Risk of violence in severely mentally ill and the psychiatric morbidity among their caregivers

Abstract

Background: Violence in psychiatric patients is a major concern to both public and mental health professionals. Risk of violence (ROV) in patients can cause a high degree of psychological stress on caregivers that may predispose them to various psychological problems. Aim: To estimate the ROV in patients with severe mental illness and to estimate the relationship between the ROV among severely mentally ill and the psychiatric morbidity in their primary caregivers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care center involving 308 patient subjects and their caregivers. Socio-demographic data were collected using a proforma, and caregivers were diagnosed based on the International Classification of Diseases-10 using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI)-Plus. ROV was assessed using Historical Clinical Risk Management (HCR)-20, Version 3. Statistical analysis was done using the Chi-square test for association and odds ratio and its 95% confidence interval for the strength of association. Results: High ROV was found in 32.5% of the severely mentally ill. Caregivers reported a high rate of psychiatric disorders (44.8%), of which 71.7% were mood disorders. A significant association was found between ROV in patients and psychiatric morbidity in their caregivers (p = 0.001). Conclusion: ROV is high among the severely mentally ill. There is a high rate of psychiatric morbidity among caregivers of patients with a high ROV. There is a significant association between psychiatric morbidity in caregivers and ROV in patients.

Keywords

• aggression
• violence
• caregivers
• psychiatric morbidity
• hcr-20-v3