Nursing interventions to manage anxiety levels of female inpatients admitted first time in a leprosy hospital.

Leprosy causes not just physical disabilities but mental and psycho social problems which are further more enhanced in women due to their submissive and secondary role in an Indian culture. This is reflected in their reluctance and delay in seeking hospitalization and generates great anxiety while admitted as inpatients. Appropriate nursing care can relieve much anxiety and help in faster healing. This paper presents the findings from such research carried out at a leprosy referral hospitalin north India. Adult female leprosy patients newly admitted for the first time in a leprosy referral hospital were interviewed in depth using Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and observed before and after implementing a customized nursing care plan. On admission, out of 40 women admitted more than 80% showed moderate or severe anxiety. After well planned nursing interventions only 2 continued to have severe anxiety, and a majority in all age groups showed significant reductions in anxiety levels, and responded well to leprosy care at the hospital. Well planned nursing care reduces or minimizes anxiety levels of female leprosy patients admitted first time in the hospital, and should become a standard practice in all hospital admissions.

Leprosy--a case for mental health care.

One hundred twenty institutionalized cases of leprosy were tested for anxiety and depression on standard scales before and after psychiatric treatment. The latter seems to be effective in reducing both anxiety and depression after a course of treatment of three months. This appears to be a sound justification to advocate mental health care in institutions of leprosy in conjunction with physical care. Leprosy is a chronic and disabling disease entity. With the social stigma associated to the disease the psychiatric hazards of the disease are as bad as its physical manifestations. However, usually, only the latter attract attention. Ignorance about the disease and social values about the disease can at once land a person in depression on utterance of the diagnosis. Further, anxiety about the outcome of the disease in particular and future in general are known to exist in sufferers of leprosy.