Clustering Psychosocial Stressors in Poisoning Cases

Abstract

Poisoning is a major public health concern, with a substantial proportion of cases associated with intentional self-harm and significant psychosocial burden. Evidence suggests that psychosocial stressors rarely occur in isolation and instead interact in complex patterns, influencing vulnerability to adverse outcomes. To investigate the co-occurrence and structural relationships among psychosocial stressors in poisoning cases and identify underlying latent domains and clustering patterns. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on 100 poisoning cases. Psychosocial variables including family disputes, financial stress, occupational stress, stigma, fear, and hopelessness were analysed as binary indicators. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and co-occurrence assessment using the Jaccard index were performed. Exploratory factor analysis with parallel analysis was used to identify latent structures, retaining factors where observed eigenvalues exceeded those from simulated and resampled data. Hierarchical clustering using Ward’s method was applied to evaluate grouping of individuals based on stressor profiles. Analyses were performed using R (version4.5.3). Hopelessness was the most prevalent stressor (80%), followed by occupational (70%) and financial stress (65%). Strong co-occurrence was observed between financial and occupational stress (J = 0.73). Psychosocial stressors in poisoning cases exhibit a structured, multidimensional organization rather than isolated occurrence. The identification of distinct stress domains highlights the importance of addressing combined psychosocial environments in risk assessment and intervention strategies. This study indicates that psychosocial stressors in poisoning cases are categorised into distinct but interconnected groups, primarily economical strain and emotional stigma-related distress.