ABSTRACT
Background: The patient dependence can be concretely assessed on the basis of the ability of the patient to care for himself/ herself with regard to various activities of day to day life. While the patient is sick & hospitalized this dependence is met by the professional support and assistance provided by health professionals, primarily nurses. Thus, the patient dependence as a quantitative measure can be considered as a base from which many aspects of care and progress can be investigated as well as other managerial decisions can be made. Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the levels of dependence among patients admitted to the psychiatric unit of a tertiary hospital using a standardized scale. Methodology: A total of 50 subjects were studied for duration of one month while the dependence was quantitatively measured on three occasions, at time of admission and twice at an interval of 15 days each. Results: The results revealed that 70% of the subjects had high level of dependence. Also there were differences in dependence scores in different domains of dependence. The study also assessed the impact of demographic variables and other disease related variables on the level of dependence. Conclusion: Taking into account, the various dimensions of dependence in clients with mental health problems, the current study implicates the need to identify the ways to optimize the staff resources for best quality outcome meeting the established standards of care.