Pathways to severe mental illness care: A retrospective study of patients seeking psychiatric care at Department of Psychiatry, AIIMS, Delhi

2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402098858
Author(s):  
Surat Ram Kudi ◽  
Deepika C Khakha ◽  
T K Ajesh Kumar ◽  
Koushik Sinha Deb

Background and aim: Globally, very few patients with mental illness go to health care facilities to receive psychiatry treatment. This study aims to identify pathways used by patients with severe mental disorders who seek mental health care services in the psychiatry unit of AIIMS, New Delhi. Materials and methods: It is a retrospective cross-sectional study with convenience sampling technique was used, and data were collected from 123 caregivers of patients with severe mental illnesses using standardized tools like MINI, BPRS, YMRS and WHO Encounter pathway. Results: The findings revealed that 41.5% of the patients made their first contact with the faith healers, 27.6% with AYUSH medical practitioners, 14.6% with psychiatrists and 12.2% with allopathic medical practitioners. About 26% of the patients reported hallucinations as the first symptom for seeking help. In the majority of cases (96.7%), the patient’s relatives made the decision for the patient to seek treatment the first time to manage the symptoms. The psychotic symptoms (65.1%) helped the patient’s relatives to take the decision for first seek. The mean delay for seeking treatment from psychiatrists was 13.31 ± 10.6 (months). Conclusion: This study showed that a higher proportion of patients received treatment from the faith healer at the first seek, whereas only a few patients approached psychiatrist directly. Hence, there is an immense need to create awareness regarding mental illness and treatment options available.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-50
Author(s):  
D.K. Thapa ◽  
N. Lamichhane ◽  
S. Subedi

Introduction: Mental illnesses are commonly linked with a higher disability and burden of disease than many physical illnesses. But despite that fact, it is a general observation that a majority of patients with mental disorder never seek professional help. To elaborate further, the widely prevalent magico-religious beliefs associated with mental illness and lower literacy, poses significant social obstacles in seeking appropriate health care for psychiatric patients. In general, mental illness is seen as related to life stresses, social or family conflicts and evil spirits and the concept of biological causes of mental illness is rare even among the educated. The idea that illness and death are due to malevolent spirits is common notion that is shared practically by all level of society from the so-called primitive to modern industrialized societies, thus indicating the strong influences of cultural background. When there is a magico- religious concepts of disease causation, there is tendency to consult indigenous healers. Therefore, the patients with mental illness often either visit or are taken to faith healers by their relatives. The objective of the study was to determine the various psychiatric cases that were referred by the traditional faith healers to the authors. Material and Method: This is a cross- sectional, hospital- based descriptive study, conducted at the Psychiatric outpatient department of Pokhara Om Hospital, Pokhara, Kaski, Nepal for the period of one year, from June 2016 to May 2017. The total of 35 cases, referred by the traditional faith healers was included in the study. Subjects of any age, any gender, any literacy level, any caste, from any locality and religious background were included in the study after their consent. Subjects who refused to consent were not included in the study. The psychiatric diagnosis was based on the complete history and examination and ICD- 10 DRC criteria. Results: Though the sample size is small, it is interesting to note that patients with various kinds of mental disorders were referred by traditional faith healers. There were patients suffering from neurotic disorders, psychotic disorders, mood disorders, seizure, substance use disorder, intellectual disability etc seeking the treatment from traditional faith healers. Among the cases referred, predominantly were female and neurotic cases. Most patients were educated. Conclusion: The study shows that patients with various mental disorders visit traditional faith healer. This area surely requires further in-depth look as traditional faith healers can be an important source of referral of psychiatric patients.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Iqbal Afridi ◽  
Jawed Akbar Dars ◽  
Chooni Lal ◽  
Rakesh Kumar ◽  
. Sadia ◽  
...  

Objectives: To assess the general practitioner's perspective on mental illness in a tertiary health care setting. Study Setting and Duration: Online seminar in March 2020, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi. Study Design: Cross-sectional, Observational study Methodology: A total of 152 general practitioners were enrolled in the study. All house officers, psychiatric specialists, staff members, and patients were excluded from the study. An online survey instrument was used to collect data from general practitioners through social media. The questionnaire was related to the biodata of the physicians and their perspective on mental health disorders. Data was analyzed by using SPSS Version 26. Results: A total of 152 general practitioners participated in the study. The mean age of participants was 39.76 (11.540) years. The majority of them were male and married with an average experience of 12.80 (10.90) years. According to the participants, the most common symptoms experienced by patients with mental disorders were loss of appetite, hopelessness, and the loss of interest in day to day activities. The majority of the doctors confessed they find the treatment and management of psychiatric illnesses the hardest. Most of the participants were aware of the diagnostic criteria used for common mental health disorders. Over a hundred (66.4%) participants considered mental health disorders to be a medical disorder while 16 (10.5%) assumed it is the possession by supernatural creatures. 65 (42.7%) of the doctors confessed that they would not feel comfortable having a coworker or befriending a person with a diagnosed mental health issue. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that general physicians had good knowledge about common mental illnesses; however they found the management of these patients difficult. Mental health awareness and training intervention tools are needed to help improve the perspective of health care professionals towards patients with suspected mental illnesses.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayele Belachew ◽  
Mitikie Molla ◽  
Abebaw Fekadu

AbstractBackgroundEthiopia is a traditional country with a pluralistic health care system where people use the traditional health care systems in combination with the modern health care. In view of this, we assessed the profile of faith and traditional healers and their experience in treating people with mental illness in rural district Ethiopia so that inform the health minister to consider working towards integration with modern biomedical care to improve access.MethodsWe conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among 173 traditional healers in Sodo district of Ethiopia. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews by trained enumerators using pretested structured questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 20.ResultThe median age of traditional and faith based healers was 55 (IQR=48.5, 67 years), about a third (29.5%) of them were female and 54(31.2%) earned their living exclusively from traditional healing practice. Eighty six (48.6%) healers didn’t attend formal education. Four types of healers were identified-herbalists accounted for 59% (n=102), faith healers were 36 (20.8%) mixed herbal and faith practitioners were 19(11.0%) and 16 (9.2%) were diviners. Most, 119(69%) had been practicing for an average of 15 years. Half of healers entered into the healing practice due to family kinship, whereas 26(15%) because of ancestral spirit.Seventy one (41%) of the healers reported that they have ever treated patients with mental illness in their lifetime. Sixty three(36.4%) reported that they had treated mental illness within the past one year, of which 30(47%) treat only mental illness while 33(52%) treat both mental and physical illnesses. All faith healers and divine healers reported treating mental illness while 11(57.9%) of mixed healers, and no herbalists reported treating mental illness. Only 58(33.5%) believed that mental illness can be cured completely.ConclusionSignificant proportion of traditional healers manages mental illness and remains an important part of the healthcare system in the rural setting of Ethiopia. Herbalists believed that biomedical treatments are preferable for mental illnesses, while faith healers and diviners believed traditional practices alone or in combination with biomedical practices is the treatment of choice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 717-725
Author(s):  
Jacqueline H Stephens ◽  
Maree O’Keefe ◽  
Mark Schembri ◽  
Peter A Baghurst

Objective: To explore the experiences, expectations, and motivations of parents/caregivers of children with otitis media who were booked to undergo tympanostomy tube insertion. Method: A cross-sectional cohort study was conducted using semistructured interviews with 39 parents. Interviews were conducted via telephone and analyzed for key themes. Results: Three themes emerged that incorporated a range of subthemes: (1) the impact of the child’s underlying condition on the family, (2) the cues and prompts that influenced parents to seek intervention, and (3) the parents’ expectations of the health-care system. The child’s otitis media disrupted the day-to-day functioning of the family and the child’s well-being, but despite this, the families found ways to adapt and cope. Parents were influenced by their friends, family, and medical practitioners when making treatment decisions and had differing expectations of the health-care system. Conclusion: Parents need support during their child’s illness to help with pressures placed on the family and also in making health-care decisions for their child. Clinicians should consider these issues when discussing treatment options with parents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S221-S222
Author(s):  
Sanjita Fyak ◽  
Nirmala Pradhan ◽  
Sami Lama ◽  
Kriti Thapa ◽  
Rajesh Kumar

Abstract Background Family expressed emotions had been shown to be predictive of outcome in mental illnesses in variety of cultural settings. Distressed caregivers who provide care to mentally ill relatives are at risk for developing mental health disorders. Methods A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted among 85 caregivers of chronic mental illness using purposive sampling technique. Caregivers were interviewed using Family Questionnaire (FQ) and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) to assess expressed emotions and psychological distress of caregivers respectively. Results More than half (55.3%) of the caregivers had low expressed emotions while 44.7% had high expressed emotions. More than half (55.3%) of the caregivers had low psychological distress, followed by medium risk (31.8%) and high risk (12.9%). Study revealed significant association between caregiver’s expressed emotion with caregiver’s relationship to patient, area of residence, socioeconomic status, age and gender of patients. Caregiver’s psychological distress had a significant association with their relationships with patient and educational qualification of patient. There was positive correlation between caregiver’s expressed emotions and psychological distress. Discussion This study illustrated that more than half (55.3%) of the caregivers had low expressed emotions and 44.7% had high expressed emotions while caring their patients with chronic mental illness. This finding is contradictory to the findings of a study conducted in India which depicts that most of the caregivers were designated as high EE (56%) as compared to low EE (44%). Another study conducted in Thailand indicated that large number of caregivers have high expressed emotion (87.5%).Another descriptive quantitative exploratory study done in Saudi Arabia had shown that majority of caregivers had low EE (85%). This differences in the results related to expressed emotions could be possibly due to variations in the sample size and tools used for data collection among these studies.


2017 ◽  
pp. 69-74
Author(s):  
Van Hung Nguyen ◽  
Van Thang Vo

Background: Accident injuries caused has been serious heatlth problem in developing coutries. Children is vulnerable group with accident injury beucase of lacking knowlegde and exposing with risk factors in eviromental household. The treatment outcome for accident injury of children usually has more serious than other groups. The aims of this study to describle some characteristics of first aid and the outcome of treatment for children accident in Buon Ma Thuot, Dak Lak provice in 2014. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted total 2,273 household which was 4,505 children aged under 16 in 8 communes, Buon Ma Thuot city, Daklak province. Interview technique with structural questionnaire and household observation methods were used for data collection. Results: The propotion of first aid was 75.9%; not received any first aid (23.8%); mortality at accident place (0.3%). At the time accident: The highest personal involving first aid was pedestrians 54.1%; 25% of health staff, self- first aid was 14.5%. Two main of first aid methods were hemostasis and bandeged with 45.5%; 28% respectiviely. After first aid, there was 80% delivering to health care facilities. The transport methods were motocycle (91.8%), car (5.6%) and ambulance (0.4%). The rate of approach health care facilities around early 6 hours were 86.7%. The characteristics of damages: sub-damages (scratches, dislocations, sprains...) were 36.9 %, deep damages (fractures, open wounds) accounted for 44.6%. Inpatient treatment was 23.9%; 91.5% medical therapy, surgery of 8.2%. The outcome of treatment were good (97.2%), sequelae/disability 2.6%. Conclusion: First aid activities for children at time and properly right were demonstrated effectively for prevented seriously outcome. There should be an intervention program for children with the appropriate models to reduce accident injuries in children; improvement first aid to communities and health care worker. Key words: accident injury, first aid, capacity first care, children under 16 years old


Author(s):  
Behrad Pourmohammadi ◽  
Ahad Heydari ◽  
Farin Fatemi ◽  
Ali Modarresi

Abstract Objectives: Iran is exposed to a wide range of natural and man-made hazards. Health-care facilities can play a significant role in providing life-saving measures in the minutes and hours immediately following the impact or exposure. The aim of this study was to determine the preparedness of health-care facilities in disasters and emergencies. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Damghan, Semnan Province, in 2019. The samples consisted of all the 11 health-care facilities located in Damghan County. A developed checklist was used to collect the data, including 272 questions in 4 sections: understanding threatening hazards, functional, structural, and nonstructural vulnerability of health-care facilities. The data were analyzed using SPSS 21. Results: The results revealed that the health-care facilities were exposed to 22 different natural and man-made hazards throughout the county. The total level of preparedness of the health-care centers under assessment was 45.8%. The average functional, structural, and nonstructural vulnerability was assessed at 49.3%, 31.6%, and 56.4%, respectively. Conclusions: Conducting mitigation measures is necessary for promoting the functional and structural preparedness. Disaster educational programs and exercises are recommended among the health staff in health-care facilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (28) ◽  
pp. 2484-2488
Author(s):  
Umesh G ◽  
Asokan T.V. ◽  
Roselin V ◽  
Sri Santhanakrishnan V V

BACKGROUND Stigma experienced by caregivers of patients with mental illnesses remains unnoticed. This study was conducted to evaluate the stigma perceived by the care givers of patients with various mental illnesses and the factors associated with stigma. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted among the care givers of patients with mental illnesses who accompanied the patients to the outpatient department (OPD) of Psychiatry in Meenakshi Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, from January 2017 to March 2017. A total of hundred care givers were included in the study. All care givers aged between 18 - 50 years of age in both sexes were included in the study. Care givers of substance abuse cases were excluded from the study. A total of hundred care givers with fifty care givers of neurosis patients and another fifty care givers of psychosis were included in the study. Family interview schedule (FIS) stigma scale was used to assess the stigma perceived by care givers. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and data analysis was done using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17. RESULTS Mean perceived stigma score was 12.27 ± 9.43. High, low and zero stigma was noted among 44 %, 36 % and 20 % of care givers, respectively. Also, it was found that care givers of psychosis patients had more stigma than the care givers of neurosis patients (P = 0.0008). Statistically significant association was found between patient’s duration of illness (P = 0.003), patient’s diagnosis (P = 0.000) and care givers burden (P = 0.000) with severity of stigma perceived by the care givers. CONCLUSIONS Proportion of stigma prevailing among the care givers is high and it depicts only the cases which were reported to the health care center, whereas a larger proportion of cases remains not seeking the health care. An early intervention by conducting routine assessments of the mental status of caregivers is necessary. KEYWORDS Stigma, Care Givers, Mental Illnesses, Family Interview Schedule


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Carla Dianmartha ◽  
Sari Kusumadewi ◽  
Desak Putu Yuli Kurniawati

Background: One of the factors that can affect oral health is health behavior. One of the predisposing factors that influence behavior is knowledge. A person who is aware of the importance of oral health can be seen from their knowledge. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between dental knowledge with their oral health care behavior in children age 9-12 years at SDN 27 Pemecutan Denpasar.Methods: Observasional research used cross sectional approach. The respondent in this research are 87 children age 9-12 years at SDN 27 Pemecutan Denpasar. The samples were taken by using systematic random sampling technique and questionnaire as the measuring instrument to know the level of dental knowledge and dental health care behaviour. Processing technique and data analysis used chi square statistic test.Results: The result of this research showed that the respondent who have ahigh level of knowledge had good behavior is 63,9%. Low knowledge level with less behavior was 80,8%. Respondents have good behaviour if the score of the questionnaire mean total value of questionnaire and respondents less behaviour if the score of the questionnaire < mean total value of questionnaire.Conclusions: It can be concluded there is a significant relationship between dental knowledge and oral health care behavior in children aged 9-12 years in SDN 27 Pemecutan Denpasar.


Author(s):  
Samira M. Mahboub ◽  
Rahaf A. Aleyadhi ◽  
Reema I. Aldrees ◽  
Shahad S. Almuhanna

Background: Mental illness can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, and residence. Studying the attitude and knowledge about mental illnesses among university students is important, because they are the future decision makers dealing with such problems. The aim of this study was to assess level of knowledge and attitude towards mental illnesses among health and non-health university students in Riyadh.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study on students of the governmental universities in Riyadh with both health and non-health speciality. The total sample size was 587 students. The questionnaire was designed electronically, and the link was distributed through social media. It included socio-demographic questions, 17 questions to assess knowledge and 22 questions to assess the attitudes. The statistical tests used were chi square, independent sample t-test, spearman’s correlation and multiple linear regression tests.Results: More than half of the participants had a positive attitude toward mental illness (52%). Only 13.46% of university students had good knowledge about mental illness. Significant higher level of good knowledge and positive attitude were reported among health college students compared to non-health (24.7% versus 7.9% for good knowledge and 60.8% versus 48.3 for positive attitude respectively). Attitude towards mental illness can be successfully predicted by using the knowledge score about mental illness and the type of college.Conclusion: Low percentage of university students had good knowledge about mental illness and their attitude towards mental illness was generally positive. Health college students had better attitude and knowledge about mental illness than non-health.


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