“It's a job. It's a very hard job. And it makes you very angry”: Migrant Farmworkers' Perspectives on Stress, Coping, and their Relationship with Mental and Physical Health

Abstract Migrant farmworkers are an essential component of the United States agricultural industry, and this population experiences high rates of poor mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore migrant and seasonal farmworkers’ perceptions of occupational stress, coping strategies, and how those coping strategies impacted their health and wellbeing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 migrant farmworkers living in the state of Georgia. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, and researchers coded interviews separately before thematic analysis was used to identify common themes across interview responses. Migrant farmworkers described four primary themes related to sources of stress: physical health, environmental factors, work-life balance, and disconnection and isolation. When discussing coping strategies, participants described both positive and negative approaches, including faith, small breaks, non-farming hobbies (e.g., recreational sports), and alcohol and substance use. Interviewees connected the use of negative coping strategies to poor work performance, interpersonal conflict, and worse mental health in their coworkers. The findings of this study indicate that migrant farmworkers experience a unique combination of stressors that are not shared by others working in agriculture and use a combination of positive and negative coping strategies to manage their stress, with negative coping strategies having direct impacts on farmworkers’ health and wellbeing. Trainings that emphasize stress management, such as the Community Resiliency Model (CRM), may be uniquely suited to addressing stress and coping in migrant farmworker populations because of its low barrier to entry and focus on community support.