ABSTRACT
Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic and inarguably one of the most debilitating psychiatric syndromes. Primary care giver faces burden in different domains, few of the domains having significant correlation with a schizophrenia patient. The evidence has suggested that effective Psychoeducation will lead to reduced relapse rate, enhanced recovery and better family well-being at a lesser cost. The current study was aimed to explore burden of the family members and impact of Psychoeducation to reduce the burden in primary caregiver of patients with schizophrenia. Methodology: A prospective and interventional study was conducted from October 2016 to September 2017 among primary caregivers of the patient with schizophrenia. Caregivers were interviewed and assessed by application tools like Burden Assessment Schedule (BAS). After assessment, education program was conducted every week for five weeks. One month after completion of all the sessions, post test was conducted. Results: Total 32 primary caregivers of schizophrenia patients participated in the study. Eight caregivers did not complete the follow-up regularly as per the schedule. So, they were excluded from further study and only 24 caregivers were taken into account. Spouse as caregiver and participants with age less than 45 years felt more burden. Statistically significant reduction of burden in physical and mental health, external support, caregiver’s routine, patient’s behaviour related factors and total burden assessment schedule score was observed, which was denoted by paired t test. While, no statistical reduction was observed in other factors. Conclusions: Psychoeducation is effective in reducing the burden and creates more awareness about illness. It also improves coping strategy during different stages of illness. It also deals with communication skills and expressed emotions.
ABSTRACT
Background: The Novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak is unprecedented and traumatic event for the many people of the world. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the commonly encountered mental health problem after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It is predicted that this outbreak have a more profound and widespread psychological impact. The current study is aimed at estimation of the prevalence of PTSD in patients with COVID-19 at two different points of time. Methodology: A prospective study was carried out from may 2020 to October 2020 at a COVID notified tertiary care centre. Participants were approached using Semi-structured proforma and ‘PTSD Symptom Scale Interview (PSS-I)’ at the time of discharge and 1 month post-discharge. Descriptive statistics and Chi- square test were used for the analysis. Results: A total of 440 participants took part in the study. 20.45% participants at the time of discharge from the hospital, and 18.33% at one month follow-up met the criteria for PTSD. Male participants and those who stayed in hospital for more than 14 days reported higher prevalence of PTSD. Conclusion: High prevalence of PTSD was observed in patients with COVID-19 at the time of discharge from the hospital. It is more among those who stayed in Intensive care unit and high dependency unit, and stayed for longer duration in hospital.
ABSTRACT
Background: Healthcare workers on the frontline who are directly involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients are at a special risk of physical, psychological and social impact of the pandemic. This challenging situation is causing various mental health problems like distress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and fear which affects their decision making ability in treating patients and also has long term physical and psychological implications. This study was aimed at investigating the psychological impact, coping strategies used and the effect of ‘brief psychological intervention’ on mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic between May and October 2020. Methodology: Total 175 healthcare workers participated in the interventional study. ‘General health Questionnaire-12’ and ‘Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R)’ were used to assess psychiatric morbidity and posttraumatic stress respectively; ‘brief-COPE’ was used for assessing coping strategies used. An oral session of ‘brief psychological intervention’ was delivered and reassessment by IES-R was done 3 months later. Results: Fear of spreading or contracting infection was more among females and nurses. Doctors had higher psychiatric morbidity and posttraumatic stress (PTS); there were no statistically significant gender differences in the same. Participants with higher psychiatric morbidity also had more PTS. Use of approach coping strategies showed least PTS. The interventional module was effective in stress alleviation. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic had led to considerable stress among healthcare workers. Imparting regular psychological intervention can help in preparedness and building resilience to tackle the taxing circumstances that have arisen due to the pandemic