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Background: Common mental disorders (CMD) cause a range of health, social and economic burden, and disorders like depression and anxiety are more prevalent among women. Prevalence and factors contributing to increased vulnerability for CMDs have regional variation. Identification of factors contributing to the vulnerability is essential to both psychiatric epidemiology and in addressing mental health challenges in the community. Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed at understanding the burden of CMD and its association with social determinants of mental health. Women hailing from urban slum attending the outpatient family care facility for their medical problems constituted the sample. Data was collected using a clinical research form with variables such as sociodemographic profile, health profile, and psychosocial profile. The questionnaire had specific questions on indicators of poverty, certain stressors, and support system. Presence of CMD was assessed using Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised (CIS-R), a standard tool for CMD research in primary care settings. A cut off score of 12 and above was considered for detecting CMD. Research ethical principles were adhered to and data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0. Results: Among 172 women, 77 (44.8%) were diagnosed to have CMDs. Univariate analysis revealed a significant association between age, marital status, living arrangement, educational level, difficulty with buying food, presence of debt, chronic medical illness, husband's alcohol use, marital satisfaction, experiencing abuse, family support, religious participation, and a diagnosis of CMD. Multivariate analysis showed high burden with nuclear family arrangement, difficulty to buy food, experiencing abuse and, low burden with higher educational level, family support, and religious participation. Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence and the treatment gap of CMDs in primary setting, family-physician should be sensitized for detection and management of CMDs. Social interventions targeting poverty, women's education and empowerment, and support system are likely to decrease the burden of CMDs in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With India enacting the Mental Health Care Act (MHCA; No. 10 of 2017a), Psychiatric Advance Directives (PADs) have been legalised and have become binding orders for psychiatrists treating patients. There is a paucity of research into acceptability of PADs in Indian mental health care, likely due to a lack of awareness. There are no educational measures about PADs provided for in this Act. Facilitators and facilitation methods have not been elaborated upon as well. Aim: The aim of this study is (a) to develop/evaluate the effectiveness of a structured Education-cum-Assessment Tool (EAT) in providing information regarding PADs and (b) to evaluate modes of facilitation required by patients to complete PADs. Methods: A tool was developed as per provisions regarding PADs in the Mental Health Care Bill of 2013. This tool was administered to patients (n = 100), purposively sampled from the adult psychiatry review out-patient department (OPD). Patients were evaluated on retention of information, completion of PADs, modes of facilitation and time taken to write one. Results: Mean years of education was 8.28 (±5.74) years and mean duration of illness was 8.30 (±7.04) years. In all, 65% had Below-Poverty Line (BPL) status. All participants completed valid PADs in an average of 15 minutes. About 93% required facilitation via assistance in writing and reminding. The mean EAT scores implied above 70% retention but did not relate to types of facilitation. Conclusions: EAT scores can be used as an approximate measure of the patient's ability to understand and retain information which is a part of decisional capacity. Types of facilitation can help in understanding patient's ability to communicate their choices. Service providers may find EAT a time-effective tool for uniformly educating service users regarding PADs and indirectly assessing competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs about COVID-19, India, lockdown and psychosocial challenges. Topics include pandemic threat COVID-19 mitigation is crucial to the human life and for reducing distortion of livelihood; countries with considerable confirmed cases and deaths and has caused public panic and mental health stress; and current outbreak of COVID-19 is heavily impacting the global health and mental health.

Background and aims: There is a dearth of studies investigating the prevalence and factors associated with unmet needs in people with schizophrenia from low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to study prevalence and risk factors for unmet need.Method: A case-control study design was employed. One hundred and one (101) consecutive patients attending a psychiatric hospital were assessed using Camberwell Assessment of Need Short version (CANSAS) and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Multivariate analysis was employed to adjust for confounders.Results: The majority of patients had many unmet needs. These unmet needs were significantly associated with lower education, poverty and persistent psychopathology on multivariate analysis.Conclusion: Unmet needs are associated with poverty, lower education and persistent psychopathology. There is a need to manage unmet needs, in addition to addressing psychopathology and poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that examined the common mental disorders among primary care attenders in Vellore, South India. Nature and prevalence of the disorders; Factors associated with the disorders; Association of illiteracy and poverty with caseness.