None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Internationally The COVID-19 virus has been declared a global pandemic and is one of the most serious respiratory infections the world has seen since the 1918 influenza epidemic. Locally In both rural and urban communities where we work with Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) teams in rural and urban Uttarakhand, we have identified high levels of anxiety and limited knowledge and skills on how to respond to both COVID-19 and the lockdown response. People with disabilities and mental illness are not able to access medicines and usual support services such as Disabled persons organisations and early learning centres are not available. Our interactions with caregivers in the preceding 3 months as well as research we conducted among people with disabilities and their acute mental health impacts which included interviews with their carers demonstrated they are experiencing increased anxiety and distress linked to concerns for themselves and their family members. Due to COVID-19 lockdown and stress there are also widespread reports of increased domestic violence as well as neglect of people with high needs Research gap A Lancet paper published on 16 April 2020 (doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1) outlines key priorities for mental health science research in response to COVID-19. They identify the following research as highest priority: 1. Documenting the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the suppression control measures on the population, with a focus on vulnerable groups 2. Develop, evaluate and refine mechanistically driven interventions to address the psychological, social, and neuro-scientific aspects of the pandemic. Taking all this into account we are keen to increase skills and knowledge for mental health among carers during the COVID-19 crisis using a resource for carers that we have already developed STUDY QUESTION What is the effectiveness of the Nae Umeed intervention in increasing mental health and social participation for caregivers of people with disability and mental health problems during the COVID-19 crisis. What is the feasibility, acceptability and relevance of the Nae Umeed intervention for carers duing the COVID-19 crisis. We wanted to examine whether a 14 module intervention can improve social participation and mental health status among carers in urban and peri-urban Uttarakhand and to assess implementation issues and factors to guide the value and pragmatic issues necessary for scaling.
Interventions
Nae Umeed is a 9-module intervention facilitated in groups by a community health worker which focus on skills and knowledge for self-care and caregiving, that is followed by 5 modules related to financial management and budgeting for the household, a critical skill deficit which is even more necessary give the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Participation in facilitated Curriculum titled Nae Umeed was over 14 sessions in the same group of carers - each session was face to face and laste
Nae Umeed is a 9-module intervention facilitated in groups by a community health worker which focus on skills and knowledge for self-care and caregiving, that is followed by 5 modules related to financial management and budgeting for the household, a critical skill deficit which is even more necessary give the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Participation in facilitated Curriculum titled Nae Umeed was over 14 sessions in the same group of carers - each session was face to face and lasted 1.5 hours. The sessions were conducted over 14-15 weeks (one module per week). Session attendance and summary minutes was collected during every session. We used a convenience sampling technique to invite participation from carers in communities in 3 locations in Dehradun district with whom we have existing relationships as we work with their family members in the Burans programme. There was a total of 21 groups with 5 -7 participants in each ie n=115. The content of Nae Umeed includes; Module One: What is a Caregiver? Module Two: Mental Illness Module Three: Caring for Someone with Mental Illness I - Communication Skill Module Four: Caring for Someone with Mental Illness II – Interaction Module Five: Medication Module Six: Alcohol and Health Module Seven: Managing Stress Module Eight: Self-Care Module Nine: Being an Effective Caregiver and Review Module ten to fourteen - Budgeting and home finance management The sessions were facilitated by community health workers who met with groups of caregivers within the communities of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. They were trained by Project officers and an online platform to deliver Nae Umeed with an interactive and participatory facilitation style. Activities during sessions included brief explanations delivered by the facilitator using visual aids from the manuals, whole group or small group discussions oriented around pre-defined discussion questions, role play activities, group team-building activities, and group revision quizzes.
Sponsors
Kaaren Mathias
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Single group
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Women or men resident in target slums of Dehradun and Selaqui (Sahaspur, Selaqui, Brahmanwala, Kanwali Road, Prem Nagar) Aged 18 y and older Carers of person with disability or psychosocial disability Personally affected by psychosocial disability
Exclusion criteria
Women or men not residing in the area for the ensuing 15 weeks
Outcome results
None listed