title: A case-control study of psychological distress in survivors of farmers' suicides in Wardha District in central India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the psychological distress and its correlates in survivors of farmers' suicides.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study design was used in Wardha District of Vidarbha region in the central India.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, MGM's Medical College, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Manik Changoji
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Bhise
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head, Director Research and Development, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, JNMC Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Prakash Balkrushna
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Behere
keywords: Farmers' suicide; psychological distress; survivor