A Case Study of How to Use Digital Dashboards to Improve Program Implementation and Evaluation

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.

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. 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.