Pathway to Care of Psychiatric Services in Gandaki Medical College Teaching Hospital in Western Nepal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3126/jgmcn.v12i2.27216Keywords:
Pathway to care, no prior treatment, psychiatric patientsAbstract
Aims and Objectives: The sequence of contacts with individuals and organizations prompted by the distressed person's efforts, and those of his or her significant others, to seek help is known as the pathways to care. The study of the pathways to care provides the relevant information regarding the individual's health seeking and illness behaviour. A wide range of professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, other doctors, faith-healers and religious healers cater to the needs of mentally ill patients. This study was carried out to identify the pathway to care of patients up to psychiatric care with no prior psychiatric treatment at GMCTH.
Methodology: It is a cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted in GMCTH, Pokhara from Jan 2015 to Dec 2016. After ethical consideration, all new patients and those newly referred to the psychiatric services and agreed to participate were interviewed until the target 100 participants were recruited. ICD-10 was used for diagnosis. Data were computed and analyzed by using Microsoft excel and SPSS. Parametric & non parametric statistical technique was applied wherever appropriate.
Results: Total of 100 patients (56 females, 44 males) was included in the study. Mean age of the entire study cohort was 37.17 years (SD 15.45). The mean no. of months to seek first help from a psychiatrist was 53.03 months (SD: 81.70).
Conclusion: All the patients here eventually made treatment contact with psychiatrists. However, delay was pervasive. Delay in treatment has negative effect in the treatment outcome. The knowledge and recognition of psychological disorders by the traditional healers as well as other treatment providers in the community are crucial for early treatment of psychiatric patients.
Downloads
566
417
References
Murray CJL, Lopez AD. Mortality by cause for eight regions of the world: Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet. 1997;349:1269-76.
Rogler LH, Cortes DE. Help-seeking pathways: A unifying concept in mental health care. Am J Psychiatr. 1993;150:554-61.
World Health Organization. Mental health: New understanding, New hope: World Health Report 2001. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001. p. 09-24.
Banerjee T, Banerjee G. Determinants of help-seeking behaviour in cases of epilepsy attending a teaching hospital in India: An indigenous explanatory model. Intl J Social Psychiatry. 1995;41:217-30.
Goldman HH. Psychiatric Epidemiqlogy & Mental Health Research. In: Goldman HH ed. Review of General Psychiatry. Connecticut: Appleton & Large, 1988; 143-56.
Shepherd M. General Practiee, Mental Illness, and the British National Health Service, Am J of Public Health. 1974;64:230-2.
Manium T, Ging TS. The prescription of psychotropic medication in general practice - a descriptive study. Med J Malaysia. 1990;45(3):225-30.
The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. World Health Organization. 2001 pg 64- 67.
Statistical Package for Social Sciences. SPSS version 10.0. USA: SPSS incorporate; 2007. Psychol Med. 1991;21:761-74.
Chadda RK, Agarwal V, Singh MC, Raheja D. Help seeking behaviour of psychiatric patients before seeking care at a mental hospital. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2001;47:71-8.
Pradhan SC, Singh MM, Singh RA, Das J, Ram D, Patil B, et al. First care gives of mentally ill patients: A multicenter study. Indian J Med Sci. 2001;55:203-8.
Razali SM, Najib MA. Help-seeking pathways among Malay psychiatric patients. Int J Soc Psychiatr. 2000;46:281-9.
Malla AK, Norman RM. Mental hospital and general hospital psychiatric units: A comparison of services within the same geographic area. Psychol and Med. 1983;13:431-9.
Worster A, Haines T. Advanced statistics: Understanding Medical Record review (MRR) studies. Acad Emerg Med. 2004;11:187-92.
Bhatia MS. Psychiatric morbidity in GHPU adjoining mental hospital. J Mental Health Human behavior. 2001;6:114-8.
Bagadia VN, Shah LP, Pradhan PV, Gada MT. Treatment of mental disorders in India. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology. 1979;3:109-18.
Naqvi HA, Khan MM. Pathway of psychiatric care in Karachi. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2006;16:438-9.
Shamasundar C. Relevance of ancient Indian wisdom to modern mental health - A few examples. Indian J Psychiatry. 2008;50:138-43.
Bhana K. Indian indigenous healers. South African Med J. 1986;70:221-3.
Loganathan S, Murthy SR. Experiences of stigma and discrimination endured by people suffering from schizophrenia. Indian J Psychiatry. 2008;50:39-46.
Gater R, de Almeida e Sousa, Barrientos G, Caraveo J, Chandrashekar CR, Dhadphale M, et al. The pathways to psychiatric care: A cross-cultural study. Psychol Med. 1991 Aug;21(3):761-74.
Choo CH. Profile of patients seeking psychiatric treatment from the adult public mental health services in Singapore. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 1997;26:443- 8.
Gureje O, Acha RA, Odejide OA. Pathways to psychiatric care in Ibadan, Nigeria. Trop Geography Med. 1995;47:125-9.
Boey KW. Help-seeking pattern of psychiatric outpatients in urban China. Int J Psychiatr Nurs Res. 1998;4:433-43.
Thapa DK, Lamichhane N, Subedi S. A Hospital Based Study: Is the Prescription of Benzodiazepine Consistent With the Guidelines? Journal of Universal College of Medical Sciences.2014;2(1):30-4.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
