Chitral Valley is situated in the extreme northwest of Pakistan and has 500,000 inhabitants. It is considered to be the most peaceful part of the country, and the crime rate is comparatively much lower there than in other regions of Pakistan. The literacy rate of both genders is high, and females have a relatively higher representation in the workplace. Despite these positive indicators, the suicide rate is considerable and trending upward. This alarming issue receives mere condemnation, and no serious remedial steps from any quarter have been observed to date. Keeping in view all of these facts, Chitral is being used as the population for this study.
Our team used both primary and secondary data to answer the research questions. The last three years’ (2017–2019) reports on suicide were retrieved from the Office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Chitral. The data carried 49 committed suicide cases, their demographic details, causes of suicide, and methods of suicide. The data for this period were officially verified, and the data for 2020 were yet to be released. This data were analyzed using cross-tabulation through SPSS. The data were divided into many tables according to demographic distribution, reported causes, and mode of suicides.
In addition to this data, we conducted semi-structured interviews of 16 respondents after obtaining informed consent. The respondents were selected through the purposive sampling method. The respondents consisted of five family members of different suicide victims, two police personnel with experience in investigating suicide cases, and two lawyers. Additionally, two clinicians were interviewed. The matter was also discussed with community members (five respondents) to obtain independent views. In-depth interviews were conducted using English, Urdu, and the local language, as per the respondents’ convenience. The responses were recorded, and the duration of the interviews ranged from 25 to 35 minutes. Ethical standards were followed while collecting data. Informed consent was obtained from each respondent to participate in the survey willingly. In addition to this, approval from the ethical review committee of Lahore Leads University, Pakistan, was obtained under letter No. LLU/ERC/Res/21/28 on 29 April 2021 to conduct the proposed survey.
After conducting all of the detailed interviews, the authors transcribed the data and made a thematic analysis to identify patterns within the responses. We extracted certain root causes of suicide that were not yet identified by the researchers (interview themes are inTable 1 ).
Our team used both primary and secondary data to answer the research questions. The last three years’ (2017–2019) reports on suicide were retrieved from the Office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Chitral. The data carried 49 committed suicide cases, their demographic details, causes of suicide, and methods of suicide. The data for this period were officially verified, and the data for 2020 were yet to be released. This data were analyzed using cross-tabulation through SPSS. The data were divided into many tables according to demographic distribution, reported causes, and mode of suicides.
In addition to this data, we conducted semi-structured interviews of 16 respondents after obtaining informed consent. The respondents were selected through the purposive sampling method. The respondents consisted of five family members of different suicide victims, two police personnel with experience in investigating suicide cases, and two lawyers. Additionally, two clinicians were interviewed. The matter was also discussed with community members (five respondents) to obtain independent views. In-depth interviews were conducted using English, Urdu, and the local language, as per the respondents’ convenience. The responses were recorded, and the duration of the interviews ranged from 25 to 35 minutes. Ethical standards were followed while collecting data. Informed consent was obtained from each respondent to participate in the survey willingly. In addition to this, approval from the ethical review committee of Lahore Leads University, Pakistan, was obtained under letter No. LLU/ERC/Res/21/28 on 29 April 2021 to conduct the proposed survey.
After conducting all of the detailed interviews, the authors transcribed the data and made a thematic analysis to identify patterns within the responses. We extracted certain root causes of suicide that were not yet identified by the researchers (interview themes are in
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