Dr Daniel James - Rural Minds: Farmers' Mental Health

Dr Daniel James is a rural GP in Suffolk and one of the creators of the Rural Minds Project.  Episode summary: 00.59  Daniel tells us about his professional background and how he became interested rural health 03.03  What is the Rural Minds Project? 06.08  How did different collaborators come together to work on the project? 08.15  What were they hoping to achieve with the Rural Minds project? 11.30  What do we know about farmers' mental health?  What are some key facts we should know? 16.10  Why did they decide to use virtual reality and how is it being used? 19.15  What is the scenario like and how long does it take to go through it? 23.00  What challenges have there been during development? 25.45  What feedback have they received on the project? 27.00  Where does he see the project going in the future?   Key messages: There are hidden risks in rural populations that are not explored at medical school. Rural Minds is an education project that uses immersive virtual reality to help medical professionals understand farming life and the mental health challenges of farmers. The project draws on real life experiences. There are increased risks of mental health issues and suicide within farming communites. They collaborated with the farming community to film scenarios and develop the project which helped to keep scenarios realistic. The first goal was to develop a tool for clinicians to help them develop an understanding of the suicide and mental health risks among farmers. They have had conversations with the RCGP and NHS England as well as an opportunity to launch the project in the House of Lords, all groups have been supportive and hopefully this leads to national impact. The farmers wanted a similar farmer facing resource to help farmers understand their risks and where they can seek help. The project has also developed a farmer facing version. ONS 2016 suggests a two fold risk of suicide among farmers.  Data collection stops at 65 and many farmers are over this age, so the data likely underestimates the risk. RABI report 2023 shows 36% of UK farmers are depressed, 47% have ongoing anxiety and only 1 in 10 reported having good mental health. Virtual reality allows you to place people inside the environment rather than just describing it, you are immersed in the sights and sounds of a farm. People remember the lesson better after a VR simulation than following a lecture. They have created a web version of the scenario which can be streamed on a computer or mobile phone which makes it accessible to those without a VR headset.  Available for free.   Find out more about the project here: http://www.ruralminds.org.uk/   Thank you for listening to the Rural Road to Health! Rural Health Compass