“Do it All by Myself”: A Salutogenic Approach of Masculine Health Practice Among Farming Men Coping With Stress:

Farming is often considered one of the most stressful occupations. At the same time, farming men symbolically represent a strong, traditional, or hegemonic form of masculinity based on stoicism, resourcefulness, and resilience to adversity. A contrast is observed between this social representation and their health status, marked by higher levels of stress, social isolation, psychological distress, and suicide than many other subgroups of men. A salutogenic approach was taken in this study to enable the investigation of the social contexts in which farming men positively engage in health-promoting behaviors that may prevent or ameliorate mental health problems. A focus was placed on how farming men cope with stress on their own, and the relationship of this to their popular image of being resourceful and resilient. Thirty-two individual in-depth interviews with farming men and a focus group with five key informants working in rural areas within the Province of Quebec, Canada, were carried out. Self-distrac...