Admissions 2025 Integrated Programmes

Department of Social Work

Dr.Lorane Scaria

Designation : Assistant Professor

Qualification : Ph.D

Email-ID : lorane@rajagiri.edu

Dr. Lorane Scaria is the Director of the Research Institute Rajagiri and Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (Autonomous), Kerala. She holds a PhD in Social Work from Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, MG University. Her doctoral degree explored the feasibility of a psychosocial intervention to address depressive patterns among family caregivers of people with disabilities. Lorane is an Australia India Research Students (AIRS) Fellow (2023), a prestigious program run by the Australia India Institute and funded by the Australian Government Department of Education. Additionally, she was a Sister Dr. Mary Glowrey Scholar (2019), a joint program by the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences and St Vincent's Health Australia. Lorane holds an M.Phil. in Social Work and a Master's degree in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work from RCSS, MG University, Kerala. Her research experience includes significant contributions as a research officer to projects funded by the British Council and University Grants Commission, in collaboration with the University of York and the University of Melbourne. Lorane's expertise encompasses systematic literature reviews, advanced data analysis, and intervention development. She has published extensively in reputed journals on topics ranging from cancer care and substance use disorders to community mental health and public health.

  • PhD in Social Work from Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (RCSS), MG University, Kerala (2024).
  • M.Phil. in Social Work from Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (RCSS), MG University, Kerala (2017-18).
  • Master of Social Work (Medical and Psychiatric Social Work) from RCSS, MG University, Kerala.
  • Research Officer, UK-India Education, and Research Initiative (UKIERI) Project, International Centre for Consortium Research in Social Care (ICRS), RCSS – a project with the University of York, London and University of Melbourne (UniMelb), Australia (Funded by British Council & University Grants Commission (2018-2020) and another Disability Caregivers Project in collaboration with University of Melbourne.
  • Research Assistant (Part-time), Health Services Evaluation Pilot project with the University of Melbourne (2017-2018).
  • Public health and mental health research; Disability care; Chronic illness comorbidities
  • Scaria, L., Devassy, S. M. (2025). Feasibility of a Social Work Practice Framework for Family Caregivers in Kerala, India: A Pretest-Posttest Study. Research on Social Work Practice. doi 10.1177/10497315251352832
  • Scaria, L., Blance-Palmer, R., Joubert, L., & Devassy, S. M. (2025). Pathways to support: A qualitative investigation of community health workers' role in coordinating disability services in India. Discover Social Science and Health, 5, 86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-025-00233-1
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Babu, S., Rajeev, S. P., Lijo, K. J., Jose, A. T., Thampi, K., & Gearing, R. E. (2025). Community-level mental health screening and referral using task-sharing with student volunteers in Kerala, India: A scalable model for low and middle-income countries. BMC Psychiatry, 25, 352. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-06773-9
  • Devassy, S. M., Yohannan, S. V., Scaria, L., & Pathrose, S. I. (2024). Tangible to Non-Tangible Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Life Satisfaction of Farmers in Kerala, India. Agriculture, 14(10), 1671. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14101671 
  • Scaria, L., Devassy, S. M., & Joubert, L. (2024). Familial and Social Implications of Breast and Gynaecological cancer in Kerala, India. Current problems in cancer, 49, 101080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.currproblcancer.2024.101080
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Yohannan, S. V., Mathew, L. M., John, S. B., & Ishnassery Pathrose, S. (2024). Individual, Familial and Environmental Risk Factors for Treatment Relapse Among Patients with Substance Use Disorders in Kerala: A Mixed Method Study. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 42(3), 280–292. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2024.2310252
  • Madavanakadu Devassy, S., Baby John, S., & Scaria, L. (2023). Cognitive factors associated with hypertension and diabetes control among diagnosed and treated patients; findings from a community cohort in India. Preventive medicine reports, 36, 102495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102495
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Metzger, J., Thampi, K., Jose, J., & Joseph, B. (2023). Development of immersive learning framework (ILF) in achieving the goals of higher education: measuring the impact using a pre-post design. Scientific reports, 13(1), 17692. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45035-0
  • Devassy, S. M., & Scaria, L. (2023). Prevalence and risk factors for falls in community-dwelling older population in Kerala; results from a cross-sectional survey. Heliyon, 9(8), e18737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18737
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Yohannan, S. V., & Pathrose, S. I. (2023). Protective Role of Social Networks for the Well-Being of Persons with Disabilities: Results from a State-Wide Cross-Sectional Survey in Kerala, India. International journal of environmental research and public health, 20(5), 4213. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054213
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Varghese, J., Benny, A. M., Hill, N., & Joubert, L. (2023). Vulnerabilities and life stressors of people presented to emergency departments with deliberate self-harm; consolidating the experiences to develop a continuum of care using a mixed-method framework. Frontiers in public health, 10, 1019131. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1019131
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., & Joubert, L. (2022). Risks and Barriers in Substitute Care for the Children of Parents with Serious Mental Illness: A Mixed-Method Study in Kerala, India. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 10(12), 2408. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10122408
  • Devassy, S. M., Thampi, K., Harrison, J., Scaria, L., Metzger, J., & Joubert, L. (2022). International Social Work: Cross-Cultural Supervision of Interns from the West in India. The British Journal of Social Work, 52(8), 4684-4702. 10.1093/bjsw/bcac081 
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., & Cheguvera, N. (2022). Task sharing and stepped referral model for community mental health promotion in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC): insights from a feasibility study in India. Pilot and feasibility studies, 8(1), 192. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-022-01159-0
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Benny, A. M., Cheguvera, N., Varghese, J., & Joubert, L. (2022). FASE-family and social engagement model for prevention and management of self harm behavior-a study protocol for cluster randomized control trial in India. Frontiers in psychiatry, 13, 915568. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.915568
  • Devassy, S. M., Allagh, K. P., Benny, A. M., & Scaria, L. (2022). Challenges of diabetes care in India: Results from a Family Cohort Study. Public health nursing (Boston, Mass.), 39(5), 933–939. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.13073
  • Madavanakadu, S., Grills, N. J., Scaria, L., Benny, A. M., & Joubert, L. (2022). Prevalence and predictive factors of strain among caregivers of people with disability: results from R-Care community survey, Kerala, India. Disability and rehabilitation, 44(21), 6333–6339. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2021.1965231
  • Devassy, S. M., Allagh, K. P., Benny, A. M., Scaria, L., Cheguvera, N., & Sunirose, I. P. (2021). Resiliency Engagement and Care in Health (REaCH): a telephone befriending intervention for upskilled rural youth in the context of COVID-19 pandemic-study protocol for a multi-centre cluster randomised controlled trial. Trials, 22(1), 500. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05465-5
  • Saju, M. D., Varghese, B. M., Scaria, L., Benny, A. M., Yohannan, S. V., Cheguvera, N., Rajeev, S. P., & Jotheeswaran, A. T. (2021). Swāsthya, an integrated chronic condition management programme for families of patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMC family practice, 22(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-020-01357-w
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Shaju, K. K., Cheguvera, N., Joseph, M. K., Benny, A. M., & Joseph, B. (2021). REaCH-Resiliency Engagement and Care in Health; a befriending intervention to address the psycho-social challenges of vulnerable youth in the context of COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory trial in India. Sustainability, 13(22), 12920. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212920
  • Devassy, S. M., Scaria, L., Cheguvera, N., & Thampi, K. (2021). Association of Depression and Anxiety with Social Network Types: Results from a Community Cohort Study. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(11), 6120. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18116120
  • Webber, M., Joubert, J., Fendt-Newlin, M., Madavanakadu Devassy, S., Scaria, L., Benny, A. M., & Joubert, L. (2020). Towards the Development of an Intervention to Address Social Determinants of Non-Communicable Disease in Kerala, India: A Mixed Methods Study. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(22), 8636. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228636
  • Madavanakadu Devassy, S., Webber, M., Scaria, L., Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan, J., Fendt-Newlin, M., Joubert, J., Benny, A. M., Nannatt, A., & Joubert, L. (2020). Social and behavioural risk factors in the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease in Kerala, India: a catchment area population survey. BMC cardiovascular disorders, 20(1), 327. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12872-020-01595-x
  • Madavanakadu Devassy, S., Benny, A. M., Scaria, L., Nannatt, A., Fendt-Newlin, M., Joubert, J., Joubert, L., & Webber, M. (2020). Social factors associated with chronic non-communicable disease and comorbidity with mental health problems in India: a scoping review. BMJ open, 10(6), e035590. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035590
  • M D, S., Nukala, L., Shekhar, R., Gomez, K., Varghese, B. M., Benny, A. M., Scaria, L., Prabhu, S., & Jotheeswaran, A. T. (2020). Cohort profile: social well-being and determinants of health study (SWADES), Kerala, India. BMJ open, 10(3), e032803. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032803
  • Saju, M. D., Allagh, K. P., Scaria, L., Joseph, S., & Thiyagarajan, J. A. (2020). Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension and Its Associated Risk Factors: Results from Baseline Survey of SWADES Family Cohort Study. International journal of hypertension, 2020, 4964835. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/4964835
  • Saju, M. D., Rajeev, S. P., Scaria, L., Benny, A. M., & Anjana, N. (2019). Mental health intervention at the workplace: A psychosocial care model. Cogent Psychology, 6(1)10.1080/23311908.2019.1601606
  • Life Membership - National Association of Professional Social Workers in India: New Delhi, IN
  • Australia India Research Students Fellowship program – AIRS Fellow (2023), run by the Australia India Institute and funded by the Australian Government Department of Education.
  • Part of the team that got the State e-Governance Special Jury Award for project Resiliency Engagement and Care in Health (REaCH) under Innovations in COVID Pandemic Management issued by the Government of Kerala (2022)
  • Rajagiri Research Award (2022, 2023) for publications and fellowships.
  • University Grants Commission Junior Research Fellowship– for the Ph.D. program (2020 - 2024).
  • Sister Dr. Mary Glowrey Scholar – A joint program of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (FMDHS), University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Health Australia (2018).
  • Completed short Course on Disability and International Development – Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne (1 week; 24-28 September 2018)
  • Obtained training for Qualitative Interview Schedules and Qualitative Analysis, Writing Academic Paper - University of York, London (2018)
  • Training for Advanced and Basic Qualitative Analysis using Nvivo - University of Melbourne (May 2023-29 May 2023)