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International Journal of Pure & Applied Bioscience (IJPAB)
Year : 2018, Volume : 6, Issue : 6
First page : (905) Last page : (912)
Article doi: : http://dx.doi.org/10.18782/2320-7051.7052

Using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess the Mental Health of Farmers of Punjab

Manjot Kaur¹* and Ravijot Kaur²

^1,2 Senior Research Fellow, Department of Agricultural Journalism, Language & Culture, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 141004
*Corresponding Author E-mail: manjot@pau.edu
Received: 12.11.2018  |  Revised: 17.12.2018   |  Accepted: 26.12.2018  

 ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to assess the mental health of the farmers of Punjab during the Kisan Mela organized by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. A self structured questionnaire was formulated to collect details from the farmers along with the GHQ-12 questionnaire. Simple Random Sampling technique was used for the selection of the farmers and a total 202 farmers comprised the sample for this study. The GHQ is a screening tool which is used to identify the severity of psychological distress experienced by an individual within the past few weeks. Based on the GHQ scores of the respondents, the cut-off point 5 was used to determine the respondents’ level of mental health. The higher score indicating poorer mental health of the individual. The study revealed that a considerable proportion of the farmers (respondents) of Punjab had been identified as on the verge of facing psychological distress. A very less percentage of the respondents were found to be having severe mental illness. It was concluded from the data that age had negative and significant relationship with the level of mental health of the respondents.

Key words: GHQ-12, Mental health, Indebtedness, Farmers

Full Text : PDF; Journal doi : http://dx.doi.org/10.18782

Cite this article: Kaur, M. and Kaur, R., Using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess the Mental Health of Farmers of Punjab, Int. J. Pure App. Biosci.6(6): 905-912 (2018). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18782/2320-7051.7052