Prevalence of Major Depression and Assessment of Burden among Caregiver’s of Intellectually Differently Abled Persons: A Cross-sectional Study
VC01-VC07
Correspondence
Dr. Kunjal Maldebhai Odedra,
M.B. Odedra Krishna Park, Zaveri Bungglows, Opposite HMP Colony, Porbandar-360575, Gujarat, India.
E-mail: kunjalodedra2000@gmail.com
Introduction: Intellectual Disability has major negative impact on the lives of the person and their families as they experience psychological distress and burden while providing care to them. Families while engaging in the caregiving process are said to experience psychiatric morbidities such as depression and anxiety more commonly. Identifying those helps in the holistic management of intellectually differently abled persons together with caregiver’s.
Aim: To assess major depression and assessment of burden among caregiver’s of intellectually differently abled persons and their association with each other.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, observational study among 220 caregiver’s were conducted at Psychiatry Department of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Government Medical Hospital, Rajkot district, Gujarat, India, from June 2018 to May 2019. Socio-demographic details of caregiver’s and intellectually differently abled persons were obtained after taking into consideration inclusion and exclusion criteria. Zarit scale of caregiver burden was used for burden assessment and its severity. Depression was screened by Patient Health Questionnaire. Those screened positive were evaluated in detail for major depression and diagnosed based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria. Severity was assessed by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). Data was analysed to find out statistical significance with the help of t-test, Chi-square test, Fisher’s-exact test and non parametric tests (Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test). Probability value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Out of 220 caregiver’s, prevalence of major depressive disorder in caregiver’s as per DSM-5 was 56 (25.45%). A 51 (23.18%) caregiver’s had severe burden, 100 (45.45%) moderate to severe burden, 61 (27.72%) mild to moderate burden, 8 (3.63%) caregiver’s had little or no burden. Association between Intellectually differently abled persons with psychiatric and non psychiatric co-morbidities and caregiver’s depression were statistically significant (p-value=0.030). Association between intellectual disability severity (p-value=0.031), affected sibling of intellectually differently abled person (p-value <0.001) and caregiver’s burden was statistically significant.
Conclusion: The study emphasises that even though there is vast body of literature addressing psychological distress and suffering of caregiver’s of intellectually differently abled persons, it still remains a prominent challenge to manage it effectively. Thereby, treatment providers should shift their focus on the mental health of caregiver’s along with that of persons with intellectual disability as having healthy caregiver’s cannot only maximise the chances of intellectual disability persons’ successful re-establishment in society but can themselves lead a psychologically healthy life.