Depression and suicidal ideation among distressed farmers of Punjab

Pages: 29-32
Manjot Kaur, Ravijot Kaur, and Sarabjeet Singh (Department of Agricultural Journalism, Language and Culture, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab)

The present study was conducted to measure the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation among distressed farmers of Punjab. Snowball technique was used for the selection of the distressed farmers and total 400 farmers comprised the sample. Selected sample was spread across the agricultural geographies from various districts of Punjab. A self-structured questionnaire was prepared and data were collected personally by the researcher. The scales measuring depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II) and suicidal ideation (Modified Scale for Suicidal Ideation) were administered on the farmers to measure the level of depression and suicidal ideation among them. Results revealed that majority of the distressed farmers fall under 31-45 years of age and were male farmers. More than fifty per cent respondents were having 5 to 8 members in their family and were small farmers. Highest percentage (89%) of the respondents was under heavy debt of different denominations. Nearly one third of the respondents had moderate level depression and a large proportion of the respondents had low level of suicidal ideation. Age had negative and significant and significant relationship with suicidal ideation. Gender, total family members and total tube wells has negative and significant relationship with depression. The analysis also indicted that total number of livestock has negative and significant relationship with depression while positive and significant relationship with suicidal ideation. It can be concluded that medical and mental health services are important for early and effective treatment and relief for those suffering from depression or are at the edge of it. Treatment interventions alone cannot achieve significant reductions in personal, social and financial burden associated depression and suicidal ideation and therefore interventions are required earlier in the development of these conditions.