psychological distress, a phenomenon which composed of anxiety and depression persist over a long period of time due to maladaptive coping mechanisms of the life adversities. Caregivers of patients and especially mentally ill patients are more prone to this and among gender, female gets most affected by it. So, it's high time to consider caregiver for care and attention.

1. Presented By:
Abhijit Pathak
A Study on Psychological Distress Among
Gender of the Relatives of the Patients with the
Mental Illness in Context to Jharkhand

2. Introduction
 What is psychological
distress?
 psychological distress is
the unpleasant
subjective state of
depression and anxiety
(being tense, restless,
worried irritable and
afraid), which has both
emotional and
psychological
manifestations.
(Mirowsky & Ross,

3. Care for Care Givers
 Care Givers Issues &Worries-
To look after the mentally ill member.
• Caregiver Objective & Subjective Burden
• To face stigma , non cooperation & rejection of
neighborhoods and society.
To look after the family..
• To look after the older members.
• To look after the younger members.
Family & Society Dynamics
• Non cooperation of the family.
• Critical comment & expressed emotion on patient and on
other members.
• Role strain.

4. Aims & Objectives
 To study the level of psychological distress in
gender of the relatives of patients with mental
illness.
 To find out the difference in distress among
gender of relatives of patients with mental illness.
 To find the relationship of socio- demographic
variable with distress of the gender of the patients
with mental illness.

5. Sample
 The sample for the present study based on
purposive sampling technique.
 The study was carried out in Hazaribagh district
of Jharkhand.
 Total of 200 respondents (104 male & 96 female)
i.e. relatives of patient with mental illness has
been taken for the study. Door to Door collection
of data were done with the help of local
organization running community outreach
program in the district called Nav Bharat Jagriti
kendra.

6. Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria
 Either blood relation or marriage.
 Must be living with the patient for more than 2
years.
 Both the Male and Female were included.
 History of psychological, organic & physical
problem were excluded.
 Respondents below 18 and above 60 years were
excluded from the studies.

7. Tools
 Socio -Demographic Data Sheet.
 Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler,2003)

8. Results
Group Likely to
be well
n(%)
Likely to
have a
mild
disorder
n(%)
Likely to
have a
moderate
disorder
n(%)
Likely to
have a
severe
disorder
n(%)
Mean
score± SD
Mann
Whitney U
P Value
Male 48(46.2) 21(20.2) 14(13.5) 21(20.2) 22.23±8.8
6
3680.000 0.001***
Female 27(28.1) 14(14.6) 16(16.7) 39(40.6) 26.36±9.4
4
Table No1. Showing the presence and comparison of psychological distress among the Gender (N=200)
Note- ***significant at 0.001 level.

9. Table no 2 Socio- Demographic Profile of Male & Female ( N=200)
Variable Male=104 (%) Female=96 (%) P Value
Educational status Illiterate 5 (4.8) 36 (37.5) 0.001***
Below 10th 39 (37.5) 43 (44.8)
10th pass 21 (20.2) 10 (10.4)
Intermediate 16 (15.4) 4 (4.2)
Graduate and above 23 (22.1) 3 (3.1)
Occupational status Unemployed 12 (11.5) 55 (57.3) 0.001***
Daily wagers 27 (26.0) 16 (16.7)
Farmers/ self-
employed
34 (32.7) 15 (15.6)
Professionals/
regular jobs
31 (29.8) 10 (10.4)
Income in Indian
rupees
(Annually)
Less than 25000 17 (16.3) 58 (60.4) 0.001***
25000 to 1 lakh 61 (58.7) 28 (29.2)
1 lakh and above 26 (25.0) 10 (10.4)

10. Key Findings
 There is a prevalence of psychological distress in
both the gender.
 Women as a carer has more psychological
distress than men.
 Socio-demographic factors such as education,
occupation and income plays a significant role in
determining the distress level.

11. Women Stressor factors
 Limited knowledge of living and coping with
mentally ill patient.
 Uncertainty in income she will receive on the
nature of job she will do depends on education
and skills.
 Adjustment with daily schedule.
 Critical comments of family members,
expressed emotion on members and some time
patient at the time of non compliance.
 Past memories of leisure and decreased
frequency of it.
 Poor physical health.
 Stigma and rejection by society
Objective
Burden
Subjective
Burden

12. Strain on role with overload of
Responsibility
Care of the
morbid
husband or
other
member
Taking care
of older
ones and
younger
ones.
To face non
–cooperation
from family
and
Community.
To perform
the role of
bread earner.

13. Limitation & Future Directions
 Small sample size collected from a single district
with purposive sample technique makes
generalization difficult.
 If the same can be replicated across all district of
the state with larger sample and generalization
would be possible with multi stage sampling
technique which leads to more significant
findings.

14. Conclusion & Implications
 The study despite limitations is able to reveal the
unidentified psychological disorder the relatives of
patient with mental illness are facing, vulnerability of
women of being carer of the mentally ill and the areas
of intervention which could lift the socio-economic
condition of female carer of mentally ill patient.
 Study has given clue to state authorities to review
their social infrastructure.
 Policy makers should financially aid family of and
especially spouse of mentally ill through introducing
schemes.
 Skill building programs for attainment of self
sufficiency will lead will lead to women empowerment
in the region.

15. Thank
You