ABSTRACT
Background: Containing expenditure and efficient resource use is essential to limit the increasing costs of health research. Electronic data collection (EDC) is thought to reduce the costs compared to paper-based data collection (PDC). Objectives: As economic evidence in this area is scanty, especially in low- and middle-income countries, the objectives of the study are to perform an economic evaluation and compare the cost between EDC and PDC. Methods: A cost-comparison study was conducted to compare between EDC and PDC from the institutional perspective for the year 2018, based on a community?based survey. Step?down cost accounting was adopted with a bottom?up approach for cost estimation. Total and unit costs were estimated with the base case comparison between EDC and PDC while using SPSS software (e?SPSS and p?SPSS, respectively). We conducted scenario analyses based on the usage of different software, R and STATA for both EDC and PDC (e-R, p-R, e-STATA, and p-STATA, respectively). One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) was performed to examine the robustness of the observed results. Results: In the base-case analysis, total costs of EDC and PDC were ?72,617 ($1060.9) and 87,717 ($1281.5), respectively, with estimated cost reduction of ?15,100 ($220.6). In other scenarios, the estimated cost reduction for e?R, e-STATA, p-R, p-STATA was ??274 ($4.0), 98 ($1.4), 14826 ($216.6), and 15,002 ($219.2), respectively, when compared to EDC?SPSS. On one-way and PSA, the results of the cost-comparison analysis were robust. Conclusion: EDC minimizes institutional cost for conducting health research. This finding will help researchers in efficiently planning for the budget for their research.
ABSTRACT
Background: Nutritional status and dietary intake during adolescent period play a crucial role in their mental and physical development. Objectives of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of undernutrition, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), among unmarried adolescent girls in rural area of Chittoor district; to estimate the average daily intake of different macro and micro-nutrients, i.e., calorie, protein and iron, by the same group by 24-hour dietary recall method; and to identify individual and family level determinants for undernutrition and decreased intake of nutrients.Methods: In this cross-sectional community-based survey anthropometric measurements were done, and dietary intake of unmarried adolescent girls was assessed by 24-hour recall method.Results: Majority is suffering from poor nutrient intake. This is more prominent for calcium [25.1-40.9% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA)] and energy intake (68.6-88.9% of RDA). Only 55% of the adolescents get iron supplementation; rests consume minimal iron (8.5gm) on average. Prevalence of thinness and stunting was 29.4% (95% CI: 20.4%, 38.4%) and 21.4% (95% CI: 13.3, 29.5%) respectively. Economic and housing conditions were associated with low dietary intake and poor nutritional status. Considerable cluster-wise variation exists for both the conditions.Conclusions: High prevalence of stunting and thinness together with substantial macro and micro-nutrient deficiency exist among adolescent girls. Existing national programs for this age group needs adequate supervision. Awareness development regarding locally available low-cost nutritious food together with periodic anthropometric measurements is required
ABSTRACT
Background: Adequate and safe food is a basic requirement for every individual. Inadequate food leads to food insecurity. Household-level food insecurity may directly influence the health of an individual. We aimed to assess the prevalence of household-level food insecurity in the rural areas of Kaniyambadi block and to assess the household level determinants of food insecurity.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in villages of Kaniyambadi block, a rural development block of Vellore district in Tamil Nadu. Households were the unit of study. The interview was conducted with a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire in Tamil. ‘U.S. Food Security Survey module’, September 2012, for a reference period of 30 days was used to determine food security status.Results: One hundred and fifty households were selected; 15 from each 10 randomly selected villages. Prevalence of food insecurity we got as 52.7% [95% CI: 44.6%, 60.8%]. Determinants like ‘low (<1225 INR/ month) per capita income’ [Adjusted odds ratio (AOR)- 6.7; 95% CI: 3.3,13.6]; ‘presence of debt at the time of interview’ [AOR- 3.5; 95% CI:1.7, 7.3] and ‘presence of at least one smoker in the family’ [AOR- 3.2; 95% CI:1.5, 6.8], were found to be associated significantly with food insecurity, after adjusting for the clusters by multi-level modelling.Conclusions: Food insecurity is a hidden phenomenon in India. Poverty is the key determinant behind this. To alleviate food insecurity, it will be logical to adopt multi-dimensional approaches with thrust on implementing the existing poverty alleviating programs
ABSTRACT
Background: The proportion of the elderly population is increasing in low and middle-income countries. Apart from systemic illnesses, elderly people face mental illnesses. Effect of group reminiscence therapy in reducing some of the mental health aspects showing a promising effect but the evidence is lacking in Indian settings. The present study aimed to determine the effect of reminiscence therapy in decreasing the level of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and anxiety among the elderly population at an institutional level.Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, residents of an old age home were evaluated for loneliness, depressive symptoms and anxiety through revised UCLA, geriatric depression scale, and Geriatric Anxiety Scale respectively. Group reminiscence therapy was applied to them and post-intervention assessment was done by the same scales.Results: Significant reduction of anxiety score [1.33 (0.03, 2.64)] was noticed in anxiety. Depressive symptoms showed a mean reduction in score [0.59 (-0.41, 1.6)] but statistically not significant. When graded into severity, all three outcomes showed improvement from higher severity grade to lower grade in post-intervention assessment. The intervention resulted in an improvement of 66.7% in depressive symptoms, 33.3% in anxiety and 30.8% in loneliness.Conclusions: The study found reminiscence therapy could be encouraging in resource-poor Indian settings. We recommend for further exploration of the long-term effects of this program, its feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and validation of the content for large-scale implementation.