Research Article
© ADR Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved.
Mental Disability: A Retrospective Study of Socio-
Clinical Profile of Patients Seeking Disability
Certificate at a Tertiary Care Centre in Delhi
Abhilasha Yadav
1
, Rajesh Rastogi
2
, Bharat Udey
3
Abstract
Background: Mental illness and mental retardation are included in "The persons with disabilities
(Equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act, 1995” along with other
causes of disabilities like blindness, hearing impairment, locomotor disability etc. The persons
with disability are eligible for various social welfare benefits from the Government under this act
if they have minimum 40% disability as certified by a Government medical authority
.
This is
among one of the few studies on various mental disability related variables and socio-clinical
profile of disability certificate seeking patients and is probably the only one to compare results
with a similar kind of study done at the same centre five years ago.
Objective: The study aims to assess the socio-demographic profile of the cases, severity of
disability in the mentally retarded and mentally ill, co-morbid psychiatric and medical conditions,
pattern of utilization of different government benefits and to compare results of current study
with a study done at the same centre five years ago.
Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in the Department of Psychiatry of a tertiary
care multispecialty teaching hospital in New Delhi. This was a retrospective file-review based
study of patients who were issued disability certificate for Mental retardation or Mental illness
during January, 2015 to May, 2016. The subjects were diagnosed to be suffering from Mental
retardation or Mental illness as per ICD-10 and disability was assessed as per guidelines issued by
Government of India in 2001 for Mental retardation and for Mental illness in 2002. Indian
Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale (IDEAS) was used to assess disability in Mental illness
cases.
Statistical Analysis: The statistical analysis was done by using WHO'S Epi Info version 7.2.
Frequency, percentages, t test and chi-square analysis were used to analyze the data.
Results: Out of total 231 cases, majority were male 163 (70.6%), Hindu 211 (91.3%), under 18
years of age 160 (69.3%), unmarried 228 (98.7%), lived in nuclear family 186 (80.5%), from urban
background 137 (59.3%). Total number of cases of Mental retardation were 220 (95.2%), 11
(4.7%) cases were of Mental illness.
1
Professor, Deptt of Psychiatry,
2
Consultant & HOD, Deptt of Psychiatry,
3
Senior Resident, VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, New
Delhi-110029.
Correspondence: Dr. Abhilasha Yadav, VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi-110029.
E-mail Id: kamra.abhilasha@gmail.com
Orcid Id: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9044-5366
How to cite this article: Yadav A, Rastogi R, Udey B. Mental Disability: A Retrospective Study of Socio-Clinical Profile of
Patients Seeking Disability Certificate at a Tertiary Care Centre in Delhi. Epidem. Int. 2017; 2(1): 19-25.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.24321/2455.7048.201703
ISSN: 2455-7048