Highlights COVID-19 Pandemic has heralded a wave of mental health concerns. Using technology optimally is one way of cutting across barriers to reach out to distressed individuals. Psychological First Aid can be provided via tele-mental health services. This is the first attempt at addressing psychosocial needs of the general population in the times of COVID-19 by providing psychosocial support using the means of a tele-helpline
Background:Neurological rehabilitation service in developing countries like India is a great challenge in view of limited resources and manpower. Currently, neurological rehabilitation with a multidisciplinary team is limited to a few major cities in the country. Tele-neurorehabilitation (TNR) is considered as an alternative and innovative approach in health care. It connects the needy patients with the health-care providers with minimum inconvenience and yields cost-effective health care.Aim:The aim of this study was to study the socioclinical parameters, feasibility, and utility of TNR services in India.Methodology:A retrospective file review of TNR consultations provided through Telemedicine Center at a quaternary hospital-based research center in south India between August 2012 and January 2016.Results:A total of 37 consultations were provided to the patients belonging to four districts of Karnataka. The mean age of the patients was 34.7 (±19.5) years, 23 (62.1%) were aged between 19 and 60 years, and 31 (83.8%) were male. Thirty-one patients (83.8%) had central nervous system-related disorders such as stroke, cerebral palsy, and tubercular meningitis with sequelae or neuromuscular disorders such as Guillain–Barre Syndrome and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Twelve patients (32.4%) were advised to consult higher centers in the vicinity, and the rest was referred to the district hospital.Conclusion:The findings suggest that TNR services are feasible, effective, and less resource intensive in delivering quality telemedicine care in India. More clinical studies are required to elucidate its full utility at different levels and in different parts of the country.
Purpose:In low and middle-income countries, about 80% of those who need mental health services do not receive them. Reasons for this have not been systematically studied. In this qualitative study, we explored this issue in a rural community of South India among schizophrenia patients.Materials and Methods:Patients who had never sought psychiatric treatment despite long-standing psychotic illnesses were identified as part of a community intervention program. In-depth interviews were conducted with patients’ caregivers to understand factors preventing them seeking psychiatric treatment. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Reasons cited by family members were listed and grouped into factors based on themes. Interview process was iteratively followed till no new factor emerged. Sixteen caregivers were thus interviewed.Results:Content analysis brought out 75 reasons, which were further grouped under the following 15 factors [n (%)]: Lack of awareness about the illness: 15 (93.75%); lack of family support: Nine (56.25%); religious attributions: Nine (56.25%); financial constraints: Six (37.5%); family dynamics: Seven (43.75%); family's tolerance: Seven (43.75%); lack of insight: Five (31.25%); families resilience: Four (25.0%); community beliefs regarding mental illnesses: Four (25%), and others. In each patient, a complex interplay of several of these factors precluded the family from seeking psychiatric treatment.Conclusions:In addition to the well-known factors, many hitherto less-understood factors (e.g., families’ conflicts, dynamics, resilience and acceptance, and community support, etc.) were identified which prevented patients and their families from seeking treatment. These findings have important policy implications.
Context:Longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is known to be associated with poorer outcome of schizophrenia. DUP is also known to be longer in lower- and middle-income countries. Methodologically sound studies that have examined the association of DUP and outcome of schizophrenia in these countries are lacking.Aim:The aim was to evaluate the association between DUP and outcome of never-treated schizophrenia patients.Setting and Design:This study was conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, using a prospective cohort design.Materials and Methods:119 patients with schizophrenia/schizophreniform disorder diagnosed using the computerized diagnostic interview schedule for DSM-IV (CDIS-IV) were further assessed for DUP with the interview for retrospective assessment of onset of schizophrenia (IRAOS). After a mean (SD) follow-up period of 55.9 (37.2) weeks, the social and occupational functioning and psychopathology of 93 (80.2% of the surviving patients) patients were assessed using the social and occupational functioning scale (SOFS) and the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), by raters blind to the DUP data. Spearman's correlation and Kendall's tau-B test were used to analyze the relationship between DUP and the outcome variables.Results:The mean DUP was 90.2 (median=30.1; SD=121.9) weeks. SOFS and PANSS scores at follow-up were statistically significantly associated with DUP, but not with other baseline variables (SOFS: rho=0.22, P=0.03; PANSS: rho=0.23, P=0.03). Among those with the shortest DUP (<16 weeks; n=33), 45.5%, 30.3%, and 24.2% had no impairment, mild-moderate impairment, and severe impairment, respectively. In contrast, 19.4%, 38.7%, and 41.9% of those with the longest DUP (>72 weeks; n=31) had no, mild-moderate, and severe impairment, respectively (Kendall's Tau-b=0.194; P=0.025).Conclusions:The delay in accessing treatment among patients with psychosis is considerable in India, a lower- to middle-income country. Longer DUP is associated with poorer psychopathological and functional outcomes in persons with schizophrenia/schizophreniform disorder.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.