One of the hardest parts of being a farmer is the lack of control over things like weather and international markets.

A world-first online mental health program is hoping to give farmers similar skills to cancer patients, who also have to deal with uncertainty and unexpected developments.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 7 minutes 3 seconds 7 m Dr Kate Fennell explains how the new website will work ( Brooke Neindorf ) Download 12.9 MB

Lead researcher and developer Kate Fennell said the website would not only help farmers who lived with a mental illness, but could also be used to prevent problems in the first place.

"It is different from anything else because it helps farmers learn how to deal with things beyond their control, and also learn how to access help if they need professional face-to-face mental health support," she said.

"What we want this to be is a resource that people can go to before they become really distressed, and learn some coping skills so they do not go on developing mental health issues that are in the clinical range."

The program is being developed by researchers at the University of South Australia, in collaboration with the University of Adelaide, the National Centre for Farmer Health and the Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men's Health.

Dr Fennell said farmers would be able to log on and do a quiz to work out if they needed to access professional help or if they could do the self-help program.

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"We are envisioning that they will be able to progress through a series of about six modules, which will include videos and interactive exercises, as well as a discussion forum where they can talk to other farmers anonymously," she said.

"We will be looking to measure their mental health at the beginning and then their mental health at the end, and see whether we have been able to increase their ability to particularly accept things that are out of their control."

Lack of control something farmers face constantly

Dr Fennell said research had shown that when things were out of a farmer's control, that was what made it difficult, and it was a situation they faced a lot.

She said the online program was based on acceptance and commitment therapy.

"This has been shown in the past to help people like cancer patients learn how to cope with a diagnosis, and obviously a diagnosis of cancer is beyond someone's control," Dr Fennell said.

"So we know that it is effective in that population, so we want to see if we can adapt it and make it acceptable and helpful for farmers as well."

Dr Fennell said researchers were now looking for farmers to get involved with evaluating the website before it was launched in the next 12 months.

"We want to involve farmers along the way," she said.

"We hope that rather than be designed by clinical psychologists like me, we hope that if farmers are involved in its development, it will really help tap into their needs and sense of humour and lifestyles, and the way they want to interact with an online program, so that it does keep them engaged."