Part One - Introduction
ABSTRACT
In response to the higher rates of suicide among farmers and the limited access to healthcare and mental
health services, the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) was developed to address the rising
mental health crisis in farming communities. This publication serves the dual purpose of explaining the
necessity of mental and behavioral health services for farmers and rural communities and identifies the
challenges in coordinating complex programming and implementation of services. The NexGen Program
analysis creates a framework that helps to determine the most efficacious mental health intervention
programs, packages the suite of tools together, and promotes the adoption of improved programs to meet
the unique needs of agricultural producers and their allies. Missouri’s FRSAN evaluation program uses a
continuous improvement evaluation approach, implementing an educational decision-oriented model to
identify strengths and limitations in curricula, instruction, and delivery. Unique to this approach is the use of
digital dashboards to streamline and define processes that create a simple path forward to support large
multidisciplinary teams and multiple mental health training programs.
THE CHALLENGE
The New Technologies for Ag Extension Project Accelerator (NTAE) NexGen Program Evaluation simplifies
and streamlines the evaluation process for the University
of Missouri (MU) Extension’s mental health and suicide
prevention program. The program is part of the multi-state
North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center
initiative (NCFRSACi) supported with funds from the United
States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and
Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) under project number (USDA-NIFA
Award #2020-70028-32728).
Given complex evaluation and program delivery challenges,
this publication outlines a strategy used by the University of Missouri (MU) Extension to manage and
evaluate complex initiatives to coordinate easy access to program assets and reduce project reporting
limitations when working with large, multi-disciplinary teams. The publication highlights the development
processes and tools created to help a large, multidisciplinary team improve the collection and reporting of
impacts and outcomes of the NCFRSACi training and education programs.
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