Background: Long work hours, altered schedules, and on-call periods are common practices in postgraduate medical training programs all culminating to poor sleep hygiene practices resulting in sleep loss, disruption of circadian rhythm, fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness. Simple changes in sleeping habits can have profound impact on the overall health of postgraduate medical students ultimately leading to improved quality of patient care. Hence, the objectives of this study was to find out sleep hygiene practices and the prevalence and severity of excessive day time sleepiness among postgraduate medical students. Material and methods: A hospital based descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 142 postgraduate medical students at a tertiary care center of Kathmandu for a period of six months. Enumerative sampling was used and the Ethical approval was taken from the Instituitional Review Committee. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16. Results: Among the 142 participants, 116 (81.69%; 95% Confidence Interval Confidence Interval (CI): 75.30-88) had maladaptive sleep hygiene practice and excessive daytime sleepiness was present among 50 (35.21%; 95% CI: 27.40-43.10). Among those with excessive daytime sleepiness, mild severity was noticed among 13 (26.00%), moderate severity among 23 (46.00%) and severe severity among 14 (28.00%) of the participants. Conclusion: In this study majority of the participants engaged in maladaptive sleep hygiene practice and excessive daytime sleepiness was present across all three years of postgraduate training. Majority of the participants had moderate severity of excessive daytime sleepiness.
In November 2023, the Psychiatrists’ Association of Nepal conducted a leadership course for psychiatrists for the first time in Nepal. Leadership program holds great value among psychiatrists, especially in their early careers, from around the world. Many of the participants who attended it described it as a life-changing experience. We aim to provide a brief narrative and highlight the importance of conducting such courses.
Background: Digital interventions for mental health are gaining popularity in Nepal. They help address barriers to treatment seeking for mental health concerns and are one of the possible solutions for addressing the mental health treatment gap in Nepal. Given the impact digital interventions can have on the management of mental and substance use disorders, we have conducted this review with theaim of assessing the existing literature on digital interventions for mental health problems in Nepal. Material and methods: We conducted a literature search for original research studies that have explored digital intervention in Nepal till December 2025 in three databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, PsycINFO ). The reference lists of all articles were searched for any studies not retrieved by the electronic search. Results: Out of 91 studies, 17 (18.7%) were included after exclusions. Eight studies (47%) were qualitative, four (24%) were pilot studies, and three (18%) were retrospective chart reviews. Twelve studies (70.5%) used teleconsultation, mainly synchronous (N=6, 35.3%) as a mode of digital intervention. Conclusion: There has been emerging but limited research on digital mental health interventions in mental health in Nepal. They hold substantial promise for improving access, capacity building, scalability, and quality of care, and treatment outcomes across various health systems in Nepal. Their successful implementation requires a comprehensive approach addressing digital literacy, digital divide, and systemic barriers. Strengthening of the evidence is essential through robust research, and use of contextually relevant interventions in diverse and underrepresented populations is necessary. There is a need for collaboration between multiple stakeholders to attain this goal.
Background: Evaluating trends in journals are crucial as they offer valuable insights into research trends. We aim to evaluate the characteristics and trends of articles published in the Journal of Psychiatrists’ Association of Nepal (JPAN), an official journal of the Psychiatrists’ Association of Nepal (PAN). Methods: A bibliometric review was conducted by accessing all volumes of the online database of the JPAN. Articles were classified on the basis of psychiatry subspecialty, type of article, study design and study site. Data was entered and analyzed in Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics was used to calculate frequency and percentages. Result: A total of 275 articles from 14 volumes published between 2011 to 2025 were studied. Total number of articles per issue is steady over the years with a mean of 19.64 articles per year. Maximum number (n=27) of articles were published in the year 2019. Majority ofarticles were based on general mental health followed by liaison psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. One hundred and seventy one studies were cross sectional followed by 12 retrospective studies, 6 case control studies and 3 randomized controlled trials. Based on article type, original research articles (ORA) constituted the majority (71.3%, n = 196). Most studies (81.3%, n = 192) were conducted in hospital-based settings. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that research publications in JPAN demonstrate a gradual upward trend. There is a need to diversify research topics, enhance methodological rigor, and promote generation of higher level-evidence.
