Study protocol: Evaluation of the ‘real-world’ Farmers Have Hearts – Cardiovascular Health Program

Disordered alcohol and substance use in Irish farmers: A cross‐sectional survey

“…Primarily, we identified that nearly 1 in 3 (29%) farmers reported harmful alcohol use. Similar to previous research in Irish populations, 47 we identified that age was the most important factor in farmer's alcohol issues, with younger farmers at a greater risk for harmful use. Other risk factors for harmful alcohol use (having no children, being a part‐time farmer, having low income, or being involved in full‐time off‐farm roles like education) are also all characteristic of younger farmers.…”

“…Primarily, we identified that nearly 1 in 3 (29%) farmers reported harmful alcohol use. Similar to previous research in Irish populations, 47 we identified that age was the most important factor in farmer's alcohol issues, with younger farmers at a greater risk for harmful use. Other Irish farmers overall reported moderate alcohol use, with average AUDIT (5.6) and AUDIT-C (3.6) scores well below the cutoff for harmful levels (8 and 6).…”

“…Effectively, this means that safe substance use is extremely rare, with only 1 in every 5 farmers who use substances doing so at moderate levels. Farmers’ overall low rate of substance use falls below other measures that 7% of the general Irish population recently used substances 47 . It is entirely possible that, as is frequently the case with illegal substances, 77 farmers under‐reported their substance‐use habits.…”

“…Participants completed demographic information, including age, gender, number of children, relationship status, education, and whether they lived alone. To match the terms for gender commonly used in Irish English 54,55 and in research with Irish farmers, 47,48 participants could indicate their gender as either “male,” “female,” “non‐binary,” “other,” or “prefer not to answer.” Farm information collected included farm type, farm size, net income, and farm‐specific net income. Participants indicated if they had physical, mental, or substance use issues via 3 single‐item measures that listed common physical and mental health issues and substance use issues.…”

“…More scientific research with Irish farmers is needed to both identify factors related to disordered alcohol use and investigate first‐hand accounts of substance use in this community. Although weekly drinking is substantially lower in farming men than the general population, 47 farmers younger than 45 may be particularly at risk; over half engage in binge drinking at least once a month, 48 and age is closely correlated with drinking frequency. While these findings point toward possible disordered alcohol use (which can include but is not limited to consumption alone) among some Irish farmers, this remains to be examined.…”