Status of Disability Awareness among the Caregivers of Persons with Mental Illness Attending a Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

Background: Disability due to mental illness (MI) is widely prevalent in India, but the people do not have sufficient awareness about the rights associated with disability and its treatment and rehabilitation. The Rights of People with Disability Act 2016 (RPWD) was enacted to develop communities that may help in mainstreaming and destigmatizing people with disability (PwD). For successful rehabilitation and destigmatization, everyone, especially the PwD and their caregivers, must know about the rights as listed in the act. Very little is known about this aspect of RPWD. Objectives: We wished to compare the knowledge about rights of the disabled persons among the caregivers of persons with MI seeking disability certification and those seeking treatment only. Methods: Sixty participants (30 caregivers, each of those with MI taking treatment and those visiting for disability certification) were recruited conveniently. They were assessed on a self-designed validated questionnaire for disability rights under RPWD. Family burden was assessed using a family burden interview schedule developed by Pai and Kapoor. Results: Both the groups had inadequate knowledge about the rights. No differences in the level of knowledge about rights in the RPWD was found in the two groups. The family burden was significantly higher among those seeking disability certificates. Conclusion: The caregivers of MI have inadequate awareness of the rights of the PwD. There is an urgent need to make people aware of the same for successful rehabilitation and stigmatization of the PwD due to MI.