Effectiveness of a new low-cost psychosocial rehabilitative model to reduce burden of disease among persons with severe mental illness: An interventional follow-up study.

Context: Mental health disorders are an important factor contributing to the global burden to disease. Less than 1% of the health budgets in 62% of developing nations and 16% of developed nations are spent on mental health services. The availability of mental health rehabilitative services remains minimal.

Aims: This study aims to find the effectiveness of a new low-cost psychosocial rehabilitation model.

Setting And Design: The study was conducted at a rehabilitation center. An interventional follow-up study was designed.

Materials And Methods: A new low-cost psychosocial rehabilitative model was employed for 6 months for persons residing at a rehabilitation center. The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument, WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.0, and WHO (Five) Well-Being Index would be scored before and after the intervention.

Statistical Analysis: The differences between the scores were analyzed using paired -test or Wilcoxon signed rank test, whichever is applicable. < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.

Results: Sample size was 110. 29.1% were rehabilitated and 68.2% remained at the rehabilitation center at 6 months. The pre- and post-test scores using the new model showed improvement in the scores. The mean scores for WHO-BREF, WHO-5 score, WHODAS-2 score were 73.2, 51.14, and 20.34, respectively. On follow-up, the scores improved to 82.6, 67.09, and 15.96, respectively.

Conclusions: The low-cost psychosocial rehabilitative model was found to be effective. This could serve as a model not only for other similar centers in India and but also for other low- and middle-income group countries.