Socio-Demographic and Economic Correlates of Climate Change Coping and Adaptation Strategies: A Study on the Farmer Communities in Barisal District, Bangladesh

The major objective of the study is to apply Conservation of Resource (COR) theory for examining the influence of farmers’ socio-demographic and economic correlates upon their adoption of agricultural, economic and emotion-focused coping and adaptation strategies of climate change. An interview schedule developed from the COR theory was utilized for data collection. Using multistage cluster sampling technique, a total of 384 farmers were chosen from Agailjhara Upazila of Barisal District and interviewed through a predesigned structured questionnaire. For triangulation of the quantitative findings, the study employed case study technique to collect qualitative data from the respondents. The findings of the study demonstrate that the most common emotion- focused, agricultural and economic coping and adaptation strategies of climate change were social support seeking (79.69%), planting trees (71.35%), homestead gardening (52.08%), hydroponic farming/floating garden (46.88%), duck rearing (30.73%), saving (20.83%), self-insurance (18.75%), etc. Bivariate results indicate that age, ownership of land, income and ownership of television or mobile phone were found significantly correlated with the three variables, including economic, agricultural and emotion-focused coping and adaptation strategies of COR theory. Again, access to microcredit has relationship with economic and agricultural adaptation strategies. Furthermore, education has significant relationship with agricultural adaptation strategies. The study suggests that continuous researches by policy makers, researchers, GOs and NGOs are very essential to exploring and enhancing farmers’ coping and adaptation strategies which may relegate the adverse impacts and vulnerabilities of climate change in the study area.

Coping strategies used by suicide attempters and comparison groups

A variety of factors have been identified as being risk factors for suicidal behaviour. One of them is the handling of stressful events. The aim of the present study was to investigate the coping-strategies used by suicide attempters and comparison groups. 37 patients who had recently made a suicide attempt, 38 suicide attempters at follow up, 20 psychiatric follow up controls, and 19 healthy controls filled in the COPE. We found that suicide attempters at long term follow up and healthy controls used more adaptive problem solving strategies than patients who had recently made a suicide attempt, or psychiatric controls at follow up, who used more maladaptive coping strategies. Our findings suggest that suicide attempters in a twelve year follow up are able to use coping strategies similarly to healthy controls by e.g. approaching the stressor actively. Further examinations of the impact of long term professional care and treatment of suicide attempters on their coping strategies are necessary.