A comparative study of attitudes toward psychiatry among nursing students across successive training years.

CONTEXT: Psychiatry nurses are an integral component of a multidisciplinary mental health-care team. AIM: The current study aimed at understanding the attitude of undergraduate nursing students toward psychiatry. Additionally, the attitudes toward psychiatry have been compared across the training years among these students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out at a tertiary care nurse-training institute. All the nursing students enrolled with the institute at the time of the study constituted the sample frame. The study questionnaire used in the current study was a 29-item questionnaire that assessed attitudes toward psychiatry. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data were analyzed using SPSS ver 17. RESULTS: Overall, the majority of the nursing students from all four groups had a favorable response to the statements of the Likert scale. Most of the significantly positive responses (as assessed by the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance of the rank order) were from the third-year and internship students. These findings were supported by the significant correlation between these statements and ranked order of the nurse-training years. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the current study present some interesting insights into the attitude of nursing students toward psychiatry.

A cross-sectional study of body shape and eating attitude among Indian female healthcare students.

OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed at assessing eating attitude and body shape concerns among Indian female healthcare students who had received some teaching/training in Psychiatry. METHOD: The study was conducted at government medical and nursing college. All the undergraduate healthcare students enrolled with institute at the time of study constituted the sampling frame for the study. Survey-based methodology was used for data collection. Study scales included semi-structured proforma, Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) (including the three sub-scales), and Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). Data were analyzed using Pearson's and Spearman's correlation statistics and ANOVA with post hoc analysis. RESULTS: A total of 498 students returned the completed study questionnaire. There was significant correlation between Body Mass Index (BMI) and EAT-26 scores) including the sub-scales score of EAT-26). Similarly, BMI and BSQ scores were also significantly correlated. DISCUSSION: The findings from current study help understand the body shape and eating attitudes of Indian female healthcare students who had received some teaching/training in Psychiatry.

A study of predictors of anxiety and depression among stroke patient-caregivers.

CONTEXT: Caregivers play an important role in supporting people with illness either acute or chronic. It is important to explore caregiver's emotional turmoil as it helps in exploring their burden which can have impact on the patient's illness and functioning apart from their own. AIMS: The current study aimed at assessing the predictors of anxiety and depression among caregivers of patients with stroke. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Seventy-five consecutive patient-caregiver dyads were recruited in the study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients and caregivers were assessed using a semi-structured proforma for the sociodemographic details. Subsequently these dyads were assessed for anxiety and depression levels using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Chi-square tests (for categorical variables) were used to find difference between the patients and the caregivers on different variables. Additionally Cramer's V-test and phi test were used for 2*4 contingency tables. Linear regression model was used. RESULTS: Linear regression revealed that anxiety level in caregivers was predicted by the sex of care giver. CONCLUSIONS: Caring for the patients with stroke presents increased burden to the care givers which manifests as increased rate of anxiety and depression among them. It is important to assess the care givers along with the patients for emergence of these negative affective states. One needs to be extra cautious if the patient happens to be the primary earning member of the family.

A Study of Attitude and Knowledge of the Psychiatry Resident Doctors toward Clinician-Pharmaceutical Industry Interaction.

BACKGROUND: Pharmaceutical industry and clinicians are the two important stakeholders in the modern-day health care. However, concerns have been expressed about the lack of congruence between the goals of these two. AIMS: The current study aimed at exploring the knowledge and attitude of the psychiatry resident doctors toward the clinician-pharmaceutical industry interaction and also at exploring the knowledge of the residents about the new Medical Council of India guidelines on this issue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey was conducted among psychiatry residents. Descriptive statistics with frequency distribution was carried out by using SPSS version 17.0. RESULTS: It had a good response rate of around 90%. The survey reveals the knowledge and attitude of the psychiatry residents toward the psychiatrist-pharmaceutical industry interaction. CONCLUSIONS: The survey provides understanding in knowledge and attitude of the psychiatry residents towards the psychiatrist-pharmaceutical industry interaction.

Management of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD) is a neurobehavioral disorder of childhood onset characterized by severe, developmentally inappropriate motor hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsiveness that result in impairment in more than one setting. It affects the home, school, and community life of 39% of school-going children worldwide. There is increasing recognition that ADHD symptoms and clinically defined disorder can persist into adult life and are associated with later drug and alcohol misuse and social and work difficulties. Added to that is the extreme variability of the disorder over time, within the same individual, between individuals, and across different circumstances. Treatment with stimulants and nonstimulants has proven effective in different subgroups, with the effectiveness of specific agents most likely related to the primary neurotransmitter involved. However, stimulants with a short duration of action have been problematic for some patients. Parent training and cognitive behavioral therapies represent the most widely adjunct psychosocial interventions to pharmacotherapy.