Helping farm families manage dementia care

IOWA CITY, Iowa — A new project aims to increase the safety and well-being of rural residents caring for a family member with dementia.

The educational series, funded by a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, is co-led by Kanika Arora, associate professor of health management and policy at the University of Iowa, and Julie Bobitt, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Over four weekly sessions, one hour each, participants will learn about: dementia basics, the progression of dementia and safety concerns on the farm and at home, communicating with people with dementia, and resources for rural dementia patients and caregivers.

“It’s an interactive workshop that helps agricultural families recognize and address dementia-related safety risks on the farm while providing caregivers with practical strategies and support,” Bobitt said.

Farm Families Coping with Dementia sessions are scheduled for:

• 6 p.m. Tuesdays — June 23, June 30, July 7 and July 14

• 10 a.m. Wednesdays — June 24, July 1, July 8 and July 15

“It’s not just a lecture-based session, but really interactive from the perspective of listening to caregiver experiences, having quizzes, as well as having specialists in assistive technology from Easterseals or other places actually show us some of the things that we can use,” Arora said.

“Family caregivers were involved throughout the development of the training, and their experiences helped shape the content, activities, and practical strategies included in the program,” Bobitt said.

As part of the study, participants will be asked to complete two surveys — one at the start and another three months later. Each survey takes about 20 minutes to complete.

Rural Risks

A dementia diagnosis for a member of a farm family comes with unique challenges, such as different safety concerns, as farmers with dementia tend to continue working longer than those in other professions.

Providing care for a parent or spouse with dementia is a demanding job, and it can be especially challenging for rural residents who are juggling both caregiving and farm work.

Are you concerned about someone in a farming community showing signs of dementia?

You may be eligible for Farm Families Coping with Dementia — a free online educational series designed to support caregivers of individuals living on or near farms who are showing signs of memory loss or confusion.

To learn more or to register, visit tinyurl.com/FFCD-Project.

This program is brought to you by the University of Iowa, University of Illinois Chicago and Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health, with support from Illinois Extension.

In the United States in 2025, there were an estimated 7 million people 65 and older living with dementia, Arora said.

“So, it’s a wide-ranging disease with consequences to a lot of people, including the person with dementia, health systems, as well as family members who provide informal care,” she said.

“Generally the incidence of dementia is on the decline, meaning that fewer people are newly getting diagnosed with dementia each year. But, as the baby boomers age and Americans live longer, the number of people who live with dementia is increasing.”

An earlier study led by Arora found that long-term agricultural workers had 46% greater odds of developing dementia than non-agricultural workers.

Potential risk factors for dementia, she said, include midlife hearing loss, loneliness, social isolation, pesticide exposure and traumatic brain injury.

Let’s Talk

Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations, and farm environments pose numerous hazards, including machinery, livestock and firearms.

A missed or delayed dementia diagnosis could lead to greater safety concerns, Arora said.

“There’s a lot of stigma in rural communities still when it comes to dementia and people don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “There are limited resources and they are even less frequently accessed because of privacy concerns or stigma and families tend to keep this within the family.”

Agricultural dementia can lead to some hard conversations that are not as often present in other situations — for example, discussions on succession planning or leadership or phasing out a person who’s employed on the farm because of the syndrome.

“Many people think dementia is just a memory disease, but it’s not,” Arora said. “There are many other things that actually come before the memory problems start happening, which can lead to safety issues including how the brain perceives what the eyes see — that changes and that can lead to a lot of falls, or a risk of falls, as well other issues and then also, of course, a problem with communication and so on.”

The FFCD training is open to any adult in any state. The information you provide about yourself and others will not be shared with anyone outside of the project team.

“The only criteria is that you’re a U.S. resident, above 18 and you have someone in your family or, if you are a neighbor, someone you are concerned about who might be showing some signs of cognitive decline,” Bobitt said.

To register, call 312-355-0247 to complete a brief eligibility survey. Or, for more information, email julie-bobitt@uic.edu.

This Farm Focus post is brought to you by Farm Families Coping with Dementia, which commissioned the article for AgriNews readers.