Measuring Mental Health Service Preferences Amongst Illinois Dairy Producers

Figures & data

Table 1. Best-worst scaling balanced incomplete block design.

Choice Set	Mental Health Service Option
1	A	D	E
2	E	C	A
3	A	B	C
4	F	C	D
5	E	B	F
6	B	C	D
7	D	A	F
8	C	F	E
9	B	E	D
10	F	A	B

Treatment options: A) keep it to myself, B) search online for self-help resources, C) speak to family and friends, D) talk to a mental health professional, E) use “tele-health” support services, and F) utilize programs offered by agricultural organizations.

Table 2. Respondent and farm characteristics, N = 170.

Characteristic	n (%)^a
Gender
Male	135 (79.4%)
Female	20 (11.8%)
Age
<40 years	16 (9.4%)
40–59 years	56 (32.9%)
60–79 years	63 (37.1%)
80+ years	5 (2.9%)
Education
High school, G.E.D., or less	66 (38.8%)
Some college/university	30 (17.6%)
Bachelor’s degree or higher	57 (33.5%)
Head of milk cows
<19 milk cows	2 (1.2%)
20–49 milk cows	29 (17.1%)
50–99 milk cows	59 (34.7%)
100–199 milk cows	40 (23.5%)
200–499 milk cows	21 (12.4%)
500+ milk cows	10 (5.9%)
Farmland owned
<199 acres	51 (30.0%)
200–499 acres	61 (35.9%)
500–999 acres	26 (15.3%)
1,000+ acres	15 (8.9%)
Farmland rented
<199 acres	71 (41.8%)
200–499 acres	36 (21.2%)
500–999 acres	19 (11.2%)
1,000+ acres	13 (7.7%)
Farm ownership structure
Sole proprietorship	67 (39.4%)
Co-ownership with family members	82 (48.2%)
Co-ownership with non-family members	2 (1.2%)
Co-ownership with family and non-family members	4 (2.4%)
Other	1 (0.6%)
Farm succession plan
Yes	80 (47.1%)
No	70 (41.2%)
Gross farm income
<$100,000	8 (4.7%)
$100,000–$249,999	29 (17.1%)
$250,000–$499,999	43 (25.3%)
$500,000–$999,999	29 (17.1%)
$1,000,000+	43 (25.3%)
Off-farm income
Yes	77 (45.3%)
No	77 (45.3%)
Fair milk price received
Yes	30 (17.6%)
No	133 (78.2%)
K6+ Distress Level
None	14 (8.2%)
Low	65 (38.2%)
Moderate	70 (41.2%)
Severe	11 (6.5%)

^aPercentages will not equal 100% due to non-responses.

Table 3. Sample-wide best-worst scaling results, N = 107.

Service Option	Best	Worst	B-W	Mean	Standard Deviation	Rank	Ratio Estimate	Standard Ratio
Speak to family and friends	372	49	323	2.99	2.32	1	2.76	100
Keep it to myself	239	140	99	0.92	3.42	2	1.31	47.4
Utilize programs offered by agricultural organizations	136	165	-29	-0.27	2.77	3	0.91	32.9
Search online for self-help resources	126	199	-73	-0.68	2.47	4	0.80	28.9
Talk to a mental health professional	143	228	-85	-0.79	3.37	5	0.79	28.7
Use “tele-health” support services	54	289	-235	-2.18	1.96	6	0.43	15.7

B-W corresponds to the count-based approach for determining rank-ordered preferences. Mean and standard deviation corresponds to the respective mean and standard deviation of the B-W score.

Table 4. Latent-class cluster analysis estimates and preference shares, N = 107.

	Community Help-Seekers			Prospective Help-Seekers			Private-Healers
Treatment	Coefficient	Rank	Preference	Coefficient	Rank	Preference	Coefficient	Rank	Preference
FF	2.52***	1	58.7%	2.34***	2	27.8%	2.32***	2	34.1%
MHP	1.55***	2	22.3%	1.33***	3	10.1%	-2.40***	6	0.3%
AG	0.88***	3	11.4%	0.63***	5	5.0%	1.12***	4	10.3%
SHR	-0.01	5	4.5%	0.90***	4	6.6%	1.39***	3	13.5%
KTM	-0.46***	6	2.8%	2.88***	1	47.7%	2.44***	1	38.5%
THS	—	4	4.5%	—	6	2.7%	—	5	3.4%
Covariates		Coefficient		Coefficient
College Degree		-0.88*			-1.74***			—
Acres Owned		0.01**			-0.01			—
Age (Years)		0.01*			-0.01			—
Co-Ownership with Family		0.69			1.42**			—
% Income from Dairy		0.02			-0.01			—
Off-Farm Income		0.82			0.29			—
K6+ Score		-0.02			0.02			—
Milk Head		-0.01			-0.01			—
Fair Price		-0.84			0.76			—
Constant		-0.82			-0.54			—
Class Share		36.8%			28.8%			34.4%

“Tele-health” Services is the base treatment option to which all other treatments are compared. Covariate coefficients for Assured Help-Seekers and Prospective Help-Seekers are relative to Self-Healers.

*p < .10. **p < .05. ***p < .01.

Abbreviations: FF = Family and Friends; MHP = Mental Health Professional; AG = Agricultural Organizations; SHR = Self-Help Resources;THS = tele-health Services; KTM = Keep to Myself; K6+ Score = Assessment of Mental Distress.

Table 5. Latent-class cluster analysis class summary statistics, N = 107.

Variable	Sample Average	Community Help-Seekers	Prospective Help-Seekers	Private-Healers
College Degree (%)	45.8	37.5^a	40.6^a	6.0
Acres Owned (Mean)	415.5	461.7	294.4^a	307.2^a
Age (Years) (Mean)	57.0	59.8^a	53.6^a	58.8^a
Co-Ownership with Family (%)	59.8	62.5^a	62.5^a	54.3^a
% Income from Dairy (%)	68.0	68.5^a	67.7^a	67.8^a
Off-Farm Income (%)	5.5	47.5^a,b	43.8^a	60.0^b
K6+ Score (Mean)	5.4	5.1^a	6.1	5.2^a
Milk Head (Mean)	154.0	152.0^a	149.8^a	151.3^a
Fair Price (%)	22.4	32.5	12.5	2.0
Class Share (%)	1.0	36.8	28.8	34.4

Class means with similar superscripts (e.g., ^a,b,c) are not statistically different.

Table 6. Help-seeking preferences for specific mental health concerns, N = 170^a.

Mental Health Concern	Keep It to Myself	Search for Online Self-Help Resources	Speak to Family and Friends	Talk to A Mental Health Professional	Use “tele-health” Support Services	Utilize ProgramsOffered by Agricultural Organizations
Financial Issue	54 (31.8%)	9 (5.3%)	80 (47.1%)	1 (.6%)	0 (0%)	17 (10%)
Relationship Problem	62 (36.5%)	3 (1.8%)	84 (49.4%)	5 (2.9%)	0 (0%)	2 (1.2%)
Stress and Anxiety	59 (34.7%)	5 (2.9%)	79 (45.6%)	10 (5.9%)	2 (1.2%)	3 (1.8%)
Farm-Related Issue	31 (18.2%)	8 (4.7%)	93 (54.7%)	2(1.2%)	0 (0%)	25 (14.7%)
Health-Related Issue	27 (15.9%)	8 (4.7%)	93 (54.7%)	14(8.2%)	8 (4.7%)	5 (2.9%)

^aStatistics presented: n (%); percentages will not equal 100% due to non-responses.