Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programs

A wide discrepancy exists in India between the existing mental healthcare repertoire and the alarmingly high burden of individuals requiring immediate attention from requisite mental healthcare services. Providing equitable mental healthcare across a vast country characterized by profound cultural v...

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Main Authors: Subrata Naskar, Robin Victor, Himabrata Das, Kamal Nath
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-01-01
Series:Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ijpm.info/article.asp?issn=0253-7176;year=2017;volume=39;issue=3;spage=223;epage=242;aulast=Naskar
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author Subrata Naskar
Robin Victor
Himabrata Das
Kamal Nath
author_facet Subrata Naskar
Robin Victor
Himabrata Das
Kamal Nath
author_sort Subrata Naskar
collection DOAJ
description A wide discrepancy exists in India between the existing mental healthcare repertoire and the alarmingly high burden of individuals requiring immediate attention from requisite mental healthcare services. Providing equitable mental healthcare across a vast country characterized by profound cultural variations and territorial caveats has remained a major public health concern. Against this gloomy backdrop, the emergence of distant communications technology offers solace and optimism as an ingenious approach to bridge the existing gap between clients and mental health professionals. Using inexpensive equipment and basic technical knowhow, telepsychiatry expands the scope of the discipline to distant and hazy suburbs and villages from its urban centers of excellence. The current academic endeavor intends to perform a systematic review of relevant literature from India as well as from other countries. The various models of telepsychiatry-both asynchronous and synchronous models-in practice have been elaborated on with a focus on effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of this latest modality. A sincere attempt to chronicle the remarkable journey of telepsychiatry in India, beginning in the dawn of the 21st century to the current Indian scenario, has been made. The legal and ethical issues, along with a few words of caution and contemplation, have been briefly touched on. A set of recommendations has been provided with the hope that policy makers and administrators in the domain of mental health may benefit from them. It is anticipated that telepsychiatry will be adequately utilized in India to tackle the raging menace of inadequate mental healthcare services.
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spelling doaj.art-f74309f6cbc741d2a5c6a36cc122364f2022-12-21T18:38:55ZengSAGE PublishingIndian Journal of Psychological Medicine0253-71762017-01-0139322324210.4103/0253-7176.207329Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programsSubrata NaskarRobin VictorHimabrata DasKamal NathA wide discrepancy exists in India between the existing mental healthcare repertoire and the alarmingly high burden of individuals requiring immediate attention from requisite mental healthcare services. Providing equitable mental healthcare across a vast country characterized by profound cultural variations and territorial caveats has remained a major public health concern. Against this gloomy backdrop, the emergence of distant communications technology offers solace and optimism as an ingenious approach to bridge the existing gap between clients and mental health professionals. Using inexpensive equipment and basic technical knowhow, telepsychiatry expands the scope of the discipline to distant and hazy suburbs and villages from its urban centers of excellence. The current academic endeavor intends to perform a systematic review of relevant literature from India as well as from other countries. The various models of telepsychiatry-both asynchronous and synchronous models-in practice have been elaborated on with a focus on effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of this latest modality. A sincere attempt to chronicle the remarkable journey of telepsychiatry in India, beginning in the dawn of the 21st century to the current Indian scenario, has been made. The legal and ethical issues, along with a few words of caution and contemplation, have been briefly touched on. A set of recommendations has been provided with the hope that policy makers and administrators in the domain of mental health may benefit from them. It is anticipated that telepsychiatry will be adequately utilized in India to tackle the raging menace of inadequate mental healthcare services.http://www.ijpm.info/article.asp?issn=0253-7176;year=2017;volume=39;issue=3;spage=223;epage=242;aulast=NaskarIndiamodelssystematic reviewtelepsychiatry
spellingShingle Subrata Naskar
Robin Victor
Himabrata Das
Kamal Nath
Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programs
Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine
India
models
systematic review
telepsychiatry
title Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programs
title_full Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programs
title_fullStr Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programs
title_full_unstemmed Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programs
title_short Telepsychiatry in India – Where do we stand? A comparative review between global and Indian telepsychiatry programs
title_sort telepsychiatry in india where do we stand a comparative review between global and indian telepsychiatry programs
topic India
models
systematic review
telepsychiatry
url http://www.ijpm.info/article.asp?issn=0253-7176;year=2017;volume=39;issue=3;spage=223;epage=242;aulast=Naskar
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AT himabratadas telepsychiatryinindiawheredowestandacomparativereviewbetweenglobalandindiantelepsychiatryprograms
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