WHY? It’s the question that haunts family members and friends when a person chooses to take their own life.
Now, that very question will be the focus of a major research project, examining why suicide rates of farmers are up to more than double general suicide rates.
Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP) researcher Dr Allison Milner said suicide rates among Australian farmers were between 1.5 and 2.2 times higher than those among the general population.
The project will look at what happened before death occurred, interviewing friends and family members and determining if help could have been sought or provided.
Dr Milner said while experts had theories about reasons including financial hardship, family breakdown, isolation, drought and reduced access to support services, there was no hard data.
“What past investigations have not done is establish why,” she said.
Issues such as climate change and how mining-related activities like coal seam gas (CSG) exploration affect life in the agricultural sector will also be studied.
“All of these relationships (to farmer suicide) have been hypothesised before,” Dr Milner said.
“We will seek to establish evidence that explains this high suicide rate.
“Specifically, we will look at what factors have precipitated death, including interviews with next of kin of the deceased about their experiences preceding death.
“There appears to be an attitude with farmers not to seek help because of a perceived stigma associated with it.
“We will investigate the attitudes of farmers towards suicide and seeking help and look at what help is appropriate to the community and whether it is accessible.”
The Black Dog Institute’s executive director Professor Gordon Parker said it was important to note while suicide could be a consequence of mental illness, it was not always the case.
“Clearly frustration and desperation, especially if financially driven, can drive such thinking and behaviours,” Prof Parker said.
He advocated a policy where people feeling suicidal should not be seen as abnormal or unhealthy and a broader model that took into account stressors that rural people experienced should be developed.
“There is no doubt suicide rates in rural regions are high and have increased with a number of fairly evident factors having been identified in the past,” he said.
“The projected study should assist in identifying such factors and ranking their importance.”
Lifeline Foundation executive director Alan Woodward said his organisation would be interested to see the results of the research to gain insights into factors contributing to suicide in the bush.
More than a third of callers and more than two-thirds of participants in Lifeline’s new online crisis chat room were from rural areas, and Lifeline’s “low visibility” was a factor.
“We would look to translate them (the findings) into better services, or more targeted services,” he said.
“We need to build resilience and coping strategies for individuals and communities at a time of great change and challenge.”
The three year study will involve AISRAP, the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health NSW, which is aligned with the University of Newcastle, and industry partners Queensland Health, Office of the State Coroner (Qld), Department of Communities (Qld), Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health Qld, Hunter New England Local Health Network and New England Division of General Practice.
For help or information, visit www.beyondblue.org.au or www.blackdoginstitute.org.au or contact Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 or Lifeline 13 11 14.
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