Delivery of mental health care tough during crisis: Study
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, June 26: A new study that could be representing the overall situation faced by the masses in Kashmir has found that majority of the patients who sought teleconsultation during the lockdown period were suffering from moderate depression along with anxiety.
As per a paper titled ‘Severity of depression, anxiety and stress among the people of Kashmir, India during COVID-19: An observation from telepsychiatric services’ published in the latest issue of ‘Global Psychiatry,’ a total of 293 people were interviewed during the teleconsultation service out of which 42.7% (125) patients had moderate depression, followed by extreme severe depression in 32.4% of patients (95).
As per the results, a total of 276 (94.2%) patients had severe anxiety following lockdown while 96 (32.8%) of people had mild stress.
The study has been authored by Sheikh Shoib of JLNM Hospital, Sheikh Mohd Saleem of GMC Srinagar, Sheikh Mohammed Shariful Islam of Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, S.M. Yasir Arafat of Enam Medical College, Bangladesh and Shijo John Joseph of Sikkim Manipal University.
The cross-sectional study was carried out from 21st March to 31st May 2020 in Kashmir, after a call line was set up for people with mental health concerns and participants who signed up for the service were included in the study.
The mental health services were provided by a team via teleconsultation. “The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire was used to assess the severity of distress,” it said.
“…the present study was conducted to understand the severity of depression, anxiety and stress among persons who sought teleconsultation during the lockdown period in Kashmir,” the study read.
With regard to the method of the study, the participants from different parts of the Union Territory, “18- 69 years old and with the ability to respond to an online questionnaire in English were invited to participate in the study.”
It said that the people suffering from neurological or psychiatric disorders were excluded, as were those unwilling to provide informed consent.
The participants who called over the phone were briefed on the purpose of the survey, and then given the questionnaire over WhatsApp.
“The participants’ queries related to the study proforma were resolved over WhatsApp by the researcher. Basic demographic and personal characteristics about gender, qualification, marital status were included in the information sheet. The DASS-21 was applied to participants before doing a psychological intervention,” the study stated.
As per the results, the study revealed that most of the patients who took teleconsultation were females 205 (70%) and 187 (63.8%), and were 31-59 years old, while as most of the calls received for teleconsultation during lockdown were from rural areas.
“The majority of patients had moderate depression, 125 (42.7%), followed by severe depression, 95 (32.4%). On the anxiety scale, 276 (94.2%) were having severe anxiety following lockdown. Moreover, 96 (32.8%) patients were having mild stress,” the results revealed.
It has been noted in the study that there was an exponential decrease in the number of calls received over different phases of the lockdown period.
A total of 105 (35.8%) calls were received during the phase-I of the lockdown which lasted for 21 days beginning from 25 March-14 April 2020; 93 calls (31.7%) were received during the phase-II which lasted for 19 days from 15 April-3 May 2020, and while only 12 (4.0%) calls were received during phase IV of the lockdown which lasted for 14 days beginning from 18-31 May 2020
The study concluded that a high proportion of respondents in Kashmir had depression, anxiety, and stress-related problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Delivering high-quality psychological and mental health services during the crisis is a major challenge-complicated by lockdown and communication blackouts. The provision of alternative treatments through technical adjustments, like online or telephonic consultation, can go a long way in delivering high-quality services.”
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