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Edge Hill project
tackles stigma of mental illness and suicide in India
AN Edge Hill project to improve
mental health interventions in India for people who have attempted suicide
or at a vulnerable stage in their life is already having a lifesaving
impact.
The partnership between Edge Hill University and 2 hospitals in Mysore,
India is delivering crucial mental health interventions in the country, with
the 1st round of training for nursing staff completed in June 2015 and more
planned for January 2016.
A team from the University's Faculty of Health and Social Care and
colleagues from the CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital and Mysore Medical
Collage and Research Institute, are supported by the Tropical Health and
Education Trust (THET) as part of the Health Partnership Scheme.
To date the project has trained 120 staff champions who can now undertake
mental health assessments directly on patients in hospital settings. In
addition, 40 trainers were selected and trained to disseminate the training
throughout both hospitals. The team has also established ongoing systems to
collate learning evaluations, audits of patient assessments and the number
of people who have been referred for psychiatry. The aim is to ensure that
the interventions benefit patient and families directly and are driven by
local needs in India.
The training focuses on improving mental health interventions for those who
have attempted suicide and/or are at a vulnerable stage in their life, in
1 of the worst affected regions of the country with the world's highest
suicide rate (World Health Organisation report, 2012). There is an acute
shortage of mental health trained professionals in Mysore and with 2000 to 2500
people being referred to just 2 doctors each year after suicide attempts
which is a major public health concern.
Steve Jones, Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University said:- "This is a
heavily stigmatised subject in India. The preferred method of attempted and
successful suicide in India is by deliberately consuming pesticides, with
thousands upon thousands dying each year.
When we 1st visited India in 2012, we were struck by the numbers of people
in Accident and Emergency and on ventilators in intensive care who had
attempted to kill themselves. In Holdsworth hospital there were 23
ventilators operating, and the majority of patients were ventilated after
attempting suicide. However, health care is not free in India except for the
most poor, and if poverty led to the attempt then a hospital bill if you
survive compounds debts and may lead to further attempts.
We knew that we had to start somewhere, and we hope our joint training with
Indian colleagues provides a starting point. The next stages for future
grant applications will be to explore what leads to suicide attempts, and
also how community support after the attempt can be started.
We have to consider the sensitivity and stigma associated with suicide in
India, and the shame felt by patients and their families. There are of
course many reasons for attempting suicide irrespective of which country and
this is a global problem, but India unfortunately has the highest rate in
the world."
The team plan to evaluate the project in January 2016, to assess how
effective the training was, the quality of assessments undertaken by nurses
we trained in Mysore, review patients referred to psychiatry and also
evaluate staff attitudes to mental health problems and attempted suicide.
The Edge Hill team, which includes Steve Jones, Paul Keenan, Kathryn Lowe
and Professor Clare Austin, work jointly with Dr Murali Krishna, who is a
consultant Psychiatrist at Holdsworth Memorial Hospital and honorary senior
lecturer at the University and Professor Rajagopal Rajendra from the Mysore
Medical College and Research Institute.
For more information about projects under the Health Partnership Scheme
visit:-
Thet.Org/Health-Partnership-Scheme. |
