The farm business health model - A guide to developing and implementing the workplace health system for farm businesses

Section 3: Implementation (Continued)

Step 4 - The Workplace Health Profile (Continued)

Communicating the Results

Farm employers/employees will be anxious to learn the results of the questionnaire. Once the results have been analyzed by the Coordinating Agency and the Farm Business Health Committee, there must be follow-up communication with the participants.

Follow-up can be face-to-face if numbers and locations permit, but a simple, written summary should also be provided and sent out to each farm that took part in the Needs Assessment. The summary could also be provided to local media and agriculture community newsletters.

Special feedback groups should be arranged after the questionnaire results have been reported. These sessions ensure that the organizating team has a clear grasp of employers'/employees' program needs and preferences. The feedback groups should include owners, managers and employees. Information gained from the groups will help form program recommendations in the:

• Farm Business Health Plan (Step 5 of the Seven Steps); and
• Action Plan (Step 6).

Step 5  The Farm Business Health Plan

The Coordinating Agency and the Farm Business Health Committee are responsible for setting the direction for the Farm Business Health Plan and for planning program strategies.

To prepare the Health Plan, both groups should use their observations of the Workplace Health Profile and special feedback groups and make recommendations to participating farm owners.

The owners' response gives the Coordinating Agency and the Farm Business Health Committee their general direction and the resources they need to proceed with programs.

Charting the Course

The Farm Business Health Plan is an important blueprint. It charts the programming direction for a two to three year period in response to the major needs specified by the Coordinating Agency, the Farm Business Health Committee and agencies/organizations. It sets a time frame for acting upon strategies in relation to other identified priorities.

The Farm Business Health Plan should also include an estimate of the cost of implementing programs that require funding. Suggestions for raising funds or cost sharing could be included too.

The Farm Business Health Plan should address the Five Guiding Principles and the Three Avenues of Influence. For example:

• Program direction should reflect the needs of all farm employers/employees, regardless of current health levels.
• Implementation plans must address the challenges of reaching farm employees with literacy or language difficulties and cultural differences, keeping in mind the variety of social and skills backgrounds of the employees may have.
• Programs should not be implemented in isolation from one another. Links between specific programs can enhance impact and success.
• Programs should be designed with the principle of personal responsibility in mind. They should provide the necessary support through a healthy social, physical and emotional environment to help farmers and their employees fulfil that responsibility.
• Program requirements should recognize that health is a product of interactions between individuals and their environments. One farm employee, for example, may participate in a program at home while another may participate at work or in the community at an outside facility.
• Farm businesses should keep the Plan in mind when making other decisions. Its information should become an important part of doing business.
• The Plan's recommendations must clearly address the Three Avenues of Influence: the environment, health practices and personal resources.

The Farm Business Health Plan is a working document. It should not be carved in stone, but should be reviewed each year and revised to reflect new or changing needs.

Appendix 7 provides information on how to prepare a Farm Business Health Plan.

Tips for Success

References to and the use of existing programs and resources should be included in the Plan.

Once the Plan has been approved, tell participating farmers and their employees what programs are being planned, what the next step is (the Action Plan) and how they can take part.