Farmers, farm workers and work-related stress

This research explores the ways in which stress affects farming communities, how this has changed in recent years, and the degree to which work-related aspects of stress may be assuaged by support interventions. A qualitative case study research approach was employed to address these issues, involving 60 interviews in five locations across England and Wales.In examining farming stress, a distinction is made between its intrinsic, extrinsic and workrelated dimensions. Whileinterviewees tended to associate day-to-day worries and acute stress with farming’s intrinsic demands (such as disease and adverse weather conditions), external causes of tension (such as competition and regulation), together with worries about finances and family, were associated with more sustained anxieties. By contrast, work-related aspects of farming stress, such as workload issues and farming practices, involved a combination of physical and mental health effects.Notably, work-related and extrinsic dimensions of stress have increased in recent years in relation to organisational and policy shifts, price fluctuations, mounting paperwork demands, workload intensification, and changes in agricultural regulation. These have prompted an escalation in the aspects of their work that farming communities feel powerless to control, and represent a major area for policy intervention. Principal farmers displayed the most visible manifestations of stress, linked at once to the intrinsic, extrinsic and workrelated dimensions of their work. By contrast, family farm workers and labourers often lacked autonomy over the way they worked, and work-related aspects of stress concerning workload and organisation made up a greater part of their experience. Increased paperwork demands emerged as a major cause of stress among interviewees, particularly forfarmers and their wives, who struggled to balance these with traditional farming priorities. Differences between farmswere also influential in explaining stress. Livestock farming embodied intrinsic pressures relating to stock crises and the unpredictability of animals, but more recently has come under intense economic pressure, prompting a rationalisation of working practices. Arable farmers found the organisation of activities, such as harvesting and planting, in a context of reduced and increasingly contractual workforces particularly challenging. Mixed farmers faced the dual stresses of balancing work activities with conflicting timetables, and the paperwork demands of a complex portfolio of farming. Smaller farms were struggled with intensified workloads, while larger enterprises had to comply with the demands of more inspection regimes.Support agencies need to overcome the stigma attached to asking for help among farming communities and offer a rangeof responsive and proactive services. Locally based support was more likely to be used and trusted, although concernsabout client confidentiality might deter those most in need from seeking help. Where existing local networks wereestablished, there was a strong argument for providers to plug into these and work towards publicising their efforts to ensure that support is provided most effectively. Critically, support must be multidimensional, reflecting the wide range of stressors and their impacts among farming communities

Rags and Bones: An Exploration of The Band

Jeff Sellars and Kevin C. Neece, eds. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi , 2022 ISBN:9781496842978 186 p. $99.99 (Hbk

Evaluation of Wildland Firefighter Leadership

There has been growing research evaluating hazardous occupations to gain a better understanding of how crisis leaders and followers, such as wildland firefighters make decisions in high-stress environments. In this study, wildland firefighters were examined to assess their decision-making skills using a wildland fire simulation computer game called the Networked Fire Chief (NFC). These results were compared against both the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Big Five personality traits using Saucier’s abbreviated Mini-Markers. Only a small sample of wildland firefighters was available to participate due to the intense 2017 fire season. Additional participants were recruited through CWU Sona system. Results indicated that leadership experience, rather than personality traits, were a significant predictor of transformational leadership in the wildland firefighter sample. Additionally, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion were significant predictors of transformational leadership

Academic Librarianship Reflection: How Do you Define Your Roles as an Academic Librarian?

Reflection by Rebecca Rose

The evolution of the private art museum in Mexico

Over the last thirty years there has been a proliferation in the number and diversity of privately- funded exhibition spaces for contemporary art in Mexico. Driving this development is a new generation of art collectors and my research project is concerned with how collector-led models of patronage have influenced the recognition, impact and public display of contemporary art in Mexico. My thesis begins by exploring what constitutes an art collection, the significance of a museum, and what motivates a collector. I then present an overview of the historical relationship between state and private art collections in Mexico, followed by a critique of landmark events in the genesis of the Mexican art market. In the second part of my research project I identify a group of influential mid-twentieth century collectors who established their own exhibition spaces in order to share their collections with the public, followed by an analysis of their legacy through the activity of the current generation of collectors, whose efforts to promote contemporary art within Mexico and abroad have spawned a new climate of creative enterprise and collaboration. This thesis seeks to present a survey of the evolution of the private exhibition space in Mexico by examining independent cultural initiatives whose ambition is to change the way the public engages with contemporary art. In my findings I examine how collectors’ objectives manifest a vision for the museum visitor experience and the impact of these privately-funded institutions on Mexico’s cultural identity