Rural and Agricultural Mental Health and Substance use (RAMS) Lab

In a project funded by the High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Dr. Fenton is gathering baseline data about Colorado’s agricultural producers’ health, access to care, sources of support, and resilience through a mailed survey.

In a project funded by the High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Dr. Fenton is leading efforts to evaluate the work of the Colorado AgrAbility Project’s Behavioral Health Team to reduce stigma and increase help-seeking in rural and ag communities.

In partnership with the developers of the LandLogic ModelSM, Dr. Yuma is evaluating the effectiveness of training providers to use connection to the land and the Agrarian Imperative theory during therapy with members of the agricultural community. Funding is provided by the High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety.

The Colorado Agricultural Addiction and Mental Health Program provides 6 free therapy sessions for members of the ag community in Colorado. In a project funded by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, we are evaluating the efficacy of this ag-friendly counseling for mental health, stress, and coping outcomes among rural and agricultural clients.

In a project funded by the High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Dr. Fenton is conducting interviews with parents, teenagers, and college students, who live/work and/or grew up on farms/ranches in Colorado, about their attitudes towards and knowledge of substance use.

With funding from the CSU School of Social Work and the Office of Engagement and Extension, we collected survey and focus group data from behavioral health providers serving rural Coloradoans to learn more about the challenges and opportunities for providing behavioral health services to rural and agricultural clients and their training and professional development needs to better serve these clients.

Using secondary data collected by the Healthy Minds Study, Dr. Fenton analyzed associations between regional levels of proposed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and depressive symptoms among LGBTQ+ college students in a nationally representative sample. Future research in this area will examine malleable risk and protective factors for LGBTQ+ adolescents and young adults to inform prevention and intervention efforts for this population.

Using secondary datasets, our lab uses advanced quantitative analysis to examine both cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between rural contextual factors and behavioral health outcomes among adolescents and young adults to inform prevention and intervention efforts in rural communities.

* Denotes undergraduate or graduate student mentored during manuscript development

† Denotes joint first authorship

1. Fenton, M. P.,</ strong> Swacil, K., Striley, C. W., Cottler, L. B., Eder, M., Cohen, I. P., & Lopez-Quintero, C. (2025). Barriers to healthcare utilization among adults engaging in very heavy drinking: Results from the All of Us research program. Preventive Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2025.108356
2. Yuma, P. J., Fenton, M. P., Stallones, L., & Valley, M. (2024). Extension agent’s perceptions of community readiness for farm stress and suicide prevention efforts. Transforming Communities, 1 (1), Article 7. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/tcjournal/vol1/iss1/7
3. Fenton, M. P., Seegulam, V. L.*, Antoine, J.*, Pham, T.*, Morris, M. R., Boren, S., & Striley, C. W. (2025). Examining the relationship between proposed anti-LGBTQ legislation and LGBTQ+ college student mental health: Findings from the Healthy Minds Study, 2021-2022. Journal of American College Health, 73(5), 2021-2035 https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2024.2382426
4. Doty, J. L., Grajo, N. C., Fenton, M. P., Pierre, B., & Johns, T. (2025). An examination of ecological factors predicting depressed mood among adolescents. Youth & Society, 57 (2), 167-190. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X241260749
5. †Fenton, M. P., †Smail, E. J., Lin, Y., Striley, C. W., & Kaufmann, C. N. (2025). Associations between driving cessation and mental health among rural and urban older adults. Journal of Rural Mental Health, 49(1), 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1037/rmh0000266
6. Fenton, M. P., Forthun, L. F., & Grajo, N. C.* (2023). Associations between family risk and protective factors and youth substance use across the rural-urban continuum: A person-/variable-centered approach. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 32, 3187-3199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02615-y
7. Fenton, M. P., Forthun, L. F., & Lynne, S. D. (2023). Pathways to adulthood in rural America: A latent profile and latent transition analysis of adult social roles. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52, 1170-1190. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01755-0
8. Fenton, M. P., Forthun, L. F., Aristild, S.,* & Vasquez, K. B.* (2022). The role of the rural context in the transition to adulthood: A scoping review. Adolescent Research Review, 7, 101-126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-021-00161-6

1. Yuma, P., Orsi, R., & Pena, A. A. (2022). Adult mental health and child maltreatment: An ecological study across rural–urban and economic continua with implications for post-pandemic human services. Journal of Community Psychology, 50(3), 1773-1786. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22752
2. Orsi, R., Boissy, L., Yuma, P., Palmer, F., & Torres-Molinar, S. (2021). Child welfare in non-metro and rural communities: Experiences of child-serving professionals addressing substance use. Child & Family Social Work, 26(4), 696-707. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12850
3. Yuma, P., Orsi, R., Dunn, J., Stallones, L., & Kenyon, T.1 (2019). Traumatic injury and access to care in rural areas: Leveraging linked data and geographic information systems for planning and advocacy. Rural and Remote Health, 19(3), 5089. https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH5089
4. Orsi, R., Yuma-Guerrero, P., Sergi, K.1, Pena, A. & Shillington, A. (2018). Drug overdose and child maltreatment across the United States’ rural-urban continuum. Child Abuse & Neglect, 86, 358-367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.08.010