Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-6-2021

Publication Title

Journal of Rural Health

Volume

38

Issue

1

First Page

129

Last Page

150

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this scoping review is to summarize the current knowledge base in order to make recommendations for prevention and treatment of substance use disorders among the farming populations.

Methods

We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed articles published between January 1989 and September 2019. The search yielded 3,426 citations and the final review was conducted on 42 articles. The full review was conducted by 4 authors to extract information about the target population, data collection methods, and main results.

Findings

There were 21 articles on farmers and 21 articles on farmworkers. The majority of the articles were about alcohol. Overall, farmers had higher prevalence of risky alcohol consumption patterns than nonfarmers. The prevalence of risky alcohol consumption was also high among farmworkers compared to the general population. Risk factors for risky alcohol consumption included male gender, lower socioeconomic status, and psychological problems (eg, depression). Recommendations for prevention and intervention of alcohol disorders included policy development and implementation to curb alcohol access by taxation, screening of alcohol-related problems, and alternative means of recreation instead of alcohol consumption.

Conclusions

This review confirmed that alcohol-related problems are prevalent among farmers and farmworkers. More population-based research is called for to understand the additional risk factors of alcohol disorders and the prevalence of other substance-related disorders. Also, interventions should be tailored to the unique culture of farmers and farmworkers.

Comments

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Watanabe-Galloway, S., Chasek, C., Yoder, A., & Bell, J. (2022). Substance use disorders in the farming population. The Journal of Rural Health. 1-22, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12575. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

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