scholarly journals Mental health, physical impairment and violence among FSWS in North Karnataka, South India: a story of intersecting vulnerabilities

BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S237-S238
Author(s):  
Alicja Beksinska ◽  
Tara S Beattie ◽  
Lucy Platt ◽  
Parinita Bhattacharjee ◽  
Ravi Prakash ◽  
...  

AimsThis study examines the prevalence and associations between recent violence experience, mental health and physical health impairment among Female Sex Workers (FSWs) in north Karnataka, India.BackgroundMulti-morbidity, in particular the overlap between physical and mental health problems, is an important global health challenge to address. FSWs experience high levels of gender-based violence, which increases the risk of poor mental health, however there is limited information on the prevalence of physical health impairments and how this interacts with mental health and violence.MethodWe conducted secondary analysis of cross-sectional quantitative survey data collected in 2016 as part of a cluster-RCT with FSWs called Samvedana Plus. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine associations between physical impairment, recent (past 6 months) physical or sexual violence from any perpetrator, and mental health problems measured by PHQ-2 (depression), GAD-2 (anxiety), any common mental health problem (depression or anxiety), self-harm ever and suicidal ideation ever.Result511 FSWs participated. One fifth had symptoms of depression (21.5%) or anxiety (22.1%), one third (34.1%) reported symptoms of either, 4.5% had ever self-harmed and 5.5% reported suicidal ideation ever. Over half (58.1%) reported recent violence. A quarter (27.6%) reported one or more chronic physical impairments. Mental health problems such as depression were higher among those who reported recent violence (29%) compared to those who reported no recent violence (11%). There was a step-wise increase in the proportion of women with mental health problems as the number of physical impairments increased (e.g. depression 18.1% no impairment; 30.2% one impairment; 31.4% ≥ two impairments). In adjusted analyses, mental health problems were significantly more likely among women who reported recent violence (e.g. depression and violence AOR 2.42 (1.24–4.72) with rates highest among women reporting recent violence and one or more physical impairments (AOR 5.23 (2.49–10.97).ConclusionOur study suggests multi-morbidity of mental and physical health problems is a concern amongst FSWs and is associated with recent violence experience. Programmes working with FSWs need to be mindful of these intersecting vulnerabilities, inclusive of women with physical health impairments and include treatment for mental health problems as part of core-programming.Samvedana Plus was funded by UKaid through Department for International Development as part of STRIVE (structural drivers of HIV) led by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme led by South African Medical Research Council

2010 ◽  
pp. 5259-5262
Author(s):  
Eleanor Feldman

It is important to screen for mental health problems: they are common in general medical patients and failure to recognize and deal with them will often interfere with the management of the physical health of the patient. Depression can kill, and if by screening you identify depression, you should ask about hopelessness and suicidal ideation (how to do this sensitively is discussed in ...


2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anonymous

In 1986 I suffered a severe mental breakdown. I have had serious mental health problems for 15 years. Over the past 15 months, my mental and physical health have improved considerably. During this time, I have been writing and using Insight Poetry to help overcome my illness.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1234-1234
Author(s):  
F. Cheema ◽  
J. Graham ◽  
D. Moffat ◽  
C. Gordon

It is well recognised that individuals with severe mental health difficulties have increased risks of significant physical health problems and that some of the treatments for mental health problems can cause physical health difficulties as side effects. It is also known that people with mental health difficulties do not present themselves regularly for physical health monitoring as suggested by national and international guidelines. We show how a secondary care community mental health service cooperated with primary care general medical services to increase the take up of physical health monitoring by patients with severe and enduring mental health problems.Staff in the community mental health team which served a rural/small urban population identified patients with severe and enduring mental health difficulties or those patients on medications linked to physical problems and contacted the primary care physicians responsible for the patients’ general care with patient details and encouraged patient attendance for physical health monitoring. Physical monitoring included blood pressure, ECG, glucose, thyroid, lipids, height and weight. Post-intervention attendance figures show an increase of 30% in patients attending physical health reviews compared with pre-intervention figures. The intervention has been now rolled out to a larger catchment area of 25000 persons.[Physical health monitoring by individual parameter]


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Setarah Mohammad Nader ◽  
Paul Musey Jr., MD, MS, FACEP

Background and Hypothesis: It has been observed that patients with poor mental health are relatively frequent users of the Emergency Departments (ED). The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of numerous behavioral health domains (depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance abuse, and suicidality) in patients presenting to the Emergency Department and the association of each of these domains with ED utilization. Experimental Design or Project Methods: This prospective study seeks to enroll a convenience sample of 1000 Englishspeaking adults presenting to IU Health Methodist and Eskenazi Emergency Departments without psychiatric chief-complaints. Patients were assessed for behavioral health problems using the CAT-MHTM, PHQ-8 and GAD-7 screening tools, which were administered via tablet device. Additionally, data on disposition medical history, discharge diagnoses, and ED utilization in the 12 months before and after enrollment from electronic medical records and data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC) will be reviewed. Results: Over the course of five weeks, 375 patients have been enrolled. Of those 59.4% were female with an overall mean age of 46.1 (SD ± 16.4); 52.9% were white and 39.8% black/African American. Among enrollees 42.2% screened positive for depression, 29.7% for anxiety, and 1.3% for suicidal ideation. Patients who screened positive for depression were predominately females (76.1% vs 23.9%), those who screened positive for anxiety were also predominately females (71.6% vs. 28.4%). However, 3 out of the 5 (60%) patients that screened positive for suicidal ideation were males. The preliminary analysis of GAD-7 showed of those enrolled 215 (57.5%) had no anxiety, 157 (42%) had mild-severe anxiety. PHQ-8 scores showed 194 (51.9%) had no depression, 178 (47.5%) had mild-severe depression. Similarly, CAT-MH results showed 216 (57.8%) had no depression, 158 (42.2%) had mild-severe depression, while 263 (70.3%) had no anxiety and 111 (29.7%) had mild-severe anxiety. Full data analysis including comparative analysis of the CAT-MH with PHQ-8 and GAD-7 scores will take place after 1000 patients have been enrolled and data has been received from the INPC. Conclusion and Potential Impact: In our sample, almost half of patients that visit the ED have screened positive for mental health problems. We believe that early identification and appropriate referral may reduce inappropriate ED utilization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-105
Author(s):  
Avilasha Singh

Mental health has always been stigmatised and overlooked. Since, anxiety and stress are natural responses while facing a threat of new diseases. Hence, this pandemic has shown us the importance of mental health. During this time there have been many triggers that have caused repercussions in people’s mental health. Mental health crisis is on the rise. So, it is important to be able to tackle mental health problems as effectively as physical health problems, not only now but in the future as well, once and for all.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang-Jiang Zhou ◽  
Meng Qi ◽  
Lei-Lei Wang ◽  
Xing-Jie Yang ◽  
Li-Gang Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a serious threat to global public health, including a wide range of metal health problems. Current research focuses mainly on mental health status and related factors among Chinese university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Data from 11133 participants was obtained through an online survey of university students in mainland China. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), respectively.Results: In total, 37.0% of the subjects were experiencing depressive symptoms, 24.9% anxiety symptoms, 20.9% comorbid depressive and anxiety symptoms, and 7.3% suicidal ideation. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed an increased presence of mental health problems in female students, graduate students, and those with personal COVID-19 exposure. Living with family and awareness of COVID-19 were protective factors against depressive and anxiety symptoms. In addition, male, depressive and anxiety symptoms were risk factors for suicidal ideation. Living with family, graduate students, prevention and control measures and projections of COVID-19 trends were protective factors against suicidal ideation.Conclusions: The findings underlined that the mental health of university students should be monitored, and provided important information for healthcare planning during the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Sari Monik Agustin ◽  
Agatha Josephine

Previous research also shows that social media has positive and negative roles related to interpersonal relationships and mental health. The social media used significantly increases social capital and mental well-being, which benefits people with low self-esteem and life satisfaction. Some psychotherapists even use an Instagram platform as their therapeutic medium. This preliminary study frameworks are Stuart Hall’s reception theory, the concept elaborations of social support and online social support, as well as a discussion of the character of social media, Instagram. This paper is based on a qualitative research with data from interviews with 3 female informants on 20-29 years old and gethappy.id account followers. This research succeeded in identifying 2 receptions that emerged from the female group of Instagram account followers gethappy.id. The dominant reader comes from informants who have severe physical health problems and mental health problems related to these physical health problems. Meanwhile, negotiating reader arise from informants who do not have personal physical and mental health problems, but who have a social environment with physical and mental health problems. Another important finding is that the main social support remains family and friends. Social media support is needed when the two main social supports are not present.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document