A case-control study of psychological distress in survivors of farmers' suicides in Wardha District in central India

• Published in: Indian journal of psychiatry Vol. 58; no. 2; pp. 147 - 151
• Main Authors: Bhise, Manik, Behere, Prakash
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer - Medknow Publications 01-04-2016; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd
• Subjects: Farmers; Original; Psychological aspects; Stress (Psychology); Studies; Suicides & suicide attempts; India; psychological distress; Farmers' suicide; survivor
• ISSN: 0019-5545; 1998-3794
• DOI: 10.4103/0019-5545.183779

Context: Lack of literature on psychological aspects of survivors of farmers' suicides is hurdle in devising effective helping strategies for rising number of survivors across the country.
Aims and Objectives: To assess the psychological distress and its correlates in survivors of farmers' suicides.
Settings and Design: Case-control study design was used in Wardha District of Vidarbha region in the central India.
Materials and Methods: A predesigned and pretested semistructured questionnaire was used to assess sociodemographic variables. Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 was used to evaluate psychological distress in 98 survivors of farmers' suicides and 98 age, sex, and occupation-matched controls.
Statistical Analysis: Significance of differences between case and control groups were assessed using Chi-square test or Fisher's two-tailed exact test for class variables. For continuous variables, Student's t-test was used P < 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Significantly higher proportion of survivors had psychological distress than controls. Female survivors, spouse and parents of suicide victims had a high risk of distress. Psychological distress was commonly expressed by depressive and somatic symptoms.
Conclusions: Survivors of farmers' suicides are suffering from significant psychological distress.