IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v8y2011i10p4039-4054d14451.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Farmer Health and Adaptive Capacity in the Face of Climate Change and Variability. Part 1: Health as a Contributor to Adaptive Capacity and as an Outcome from Pressures Coping with Climate Related Adversities

Author

Listed:
  • Helen L. Berry

    (Centre for Research and Action in Public Health, The University of Canberra, University Drive, Bruce, ACT 2601, Australia)

  • Anthony Hogan

    (School of Sociology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University, ACT 0200, Canberra, Australia)

  • Suan Peng Ng

    (Adaptation Research Network for Human Health, and National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian University, ACT 0200, Canberra, Australia)

  • Anne Parkinson

    (School of Sociology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University, ACT 0200, Canberra, Australia)

Abstract

This paper examines the role farmers’ health plays as an element of adaptive capacity. The study examines which of twenty aspects of adaptation may be related to overall health outcomes, controlling for demographic and on-farm-factors in health problems. The analysis is based on 3,993 farmers’ responses to a national survey of climate risk and adaptation. Hierarchical linear regression modelling was used examine the extent to which, in a multivariate analysis, the use of adaptive practices was predictively associated with self-assessed health, taking into account the farmer’s rating of whether their health was a barrier to undertaking farm work. We present two models, one excluding pre-existing health (model 1) and one including pre-existing health (model 2). The first model accounted for 21% of the variance. In this model better health was most strongly predicted by an absence of on-farm risk, greater financial viability, greater debt pressures, younger age and a desire to continue farming. Social capital (trust and reciprocity) was moderately associated with health as was the intention to adopt more sustainable practices. The second model (including the farmers’ health as a barrier to undertaking farm work) accounted for 43% of the variance. Better health outcomes were most strongly explained, in order of magnitude, by the absence of pre-existing health problems, greater access to social support, greater financial viability, greater debt pressures, a desire to continue farming and the condition of on-farm resources. Model 2 was a more parsimonious model (only nine predictors, compared with 15 in model 1), and explained twice as much variance in health outcomes. These results suggest that (i) pre-existing health problems are a very important factor to consider when designing adaptation programs and policies and (ii) these problems may mediate or modify the relationship between adaptation and health.

Suggested Citation

  • Helen L. Berry & Anthony Hogan & Suan Peng Ng & Anne Parkinson, 2011. "Farmer Health and Adaptive Capacity in the Face of Climate Change and Variability. Part 1: Health as a Contributor to Adaptive Capacity and as an Outcome from Pressures Coping with Climate Related Adv," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:8:y:2011:i:10:p:4039-4054:d:14451
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/10/4039/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/10/4039/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anthony Hogan & Adam Bode & Helen Berry, 2011. "Farmer Health and Adaptive Capacity in the Face of Climate Change and Variability. Part 2: Contexts, Personal Attributes and Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Berry, Helen Louise & Rodgers, Bryan & Dear, Keith B.G., 2007. "Preliminary development and validation of an Australian community participation questionnaire: Types of participation and associations with distress in a coastal community," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 1719-1737, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Diep Ngoc Nguyen & Long Hoang Nguyen & Cuong Tat Nguyen & Hai Quang Pham & Jongnam Hwang & Giang Thu Vu & Bach Xuan Tran & Carl A. Latkin & Cyrus S. H. Ho & Roger C. M. Ho, 2019. "Health Status and Health Service Utilization among Vietnamese Farmers in a Mountainous Province," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Anthony Hogan & Adam Bode & Helen Berry, 2011. "Farmer Health and Adaptive Capacity in the Face of Climate Change and Variability. Part 2: Contexts, Personal Attributes and Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-14, October.
    3. Anthony Hogan & Robert Tanton & Stewart Lockie & Sarah May, 2013. "Focusing Resource Allocation-Wellbeing as a Tool for Prioritizing Interventions for Communities at Risk," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haslam, Catherine & Cruwys, Tegan & Haslam, S. Alexander, 2014. "“The we's have it”: Evidence for the distinctive benefits of group engagement in enhancing cognitive health in aging," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 57-66.
    2. Berry, Helen Louise & Welsh, Jennifer A., 2010. "Social capital and health in Australia: An overview from the household, income and labour dynamics in Australia survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 588-596, February.
    3. Peter Butterworth & Carmel Poyser & Aino Suomi, 2021. "Mental Health," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(4), pages 530-541, December.
    4. Ceri Wilson & Jenny Secker, 2015. "Validation of the Social Inclusion Scale with Students," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(4), pages 52-62.
    5. Helen Louise Berry & Linda Courtenay Botterill & Geoff Cockfield & Ning Ding, 2016. "Identifying and measuring agrarian sentiment in regional Australia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 929-941, December.
    6. Anthony Hogan & Robert Tanton & Stewart Lockie & Sarah May, 2013. "Focusing Resource Allocation-Wellbeing as a Tool for Prioritizing Interventions for Communities at Risk," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, August.
    7. Veronica Matthews & Jo Longman & James Bennett-Levy & Maddy Braddon & Megan Passey & Ross S. Bailie & Helen L. Berry, 2020. "Belonging and Inclusivity Make a Resilient Future for All: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Post-Flood Social Capital in a Diverse Australian Rural Community," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-30, October.
    8. Barb Kelly & Kevin R. Ronan, 2018. "Preparedness for natural hazards: testing an expanded education- and engagement-enhanced social cognitive model," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 91(1), pages 19-35, March.
    9. Reinie Cordier & Ben Milbourn & Robyn Martin & Angus Buchanan & Donna Chung & Renée Speyer, 2017. "A systematic review evaluating the psychometric properties of measures of social inclusion," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(6), pages 1-37, June.
    10. Randolph C. H. Chan & Winnie W. S. Mak & Wing-Yi Chan & Wan-Ying Lin, 2021. "Effects of Social Movement Participation on Political Efficacy and Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study of Civically Engaged Youth," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 1981-2001, June.
    11. Ding, Ning & Berry, Helen L. & O'Brien, Léan V., 2015. "One-year reciprocal relationship between community participation and mental wellbeing in Australia: A panel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 246-254.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:8:y:2011:i:10:p:4039-4054:d:14451. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.