Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

A. K. Yaduvanshi ¹, A. Abraham ², S. Jain ³, S. Tomar ⁴

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, St. John's College, Agra, IN
2 Department of Psychology, Scottish Church College, Kolkata, IN
3 Department of Statistics and Computer Science, St. John's College, Agra, IN
4 Anti Retroviral Therapy Center, S.N. Medical College, Agra, IN

Abstract

Among several factors of depression chronic illness or fatal disease is one, especially when it results in physical deformity or early death and of which leprosy refers to the former. Ignorance about the disease and social value about the disease can at once land a person in depression on utterance of the diagnosis. A psychological study was carried out on 300 leprosy patients with an aim to study depression and Anxiety in them. The sample comprised of male and female leprosy patients aged between 18 to 60 years, selected from Government O.P.D's from Agra and Kanpur district by using purposive sample technique. Depression was measured with the help of "Depression Scale" by S.E. Krug and J.E. Laughlin and Anxiety was measured IPAT Anxiety scale by Samuel E. Krug and R.B. Cattle. The data was statistically analyzed using Chi-square test and t-test. of these, 33% of the male and 46% of the female leprosy patients were suffering from depression and 20.66% of the male leprosy patients and 16.00% of the female leprosy patients were suffering from depression with anxiety (mixed disorder).The results revealed that female leprosy patients had significantly more depression than male leprosy patients. The study suggested that there is need of regular psychological counseling and follow up of leprosy patients in the existing health care facilities.

Keywords

Leprosy, Depression, Anxiety.

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A. K. Yaduvanshi ¹, A. Abraham ², S. Jain ³, S. Tomar ⁴

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, St. John's College, Agra, IN
2 Department of Psychology, Scottish Church College, Kolkata, IN
3 Department of Statistics and Computer, Science, St. John's College, Agra, IN
4 Department of Sociology, S.N. Medical College, Agra, IN

Abstract

Leprosy is a medical problem as well as social problem because it creates lots of psychosocial and economical problems. In the present study an attempt was made to measure anxiety in patients with leprosy in Agra and Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The sample (N=300) consisted of 150 male and 150 female patients with leprosy from each districts between age ranged 18-60 years. Anxiety score of the study was obtained with the help of anxiety scale administered after establishment of rapport in the clinical setup with leprosy patients. Analysis of the data was made by computing mean, standard deviation, t-test and chi-square test for statistical significance. Result indicated that male patient with leprosy had significantly higher anxiety than female patients with leprosy. It was seen that 45.33% of the male and 36.66% of the female patients were suffering from anxiety. Majority of the patients with leprosy come from poor socio-economic background. The findings of this study emphasize the importance and need of intervention on economic rehabilitation for patients with leprosy. A supportive approach with reassurance is quite effective for the patients and it is suggested that relaxation techniques and psychotherapy is essential for leprosy patients suffering with anxiety.

Keywords

Anxiety, Leprosy, Socio-Economic And Demographic Status.

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