Mental health research on scheduled tribes in India

Abstract

Background: The burden of mental illness among the scheduled tribe (ST) population in India is not known clearly. Aim: The aim was to identify and appraise mental health research studies on ST population in India and collate such data to inform future research. Materials and Methods: Studies published between January 1980 and December 2018 on STs by following exclusion and inclusion criteria were selected for analysis. PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, Sociofile, Cinhal, and Google Scholar were systematically searched to identify relevant studies. Quality of the included studies was assessed using an appraisal tool to assess the quality of cross-sectional studies and Critical Appraisal Checklist developed by Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. Studies were summarized and reported descriptively. Results: Thirty-two relevant studies were found and included in the review. Studies were categorized into the following three thematic areas: alcohol and substance use disorders, common mental disorders and sociocultural aspects, and access to mental health-care services. Sociocultural factors play a major role in understanding and determining mental disorders. Conclusion: This study is the first of its kind to review research on mental health among the STs. Mental health research conducted among STs in India is limited and is mostly of low-to-moderate quality. Determinants of poor mental health and interventions for addressing them need to be studied on an urgent basis.

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy among tribal women in India: Need for a concerted action

“…Odisha, an eastern state of India, is tribal dominated and unique in having highest varieties of ST. Similar to the studies reported in the systematic review,[ 1 ] alcohol consumption is significantly prevalent among ST population in Odisha as well; characterized by earlier onset in younger population with no gender difference. We had undertaken a qualitative study among Santal and Munda tribal women residing in Sundergarh district to explore their views and beliefs regarding homemade alcoholic brew ( Handia ) consumption during pregnancy.…”

“…in the recent most issue of Indian J Psychiatry. [ 1 ] The maiden efforts of the authors to landscape the terrain of mental health research in tribal population and identify the knowledge gaps are laudable. Particularly, the contrasting alcohol consumption patterns observed in tribal population between Kerala, a Southern state and Arunachal Pradesh, a Northeast state offers an impetus for a reflective discourse.…”

Prevalence of mental disorders in South Asia: A systematic review of reviews

“…Other reviews found adult suicide rates ranging from 0.43 to 331.0 per 100,000 population, which varied greatly across countries in the region, and in some cases are likely to be gross underestimations of actual rates (Jordans et al, 2014). An even higher prevalence of suicidal behaviours was found among specific population groups, including perinatal women (Fuhr et al, 2014; Amiri and Behnezhad, 2021), people with HIV/AIDS (Collins et al, 2006; Das and Leibowitz, 2011), female sex workers (Somrongthong et al, 2019) and tribal populations (Devarapalli et al, 2020). Three reviews on suicidal behaviours among children and adolescents were identified, all from India (Aggarwal and Berk, 2015; Aggarwal et al, 2017; Ganesan et al, 2020).…”

Determinants of Health-Seeking Behavior in Major Depressive Disorder: An Observational Study

“…One study found that a large proportion of the participants (approximately 86%) who screened positive for depression did not seek out treatment, contributing to the treatment gap. Urban and rural areas both had a similar prevalence of depression but the larger treatment gap is from the rural agricultural community [ 7 - 9 ].…”