Employment Among Women with Severe Mental Illness Availing Rural Community-based Rehabilitation Program: A Qualitative Study from South India.

Background: Women in India are often disadvantaged in accessing education, employment, health services, and decision-making within families. This inequality is particularly pronounced among women with severe mental illness, especially those from rural areas.

Methods: The study explored the employment status, facilitators, and barriers to employment among women with severe mental illness availing a rural community-based rehabilitation (CBR) program in Jagaluru, South India.

Perspectives of Community Nurses on Treatment Engagement of Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses (PwSMI): A Qualitative Study from South India.

Background: There is increasing evidence of the need for treatment engagement between Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses (PwSMIs) and Mental Health Professionals (MHPs). This therapeutic process involves collaborative work between patients and MHPs, which improves the condition. Community nurses are uniquely positioned to facilitate this process as they act as the focal point of interaction between patients and the health system.

Cutoff for Benchmark Disability Using World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study from Rural South India.

Background: India uses the Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale (IDEAS) for quantifying disability due to mental illness. The cutoff score for benchmark disability is 7. India has adopted International Classification of Functioning and Health (ICF) and thereby is a signatory to use World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS).

Experiences of the Occupational Therapists During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review.

Occupational therapy has been impacted by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and has transitioned from a traditional face-to-face therapy method to an online one. In the wake of the pandemic, occupational therapist faced the challenge of providing online services to people with disabilities. The review aimed to identify and synthesize the best available evidence on the experience of occupational therapists in psychiatric rehabilitation settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of incentivizing ASHAs on the outcome of persons with severe mental illness in a rural South Indian community amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background & Objectives: Task shifting has been recommended as a strategy to reach out to persons with mental illness and bridge the treatment gap. There is a need to explore task-shifting using existing health staff like Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). We examined the impact of incentivizing ASHAs on the outcome of persons with severe mental illness (SMI) amidst the pandemic.

Sociodemographic and clinical profile of patients receiving disability certificates for psychiatric disorders: An Indian Psychiatric Society Multicentric study.

Aim: To study the sociodemographic and clinical profile of subjects receiving disability certificates (DCs) issued for psychiatric disorders across multiple centres in India.

Materials And Methods: Eleven centres, including ten government and one non-governmental organization spread across the country, participated in the study. Data on the sociodemographic and clinical profiles of patients who were issued DC in the calendar year 2019 were collected on a proforma designed for the study.

Income Generation Programs for Persons with Mental Health Challenges: Practices from 13 Indian Mental Health Rehabilitation Centers.

Background: In India, mental health rehabilitation centers run income generation programs (IGP) for therapeutic engagement, skills training, and income generation of clients. The centers have evolved IGP models relevant to their settings. There is a paucity of published literature on practices employed by the centers.

Psychiatric Rehabilitation During COVID-19 Pandemic: Richmond Fellowship Society (I), Bangalore Branch Experience.

Richmond Fellowship Society (India) [RFS(I)] is a "Not for Profit" Non-Governmental Organization working for the psychosocial rehabilitation of persons with chronic mental illness. The RFS(I) Bangalore branch runs a daycare, half-way home, and long-stay facility. This paper describes the RFS(I) Bangalore branch's experience running psychiatric rehabilitation facilities during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, including managing a COVID-19 outbreak in the residential facilities.

Continuity of Care for Persons With Serious Mental Illness in a Rural Rehabilitation Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic in India.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to community-based rehabilitation (CBR) for persons with mental illness, especially in resource-constrained settings. This column discusses the pandemic-related challenges faced by a rural CBR program in Jagaluru taluk (a subdistrict) in Karnataka, India. Thanks to stakeholder collaboration, task shifting with lay health workers, and implementation of telepsychiatry, the authors' clinical team could ensure uninterrupted medical care for persons with serious mental illness.

Future Care Planning: Concerns of Elderly Parents Caring for a Person With Serious Mental Illness.

Although recent advances in early treatment of people with serious mental illness have brought new hope to family members, parents of service users are still often left to worry about their loved one's future care. Without judicious planning, a parent''s death can be a catastrophic event that leaves an adult with serious mental illness without supports. This Open Forum emphasizes the benefits of mental health professionals being proactive and helping families and service users address concerns with future care planning.

Can employment in a café change Clientele Attitude towards the staff when they are Persons with Mental Illness?

Background: Clientele's attitude toward Persons with Mental Illness (PwMI) changes over a period of time. The aim of this study was to explore and understand how and whether perception about PwMI changes when they are seen working like persons without mental illness among those availing services of ROSes café at NIMHANS, Bengaluru.

Methods: The descriptive research design was adopted with purposive sampling.

Community-Based Rehabilitation for Persons with Severe Mental Illness in a Rural Community of Karnataka: Methodology of a Randomized Controlled Study.

Background: Task shifting has been recommended as a strategy to reach out to persons with mental illness and bridge the treatment gap. There is a need to explore task-shifting using existing health staff like Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs).

Aim And Context: ASHAs are involved in ongoing community-based rehabilitation (CBR) program run with a public-private partnership over the last 5 years at Jagaluru Taluk (an administrative block) in Davanagere district (Karnataka, India).

Telerehabilitation in Psychiatry.

The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the usual mechanisms of healthcare delivery and exacerbated symptoms of mental illnesses. Telemedicine has morphed from niche service to essential platform, with newly released guidelines that cover various aspects of tele-mental health delivery. Rehabilitation services, which incorporate a range of psychosocial interventions and liaison services, have been significantly impacted too.

Supported employment programme for persons with severe mental disorders in India: A feasibility study.

Background: A number of persons with severe mental illnesses are unable to prepare for, find or keep a job due to factors linked to their illness as well as psychosocial issues.

Aim: To test the feasibility of a supported employment programme to help persons with severe mental disorders obtain and sustain employment.

Methods: A supported employment programme was developed for persons with severe mental disorders with components of (a) assessment of vocational potential, (b) vocational counselling, (c) networking and liaison with prospective employers, (d) job-related training and placement and (e) continued support for 6 months.

Rehabilitation of long-stay patients in state mental hospitals: Role for social welfare sector.

Barriers to discharge long-stay patients with mental illness (PWMI) are complex and involve social factors. Recent legislations emphasize community living and creation of facilities by Government for PWMI without social support. The Honorable Supreme Court has dealt with the need for setting up rehabilitation homes for long-stay PWMI who do not require hospitalization.

Development of vocational potential assessment tool and counseling module for persons with severe mental disorders.

Objective: To develop and validate the vocational potential assessment tool and counselling module for persons with severe mental disorders (SMD).

Method: The tool and the module were developed through review of existing assessment tools, individual interviews and focused group discussions with key stake holders- persons with SMD, caregivers, expert mental health professionals and employers. The developed tool and module were validated by experts.