Vipin Kumar Gupta
Assistant Professor, Department of General Medicine, Venkateshwara Institute of Medical Sciences, Gajraula, Distt. Amroha (U.P.)- India
Alok Kulshrestha
Assistant Professor, Department of General Medicine, Venkateshwara Institute of Medical Sciences, Gajraula, Distt. Amroha (U.P.)- India
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Dementia is a growing public health problem among the elderly in developing countries, where the aging population is increasing rapidly. Dementia is a disease marked by progressive cognitive impairment in clear consciousness. Worldwide, around 50 million people have dementia, with nearly 60% of them living in underdeveloped or developing countries. It is estimated that by the year 2020, approximately 70% of the world’s elderly population will be living in developing countries, with 14.2% of them in India. There is no treatment currently available to cure dementia though there are medications to slow down the progress. Behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) and the caregiver’s burden are the two main concerns of health workers which severely affect the outcome of treatment. Non-pharmacological measures were found to be effective and gained attention in recent years in managing behavioral and psychological symptoms.
AIM: A Study to Evaluate the Effect of a Modified Mental Health Gap Module on Caregiver’s Burden and Behavioral Psychological Symptoms of Dementia among Patients Living in a Rural Community.
MATERIAL AND METHOD:
This study was conducted in the Department of Medicine to estimate the BPSD and caregiver burden among patients with dementia and evaluate the effects of the modified mhGAP module on BPSD and caregiver burden among community-dwelling elderly with dementia. The evaluative approach was used to find the effectiveness of the modified mhGAP module on BPSD and caregiver burden on patients with dementia.
RESULTS:
BPSD was common among 85% of patients with dementia. Apathy, delusion, and agitation were the most common BPSD experienced by the patients. The symptoms that produced increased distress for the caregivers were apathy, delusion irritability, and agitation. 30.5% of the caregivers experienced mild to moderate burden and 25% of them experienced moderate to severe burden. The severity of BPSD symptoms showed a reduction after the implementation of the mhGAP module which was found to be statistically significant except for motor disturbances. The distress of caregivers due to the BPSD of patients also showed a decrease which was statistically significant. There was a significant reduction in the caregiver burden after the mhGAP module intervention.
CONCLUSION:
The results show that the mhGAP module was effective in reducing BPSD and caregiver burden. This study proved that training health workers are effective in managing patients with dementia at home in a developing country like India. This module can be used in community mental health settings to train health workers so that the morbidity and burden can be effectively controlled.
KEYWORDS: Dementia, BPSD, caregiver burden, elderly, community-dwelling, Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia.