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Caregiver coping with the mentally ill: a qualitative study

Azman A, Jamir Singh PS, Sulaiman J

J Ment Health, 2017 Apr;26(2):98-103.
PMID: 26732363 DOI: 10.3109/09638237.2015.1124395

BACKGROUND: Mental illness is a disease that affects millions of people every year. It not only causes stress to the mentally ill patients, but also for the family members who provide them the care. The family caregivers, therefore need some form of coping strategies in dealing with their mentally ill family members.
AIMS: This qualitative study aims at identifying and analysing the coping strategies adopted by the family caregivers in dealing with their mentally ill family members.
METHOD: A total of 15 family caregivers from the state of Kedah, Malaysia participated in the face-to-face semi structured interview.
RESULTS: The study findings identified an array of coping strategies used by the family caregivers, including religious coping, emotional coping, acceptance, becoming engaged in leisure activities, and the use of traditional healing to help them cope with their mentally ill members. Suggestions and conclusions: Study suggests that the family caregivers should engage themselves in social support groups to learn about and obtain the positive coping strategies used by other caregivers who have similar experiences in caring for the mentally ill. Study also suggests that they should get appropriate training from the mental health professionals in order to enhance the caregivers' coping skills.
Fulltext The Impact of Counseling on the Dignity of Older People: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

Hung HY, Azman A, Jamir Singh PS

JMIR Res Protoc, 2023 Jun 23;12:e45557.
PMID: 37272062 DOI: 10.2196/45557

BACKGROUND: Psychological counseling is perceived as a treatment that could significantly improve older individuals' psychological and behavioral functioning. There is a dearth of information on the impact of psychological counseling on preserving dignity and facilitating good aging among older people in Singapore.
OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to assess advance care planning among older people and their perception of life and health, end of life, and end-of-life care; (2) to explore older people's accessibility and receptiveness toward counseling; (3) elucidate older people's perspectives on counseling and its impact on emotional management and decision-making; (4) to assess older people's competencies in emotional management; and (5) to propose an intervention model for enhancing older people's well-being and dignity through psychological counseling in Singapore.
METHODS: A mixed method study design involving quantitative and qualitative methods will be used. Older individuals receiving some form of preventive, primary, or long-term care in the community through voluntary welfare organizations from the senior activity centers located in eastern Singapore participated in the qualitative phase. Six older individuals from each senior activity center have been enrolled for the interview phase to explore 6 components: the Advanced Care Planning (ACP) booklet, Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), accessibility and receptiveness toward counseling, and emotional management and decision-making. The ACP, an instrument designed to assess advanced care planning among older individuals, and the TMMS, an instrument developed to measure meta-mood experience and emotional management, were used in the quantitative phase among 100 participants. The data will be analyzed thematically using NVivo version 12, whereas descriptive statistics and a 2-tailed, 1-sample t test will be conducted in SPSS (version 25; IBM Corp) for empirical data analyses.
RESULTS: The qualitative phase, which involves a semistructured interview, has been completed among 20 older individuals aged 66-86 years. Thematic analysis of the data is still ongoing. Meanwhile, the quantitative phase commenced on March 22, 2022, with 100 participants providing signed informed consent to participate in the study. The study is expected to be completed by March 2023.
CONCLUSIONS: The mixed methods study will document the current awareness of ACP, accessibility and receptiveness toward counseling, and the potential use of psychological counseling in enhancing well-being and dignity among older people in Singapore. The research findings will benefit policy makers in their decision-making when attempting to mitigate the potential barriers to seeking counseling assistance among older people.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/45557.
Fulltext Clinical Insight Into a Rare Anatomical Variation: An Autobiographical Case Report of a Supernumerary Extraocular Muscle (SEOM) in a Patient With Hyperthyroidism

Soundarajan V, Nandakumal G, Dheer Singh PS

Cureus, 2023 Oct;15(10):e46887.
PMID: 37841982 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.46887

In this case report, we present the rare occurrence of supernumerary extraocular muscles (SEOM) in a 35-year-old male with hyperthyroidism. SEOMs are unusual anatomical variations involving extraocular muscles that deviate from the typical muscle arrangement in the eye. While SEOMs are rare, they can have diverse clinical manifestations, including restrictive strabismus and lid abnormalities. In this case, the patient displayed right-sided lid retraction and an asymmetrical palpebral aperture, which raised concerns about a potential association with thyroid eye disease. However, imaging revealed that the SEOM was anatomically connected to the superior rectus muscle, possibly contributing to the observed lid retraction. Understanding the complexities of SEOM and its potential interactions with conditions like thyroid ophthalmopathy is crucial for accurate diagnosis and management. Further research is needed to fully comprehend the development and clinical impact of SEOMs due to their rarity and limited knowledge in the medical literature.
Fulltext Advances in Noble-Metal Nanoparticle-Based Fluorescence Detection of Organophosphorus Chemical Warfare Agents

Numan A, Singh PS, Alam A, Khalid M, Li L, Singh S

ACS Omega, 2022 Aug 09;7(31):27079-27089.
PMID: 35967060 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c03645

Efficient and simple detection of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) is an essential step in minimizing the potentially lethal consequences of chemical weapons. CWAs are a family of organic chemicals that are used as chemical weapons because of their enormous severity and lethal effects when faced with unforeseen challenges. To stop the spread of CWAs, it is critical to develop a platform that detects them in a sensitive, timely, selective, and minimally invasive manner. Rapid advances in the demand for on-site sensors, metal nanoparticles, and biomarker identification for CWAs have made it possible to use fluorescence as a precise real-time and point-of-care (POCT) testing technique. For POCT-based applications, the new capabilities of micro- and nanomotors offer enormous prospects. In recent decades, significant progress has been made in the design of fluorescent sensors and the further development of noble metal nanoparticles for the detection of organophosphorus CWAs, as described in this review. Through this work, recent attempts to fabricate sensors that can detect organophosphorus CWAs through changes in their fluorescence properties have been summarized. Finally, an integrated outlook on how noble metal nanoparticles could be used to develop smart sensors for organophosphorus CWAs that communicate with and control electronic devices to monitor and improve the health of individuals.