Attitudes of advisory and extension agents towards people with mental health problems

Abstract

In Queensland Australia extended drought has had negative impact on the mental health of farmers who are often geographically isolated. Advisory and Extension Agents are often their main contacts. At the behest of extension agencies a two-day mental health first aid training was provided to 32 AEA to improve their attitudes towards people with mentally health problems. Immediately prior to the course and six months after training information about attitudes towards people with mental health problems were collected from the AEA using the data collection instrument. The findings indicated that the training had significantly improved the attitudes of AEAs towards people with mental health problems and their ability to help them. Females and older AEAs with less work experience demonstrated more positive attitudes towards people with mental health problems after the training than males, and younger AEAs.