Psychosocial Well-being in Vidarbha A Study of Communities in Distress

This study was undertaken under the aegis of the Sukhi Baliraja Initiative (SBI), funded by Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) in six high distress districts, which has holistic livelihood promotion as its main agenda – with a special focus on social strengthening in order to reduce distress. The aim of the survey was to understand the psychosocial and economic factors that cumulatively contributed to distress among farmers and to arrive at the first level of basic broad social characteristics that determine psychological distress. It also aimed at identifying the presence (or rather absence) of resources and protective factors that could have shielded individuals and the community as a whole in the face of the distress. To assess the psychosocial well-being of individuals and to identify the factors impacting psychosocial well-being in the context of Vidarbha, the study adopted the conceptual framework of psychosocial intervention in complex emergencies evolved by the Psychosocial Working Group in 2003. Based on the conceptual framework, indicators were identified or incorporated for each of the components, namely human capacity, social ecology, culture and values, physical resources, economic resources and environmental resources – both from among the quantitative measures generated in the TISS baseline survey of livelihoods and also in the specific psychosocial well-being survey questionnaires namely Critical Life events Questionnaire (CLQ), Social Support and Network Questionnaire (SSNQ) and the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ).