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:
COVID-19 has affected the whole world. Apart from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on physical health, there has been a significant impact on the mental health of the individuals. To address these mental health concerns, our institute had started a 24/7 national telephonic helpline to enable distressed individuals to reach out and seek help or assistance.
Aims:
In this article, the authors described the details of 126 tier-2 call backs and the types of psychiatric disorders that were catered to, between March 29, 2020 and May 31, 2020.
Methodology:
Descriptive analysis was done.
Results:
The concerns were characterized into five groups: exacerbation of preexisting mental and physical illness (30.9%); known case of mental or physical illness (19%); COVID related mental health concerns (22.2%); administrative or logistic issues (7.1%); new-onset mental health-related concerns or illnesses (15.9%). Majority of the calls (44.4%) were addressed by the second-tier mental health professionals (MHPs) (psychiatrists). Thirty-one percent were referred to the local medical or psychiatric services; 9.5% to the 3rd tier MHPs; 9% were connected to the treating psychiatrist or neurologist in the hospital; and 1.6% were referred to emergency services in the hospital.
Conclusions:
Using teleservices to address such a huge mental health crisis can be a way ahead to tackle this parallel menace brought about by COVID-19. However, the effectiveness of these helplines needs to be assessed and monitored at frequent intervals.
Background: India uses the Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale (IDEAS) for quantifying disability due to mental illness. The cutoff score for benchmark disability is 7. India has adopted International Classification of Functioning and Health (ICF) and thereby is a signatory to use World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS). Cutoff for benchmark disability in WHODAS in a community-based sample is lacking. Methods: The study was conducted in Jagaluru Taluk, Davanagere District, Karnataka. It is a part of an ongoing research funded by Indian Council of Medical Research. Frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviations, mode, median, Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve were used in analyzing the data. Results: The study included 184 persons with severe mental illness with mean age of 47 and average duration of illness (DOI) of 11 years. They had mild disability (5.99) in IDEAS. The corresponding cutoff score in WHODAS, as compared to IDEAS, when the influence of DOI is removed was 24. Conclusions: A shift from IDEAS to WHODAS is feasible. With the undue influence of DOI removed, both hospital and community-based samples show the score of 24 as cutoff.
The helpline uses an interactive voice response system set up by a company iKontel under the corporate social responsibility initiative. To guide the caller to the key-press options, the system uses
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