analgesia for all procedures and conditions across all cattle age categories (P ≤ 0.02). Perception of pain is complex and multifactorial, and it influences the likelihood to treat pain in cattle. This research highlighted the importance of understanding how these factors may play a role in increasing the use of pain mitigation within the beef and dairy industries.

School Bullying Victimization and Associated Factors Among School-Aged Adolescents in China.

There has been a significant amount of research on correlates of bullying victimization, but most prior studies are descriptive and do not distinguish between different types of bullying. The current study used a case-control study design to explore factors related to different types of bullying victimization, including physical, relational, verbal, sexual, property, and poly-bullying victimization. This study was conducted in a southern city in China, including 3054 cases who self-reported being victims of school bullying and 3054 controls who reported not being involved in any school bullying in the past 12 months. Each victim case was matched with a control on gender, school, and grade level. Univariate logistic analyses and multivariate conditional logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with being a victim of school bullying. Results suggest physical bullying victimization was only associated with a family-level characteristic (parenting style) while the other four types of bullying victimization (relational, verbal, sexual, and property bullying) and poly-bullying victimization were associated with multiple social domain variables at individual, family, and school levels. Findings from this study provide evidence of factors for different types of bullying victimization and have implications for potential measures to prevent bullying. Measures from multiple social domains, including individual, family and school (e.g., developing healthy behaviors, improving social skills, positive parent-child interactions, building trust between teachers and peers, and forming strong friendships), should be considered in order to effectively prevent adolescent victimization from bullying.

Healthcare Utilization 12 Months Prior to Fatal and Non-fatal Suicidal Behaviour in Cape Town, South Africa.

The purpose of this study was to characterize healthcare use for general care and mental health one year before suicidal behavior among individuals with fatal and non-fatal suicidal behavior (NFSB) in Cape Town, South Africa. We linked electronic health records of 484 participants from a case series of 93 completed suicides on whom forensic autopsies were performed at a mortuary in Cape Town, between August 2014 and January 2016; and 391 patients admitted to hospital following NFSB between June 2014 and March 2015, and between August 2015 and August 2017. Time from last healthcare visit to date of suicidal behavior (fatal or non-fatal) was calculated, and Kaplan Meier curves were used to compare the differences by psychiatric diagnoses and study group. Overall, 64.5% of completed suicides and 65.9% of NFSB patients sought general healthcare in the year before suicidal behavior. Most of these visits occurred at hospital outpatient clinics (40.8%) and primary healthcare facilities (31.3%). The prevalence of preexisting psychiatric diagnoses and the use of mental healthcare services was lower for individuals who completed suicide compared to NFSB patients. Common reasons for a healthcare visit among individuals who completed suicide were chronic disease and assault; and psychiatric illness (depression, bipolar, and/or substance use disorders), chronic disease and HIV among NFSB patients. A large proportion of individuals with fatal and NFSB interacted with the healthcare system before suicidal behavior. These findings suggest opportunities for suicide prevention at primary healthcare facilities, antiretroviral treatment centers and emergency departments.HIGHLIGHTSHealthcare access is common among individuals with fatal and NFSB in the year before suicidal behavior.The prevalence of mental disorder diagnoses is higher among NFSB patients than among individuals who completed suicide.A greater proportion of NFSB patients accessed mental healthcare services compared to individuals who completed suicide.

Frequency of disagreements between producers and veterinarians about pain management in cattle.

Pain management is a key element of ensuring animal welfare. Although the opinions of both producers and veterinarians affect decisions about the use of pain mitigation on cattle operations, little is known about how they communicate about this topic. Given the importance of a veterinary-client-patient relationship for developing pain mitigation protocols, understanding the communication between veterinarians and producers is key to the implementation of robust, industry-wide pain management protocols. The objectives of this survey were to understand how producers and veterinarians may respond to disagreements about pain mitigation and to determine where respondents obtain their knowledge about pain recognition and treatment. Results presented herein are part of a larger study previously described. An online survey was distributed to 6 cattle industry groups. Surveys that were >80% complete were included for analysis (n = 1,066). Approximately half of the respondents identified as producers (497, 46.6%) and half as veterinarians (569, 53.4%). The majority of producers believed that disagreements about the use of pain management in cattle never affected their relationship with their veterinarians (349, 70.2%). The veterinarian respondents indicated more disagreements, although the frequency was relatively low, with 43.9% (250) indicated having a disagreement less than once a year. Most producers and veterinarians indicated they were either "extremely unlikely" or "somewhat unlikely" to dissolve the relationship completely if disagreements about pain management arose (veterinarians: 398/569, 70%; producers: 294/497, 59.1%). Veterinarians and producers reported gaining their knowledge about pain recognition from a variety of sources including personal experience and continuing education opportunities. Disagreements about pain mitigation occurred infrequently; however, this could be due to few discussions about pain management in general. These results indicated that there is opportunity for veterinarians to engage with their producers in more discussions about pain management.

A preliminary exploration of the impact of experiential learning on animal science undergraduates' perceptions of humane stunning and slaughter.

It is essential to educate students about humane slaughter as it is a critical component of livestock production, particularly for animal science students who represent future stakeholders in agriculture. There is limited research about the effects of experiential learning on student comfort in participating in education regarding sensitive, yet important topics in the animal sciences. A survey was developed to investigate how a teaching module using an experiential learning activity to teach undergraduates about the slaughter process affected student perceptions of stunning and slaughter. Students enrolled in an animal science course, in which live animals and carcasses are evaluated, were surveyed before and after a teaching module. The module included a lecture about proper stunning and a laboratory activity in which the students had the opportunity to shoot a captive bolt stunner on both model and carcass heads. Respondents completed a pre-survey, attended the laboratory activity, and completed a post-survey; 29 survey responses were recorded. Most respondents were women (23, 79.3%) between the ages of 18 and 21 years (25, 86.2%) and in their first year of college (11, 37.9%). The majority of respondents (22, 75.9%) reported using the captive bolt stunner to stun the model heads during the laboratory activity. After participating in the module, all students strongly agreed that "stunning" is a critical component of livestock slaughter (29, 100%) and most agreed that "stunning is a humane process that ensures animal welfare during the slaughter process" (25, 86.2%). The majority of respondents strongly agreed that the "humane stunning simulation was beneficial to their learning about livestock slaughter" (21, 72.4%) and "improved their understanding of slaughter" (16, 55.2%). Almost all of the survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that "the model heads and captive bolt demonstration made them more comfortable with the slaughter process" (14, 48.3%; 14, 48.3%, respectively). This research suggests that experiential learning opportunities are potentially effective teaching strategies for educating undergraduates about the slaughter process. Future research should focus on practical ways to integrate new teaching methods into existing animal science curricula, as this will be critical for educating students on important topics in livestock production and increasing student comfort with sensitive material.

A Nationwide Survey of Animal Science Students' Perceptions of Animal Welfare across Different Animal Categories at Institutions in the United States.

Animal welfare is an increasingly important topic across multiple academic disciplines; however, few studies have investigated student perceptions of animal welfare outside of veterinary medicine. The objective of the study was to evaluate animal science students' perceptions of animal welfare to determine if perceptions differ across animal categories. An online survey was distributed to animal science programs at institutions across the United States. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on 624 responses. Almost all respondents agreed welfare was important for all animal categories (≥97%). The survey asked respondents to rate the level of importance of 12 welfare parameters and there was evidence that the level of importance differed by animal category (p < 0.0001), e.g., fewer respondents indicated having positive interactions with humans was important for agricultural animals. In a subset of questions about agricultural animals, fewer respondents agreed that swine (325, 52.1%) and poultry (268, 43.0%) are raised with an appropriate level of welfare compared to dairy (425, 68.1%) and beef cattle (421, 67.5%). Four free-response questions asked respondents to report their general perceptions of welfare. Thematic analysis identified multiple themes, such as basic needs and human interaction, with most responses (75%) including two or more themes.

Colorado Agricultural Workers' Rights of Access to Key Healthcare Providers: A Policy Brief.

Health is a human right. In order to exercise their right to health, agricultural workers need to have access to medical, dental, and behavioral health care. Agricultural workers need to have medical, dental, and behavioral health care available at times and locations that are amenable to their work schedules and worksites. Many agricultural workers do not have access to transportation due to the nature of their working conditions, therefore policies to provide transportation will increase access to medical, dental, and behavioral health services.

Risk Factors for Brain Health in Agricultural Work: A Systematic Review.

Certain exposures related to agricultural work have been associated with neurological disorders. To date, few studies have included brain health measurements to link specific risk factors with possible neural mechanisms. Moreover, a synthesis of agricultural risk factors associated with poorer brain health outcomes is missing. In this systematic review, we identified 106 articles using keywords related to agriculture, occupational exposure, and the brain. We identified seven major risk factors: non-specific factors that are associated with agricultural work itself, toluene, pesticides, heavy metal or dust exposure, work with farm animals, and nicotine exposure from plants. Of these, pesticides are the most highly studied. The majority of qualifying studies were epidemiological studies. Nigral striatal regions were the most well studied brain area impacted. Of the three human neuroimaging studies we found, two focused on functional networks and the third focused on gray matter. We identified two major directions for future studies that will help inform preventative strategies for brain health in vulnerable agricultural workers: (1) the effects of moderators such as type of work, sex, migrant status, race, and age; and (2) more comprehensive brain imaging studies, both observational and experimental, involving several imaging techniques.

Preliminary Exploration of Weekly Peer Group Discussions as a Strategy for Coping with Feelings Associated with Euthanasia in Dairy Caretakers.

Dairy caretakers experience a variety of occupational risks including stress related to performing euthanasia and making euthanasia-related decisions for cattle in their care. Few supportive interventions exist to help caretakers cope with euthanasia-related stress. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of weekly peer discussion sessions as an intervention to reduce euthanasia-related stress and grief in dairy caretakers. This study utilized scores from a modified pet-based bereavement questionnaire to assess the change in bereavement of caretakers in response to euthanasia-related stress in a non-treatment group (who did not attend peer discussion sessions, n = 7) and a treatment group (who attended peer discussion sessions, n = 15). Key findings of this study were that discussion sessions did not have a direct impact on the study outcomes as measured using a pet bereavement scale, as there was no difference in the change in bereavement scores during the 8 week study period between the treatment and non-treatment groups. Thematic analysis of peer discussions revealed that compassion towards dairy cattle is a prominent factor in areas of decision making, protocols, and training. Further studies should continue to explore how performing euthanasia and making euthanasia-related decisions impacts caretakers and what supportive interventions can reduce stress and grief.

Risk Factors Associated With School Bullying Behaviors: A Chinese Adolescents Case-Control Study, 2019.

This research aimed to identify risk factors including individual characteristics and environment circumstances related to different types of school bullying (physical, relational, verbal, sexual, and possession bullying) among middle school students in China. Cases were the respondents reporting perpetrating bullying behaviors three or more times in the past year. One control was selected for each case from those participants who were not involved in school bullying in the past 12 months. Data were collected between April 2019 and May 2019 in China. After considering potential confounding variables including gender, grade level, and school, multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis was performed based on the univariate logistic analysis including 1,594 adolescents. According to conditional logistic regression analysis, alcohol use and lack of emotional management and control were the significant individual characteristics positively associated with involvement in school bullying. Alcohol use was related to all five types of school bullying perpetration. Poor relationships between family members, father's alcohol use, and parental neglect were strong risk factors for relational bullying. Lack of a sense of safety and absence of trusted people were associated with physical, relational, and verbal bullying perpetration. Results of this study provide evidence about risk factors for school bullying and have implications for potential policies to reduce bullying. Effective policies and programs need to take individual characteristics (social-emotional skills, anger control), family (parent training in conflict resolution, appropriate disciplining), peer and school factors (promoting prosocial networks, zero tolerance for bullying, appropriate disciplining policies against students who bully others, teacher training on building positive teacher-student relationships and positive discipling techniques) into consideration in order to develop effective prevention programs.

Unintentional injuries and risk behaviours of internal migrant children in southern China: A cross-sectional study.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of unintentional injuries and to identify factors mediating the risk of unintentional injuries among internal migrant children in southern China using self-reported data collected between April 2016 and March 2017. Logistic regression models were used to identify significant risk factors for unintentional injuries among the internal migrant children. The prevalence of self-reported unintentional injuries among internal migrant children in this study was 19.15%. Internal migrant children exhibiting antisocial (antisocial behaviour vs. no behaviour problems, OR = 2.162, 95% CI: 1.194-3.915, p = .011) and neurotic behaviours (neurotic behaviour vs. no behaviour problems, OR = 2.064, 95% CI: 1.098-3.880, p = .024) were more likely to report unintentional injuries. There was a positive correlation between the number of risk behaviours and the prevalence of unintentional injuries among non-migrant and internal migrant children. Children's behavioural problems were closely related to unintentional injuries and may be useful as predictors of unintentional injuries in children.

Organophosphate pesticide exposure as a risk factor for attempted suicide in Cape Town, South Africa: A case-control study.

Pesticides are a commonly used agent for suicide in many Low- and Middle-Income countries (LMICs). However, accumulating evidence suggests that exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticide may also increase the risk of suicide. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study to investigate whether prior household, garden or occupational OP exposure were associated with attempted suicide using conditional logistic regression modeling. Participants who attempted suicide with any means and were admitted to two Western Cape Province hospitals in South Africa were compared to a sample of controls matched by age, sex and time of admission with unrelated conditions, between August 2015 and August 2017. The means of attempted suicide was not recorded. OP exposure was determined by dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites detected in hair and by environmental and occupational history. Approximately 85% of participants reported using pesticides in the home or garden and 15% of participants reported current or past occupational exposure while working on a farm. Attempted suicide was not associated with reported home or garden OP use (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.59, 95%CI 0.33-1.04), hair DAP metabolites (OR = 1.00, 95%CI 0.98-1.02) or current or past agricultural work (OR = 1.08, 95%CI 0.62-1.87), but was associated with hazardous drinking and unemployment with no household income. We found no evidence that attempted suicide was associated with environmental or occupational pesticide use in an urban South African population attending an emergency center.

Revised road traffic safety law and years of life lost due to traffic deaths in China, 2002-2019.

Legal intervention is a powerful tool to reduce road traffic injuries (RTIs). China amended the Road Traffic Safety Law in 2011, but the impact of amended law on traffic crash deaths is still unknown. In this study, we conducted an interrupted time series analysis and examined years of life lost (YLLs) per 100,000 population as the assessment indicator to evaluate the association of road traffic safety law and traffic crash mortality. Annual YLLs data due to traffic deaths from 2002 to 2019 in China were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019. After implementation of the revised law, the average level of total YLLs per 100,000 population due to traffic deaths decreased from 1133.14 to 848.87, and the slope of annual YLLs per 100,000 population decreased by 30.11 (95% CI: 22.46, 37.75), indicating a steeper downward trend. The revised traffic law was associated with YLLs reduction due to traffic deaths for males, females, all age groups, pedestrians, motor vehicle users, and other road users, as well as traffic deaths attributed to alcohol use and tobacco use. These findings suggested that the revised Road Traffic Safety Law improved road safety by decreasing YLLs due to traffic deaths in China. However, the burden of RTIs is still heavy and efforts to further improve traffic laws and the adoption of other interventions are urgently needed.

Dairy Caretaker Perspectives on Performing Euthanasia as an Essential Component of Their Job.

The objectives of this study were to identify caretakers' perceptions and stressors related to performing on-farm euthanasia as well as potential ideas for intervention strategies to alleviate negative effects of performing euthanasia on caretaker well-being. Additionally, we aimed to determine how euthanasia methods, procedures, and training correlate with dairy caretakers' attitudes toward performing on-farm euthanasia and their job satisfaction and sense of well-being. Thirty-eight dairy caretakers (19 workers, 15 supervisors, 3 owners, 1 veterinarian) participated in focus groups or interviews conducted and recorded on five Northern Colorado dairies. Thematic analysis of focus group and interview transcripts revealed seven recurring themes. Variation in available training and euthanasia protocols among dairy farms was evident. There was a lack of awareness regarding available mental health resources and little communication between farm personnel about euthanasia-related stress. Training was correlated with caretaker knowledge about euthanasia procedures and the language used to refer to euthanasia. Human-animal bonds and empathy toward animals were evident in participants regardless of training, job position, or dairy experience. Interventions such as training programs, mental health resources, and other support systems should be tested for effectiveness in addressing euthanasia-related stressors, improving euthanasia decision-making and practice, and increasing animal wellbeing on dairy farms.

Assessing Connections in an Agricultural Community Using Social Network Analysis.

Agricultural workers experience higher rates of injury and illness than other occupational groups. NIOSH-supported agricultural centers in the U.S. are funded to reduce injury and illness but require effective partnerships with other agricultural organizations to achieve this goal. Our purpose was to understand the structure of agricultural organization connections within six states in the western U.S., including how different types of organizations connect to one another, and specifically where the High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (HICAHS) is positioned in the agricultural organization network. An electronic survey was distributed to contacts within organizations that had a previous history with HICAHS leadership and advisory board members. The survey asked respondents about their position in the organization, years with the organization and frequency of contact in the past year. A social network analysis was undertaken to assess the connections between agricultural organizations using measures of centrality (density, closeness, betweenness), cliques, clusters, and brokers. A two-tier structure was identified with a core group of 21 organizations and a peripheral group of 30 organizations. Influence was centered in the core group as evidenced by high centrality scores with minimal bridging between organizations. HICAHS was on the periphery, but on the cusp of being in the core. Agricultural producers, agricultural extension and insurance companies were central in the network. Centers are in a unique position to promote collaboration with stakeholders. The social network analysis identified missing connections that need further development in order to address agricultural safety and health.