Commentary: "IDEAS" and the IPS
Krishna A. Kumar*
Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), India
Welfare programs for the disabled individuals have been carried out in many countries, in accordance with UNCRPD, through legislative measures. The social and political developments in India enabled legislation for such measures in India. To avail benefits under such welfare schemes, the degree of their psychosocial disability needs to be assessed quantitatively through valid, reliable and workable instruments. Though Chronic Mentally ill persons were included as a beneficiary group, under the Persons With Disabilities Act 1995 in India, lack of a quantified scale for psychiatric disabilities, deprived the benefits to the mentally ill , available to other category of disabled persons. This prompted the IPS in 2001, to develop a Scale for Psychiatric Disability as a time – bound one year prime project. The IDEAS Scale, thus developed, could get approval from Government of India, as the official Scale for Psychiatric Disability in India, soon after its release by IPS, through effective liaison with Administrators in Government. The internal consistency, face validity, content validity, reliability, comparability with WHO Scale, and utility and utilization for Disability Assistance Programs have all been established through studies since 2005 .The stigma on the mentally ill persons, though not totally eliminated, also got attenuated through inclusion in the spectrum of disabled individuals, covered by welfare and rehablititation programmes. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (RPWD 2016) and the Mental Health Care Act 2017 (MHC Act 2017) are new legislative measures, implemented in India for the welfare of mentally ill persons. In the wake of these legislations there has been renewed interest, and concerted efforts in IPS to evolve guidelines for effective use of IDEAS and standardization of Disability Certification procedures. The time bound commitment of IPS in 2001, to develop IDEAS and getting its official acceptance by Government of India, through effective liaison, and the renewed interest and present concerted efforts to utilize it for helping large number of disabled chronic mentally ill, form sequential precious contributions for Community Mental Health in India. It seems an inspiring imitable model for professional Mental Health Organizations in other countries, probably with relevance in other health-care disciplines as well.
Abbreviations
IPS : Indian Psychiatric Society
IDEAS : Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale
UNCRPD : United Nations Convention for Rights of Persons with Disabilities
WHODAS 2.0: World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule- 2.0
RPWDA 2016: Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act 2016
MHC Act2017: Mental Health Care Act 2017
DOI: 10.29245/2578-2959/2019/2.1176 View / Download Pdf Exploring Occupational Psychological Health Indicators Among Construction Employees: A Study In Ghana
Genevieve Ataa Fordjour*, Albert P. C. Chan
Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China
This study aims to explore the need for occupational psychological health interventions in the construction industry by identifying occupational psychological health conditions among construction employees. To achieve this aim, 300 questionnaires were equally distributed to purposively selected construction professionals and construction trade workers in Ghana. Four main constructs namely: individual lifestyle, psychosocial symptoms, physiological conditions, and work attitudes, were assessed to identify occupational psychological health conditions among the two construction working groups. These four main constructs were further divided into 20 occupational psychological health indicators. Quantitative analysis of the data was done, and a comparison made between the scores obtained from the two construction groups. Using the measures of individual lifestyle and work attitudes, the construction trade workers were found to be more prevalent in adverse occupational psychological health conditions than the construction professionals. The measures of psychosocial symptoms and physiological conditions, however, revealed no much statistically significant differences between the mean scores obtained from the two construction groups. Each of the two-construction group had their participants experiencing some form of adverse occupational psychological health conditions. Differences between the two groups in terms of factors such as task levels, role demands and income levels, are likely to influence their different level of vulnerability to psychological disorders. This study recommends some psychological health interventions to enhance the well-being of all construction employees. The findings from this study form the basic step in designing a preventive occupational psychological health model, with the aim to promote a psychologically safe and healthy construction workplace.
DOI: 10.29245/2578-2959/2019/2.1177 View / Download Pdf