Nursing, Pshychiatric Mental Health, Rehabilitation, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
4
Scopus Publications
58
Scholar Citations
4
Scholar h-index
3
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Perspectives of Community Nurses on Treatment Engagement of Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses (PwSMI): A Qualitative Study from South India Revathi Somanathan, Sailaxmi Gandhi, Thanapal Sivakumar, Narayana Manjunatha, Deepak Jayarajan, Jagadisha Thirthalli, Rajani Parthasarathy Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 2024 Background: There is increasing evidence of the need for treatment engagement between Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses (PwSMIs) and Mental Health Professionals (MHPs). This therapeutic process involves collaborative work between patients and MHPs, which improves the condition. Community nurses are uniquely positioned to facilitate this process as they act as the focal point of interaction between patients and the health system. Methods: This qualitative study explored the community nurses’ experiences in treatment engagement with PwSMI through eight group interviews of 35 community nurses from District Mental Health Programs (DMHPs) across Karnataka (South India) from February 2020 to March 2020. The audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed and coded to arrive at themes and subthemes. Results: The major themes identified were factors influencing treatment engagement, strategies to tackle treatment nonengagement, and challenges in dealing with nonengagement. The reasons for nonengagement were lack of insight and lack of knowledge of sociocultural, logistic, and treatment-related factors. The DMHP teams contacted patients through phone calls, home visits, and liaisons with health workers and intervened with them through education and depot injections. The major challenges were difficulty conducting home visits, distances, the unavailability of medications, and the need for adequate infrastructure and human resources. Conclusion: Community nurses address a few factors of nonengagement, such as insight, sociocultural factors, and treatment-related factors. Addressing the systemic challenges and adequate training of nurses in intervening in the dropped-out PwSMIs would help to reduce the treatment gap.
Admission of persons with disabilities into nursing and midwifery courses: Progress made by the Indian Nursing Council Hareesh Angothu, Sharad Philip, Revathi Somanathan, Krishnareddy Shanivaram Reddy, Deepak Jayarajan, Krishna Prasad Muliyala, Jagadisha Thirthalli Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 2020 India's Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 (PWD Act, 1995) mandated a minimum enrollment reservation of 3% for persons with disability (PwDs) across all educational courses supported by government funding. Following this, the Indian Nursing Council (INC) issued regulations limiting such an enrollment quota to PwDs with lower limb locomotor disability ranging between 40%-50%. The Medical Council of India (MCI) also restricted admissions under the PwD category to PwDs with a lower limb locomotor disability to comply with the Act. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, which replaced the PwD Act, 1995, raised the minimum reservation to 5% for all government-funded institutions of higher education and extended this reservation to PwDs under 21 different clinical conditions, rather than the seven conditions included under the PwD Act, 1995. Following the enactment of the RPwD Act, 2016, the MCI issued regulations that allowed PwDs with locomotor disability and those with a few other types of disabilities in the range of 40%-80%, to pursue graduate and postgraduate medical courses, while the INC has not made any changes. This article addresses the complexities of inclusion of PwDs in the healthcare workforce, offers suggestions for inclusive measures; and compares the INC admission regulation released in 2019 to the MCI 2019 admission guidelines for graduate and postgraduate medical courses.
Psychiatric and medical disorders in the after math of the uttarakhand disaster: Assessment, approach, and future challenges Naveen Kumar Channaveerachari, Aneel Raj, Suvarna Joshi, Prajna Paramita, Revathi Somanathan, Dhanya Chandran, Sekar Kasi, N. Roopesh Bangalore, Suresh Bada Math Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 2015 PURPOSE: To present the descriptive data on the frequency of medical and psychiatric morbidity and also to discuss various pertinent issues relevant to the disaster management, the future challenges and psychosocial needs of the 2013 floods in Uttarakhand, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Observation was undertaken by the disaster management team of National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in the worst affected four districts of Uttarakhand. Qualified psychiatrists diagnosed the patients using the International Classification of Diseases-10 criteria. Data were collected by direct observation, interview of the survivors, group sessions, individual key-informant interview, individual session, and group interventions. RESULTS: Patients with physical health problems formed the majority of treatment seekers (39.6%) in this report. Only about 2% had disaster induced psychiatric diagnoses. As was expected, minor mental disorders in the form of depressive disorders and anxiety disorders formed majority of the psychiatric morbidity. Substance use disorders appear to be very highly prevalent in the community; however, we were not able to assess the morbidity systematically. CONCLUSIONS: The mental health infrastructure and manpower is abysmally inadequate. There is an urgent need to implement the National Mental Health Program to increase the mental health infrastructure and services in the four major disaster-affected districts.
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Nurse-led treatment engagement interventions for persons with severe mental illnesses in community settings NM Revathi Somanathan, Sailaxmi Gandhi, T Sivakumar World Journal of Psychiatry 15 (9) , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
Perspectives of Community Nurses on Treatment Engagement of Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses (PwSMI): A Qualitative Study from South India R Somanathan, S Gandhi, T Sivakumar, N Manjunatha, D Jayarajan, ... Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine 46 (2), 131-138 , 2024 2024 Citations: 1
Abstracts of the WASP Asia Pacific Hybrid Congress 2021. WS Psychiatry WASP Asia Pacific Hybrid Congress 2021. 3 (3), p 234-333 , 2021 2021
Admission of persons with disabilities into nursing and midwifery courses: Progress made by the Indian Nursing Council. H Angothu, S Philip, R Somanathan, KS Reddy, D Jayarajan, KP Muliyala, ... Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 1-18 , 2020 2020 Citations: 1
Uttarakhand disaster 2013: A report on psychosocial adversities experienced by children and adolescents D Aneelraj, CN Kumar, R Somanathan, D Chandran, S Joshi, P Paramita, ... The Indian Journal of Pediatrics 83 (4), 316-321 , 2016 2016 Citations: 17
Psychiatric and medical disorders in the after math of the uttarakhand disaster: Assessment, approach, and future challenges NK Channaveerachari, A Raj, S Joshi, P Paramita, R Somanathan, ... Indian journal of psychological medicine 37 (2), 138-143 , 2015 2015 Citations: 24
Psychosocial impact of the Uttarakhand flood disaster on elderly survivors D Chandran, N Roopesh, A Raj, N Channaveerachari, S Joshi, ... Indian Journal of Gerontology 29 (1), 62-76 , 2015 2015 Citations: 10
Assessment of the attitude of staff nurses towards hospitalised psychiatric patients in Kolar (Karnataka) R Sreevani, S Revathi Nursing Journal of India 103 (1), B12 , 2012 2012 Citations: 4
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Psychiatric and medical disorders in the after math of the uttarakhand disaster: Assessment, approach, and future challenges NK Channaveerachari, A Raj, S Joshi, P Paramita, R Somanathan, ... Indian journal of psychological medicine 37 (2), 138-143 , 2015 2015 Citations: 24
Uttarakhand disaster 2013: A report on psychosocial adversities experienced by children and adolescents D Aneelraj, CN Kumar, R Somanathan, D Chandran, S Joshi, P Paramita, ... The Indian Journal of Pediatrics 83 (4), 316-321 , 2016 2016 Citations: 17
Psychosocial impact of the Uttarakhand flood disaster on elderly survivors D Chandran, N Roopesh, A Raj, N Channaveerachari, S Joshi, ... Indian Journal of Gerontology 29 (1), 62-76 , 2015 2015 Citations: 10
Assessment of the attitude of staff nurses towards hospitalised psychiatric patients in Kolar (Karnataka) R Sreevani, S Revathi Nursing Journal of India 103 (1), B12 , 2012 2012 Citations: 4
Nurse-led treatment engagement interventions for persons with severe mental illnesses in community settings NM Revathi Somanathan, Sailaxmi Gandhi, T Sivakumar World Journal of Psychiatry 15 (9) , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
Perspectives of Community Nurses on Treatment Engagement of Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses (PwSMI): A Qualitative Study from South India R Somanathan, S Gandhi, T Sivakumar, N Manjunatha, D Jayarajan, ... Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine 46 (2), 131-138 , 2024 2024 Citations: 1
Admission of persons with disabilities into nursing and midwifery courses: Progress made by the Indian Nursing Council. H Angothu, S Philip, R Somanathan, KS Reddy, D Jayarajan, KP Muliyala, ... Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 1-18 , 2020 2020 Citations: 1
Abstracts of the WASP Asia Pacific Hybrid Congress 2021. WS Psychiatry WASP Asia Pacific Hybrid Congress 2021. 3 (3), p 234-333 , 2021 2021