ABSTRACT
Introduction: Indians are experiencing nutritional and lifestyle transitions due to globalization and westernization. The study aimed to find out the current eating patterns and body shape concerns and various factors that influence eating behaviors and body shape concerns of late-adolescent girls. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 230 undergraduate adolescent girl university students from 12 departments in the age group of 17–19 years. Eating attitude and body shape concerns of adolescents were determined by using the standard eating attitude test-26 (EAT-26) and body shape questionnaire (BSQ-34). Results: The duration of the study was 6 months and participants were selected by simple random sampling. The mean age of the study subjects was 18.52 (±0.63) years. The majority of subjects had an urban background (85%). Less than half had an exercise routine (44%) which was followed daily. As per body mass index (BMI) distribution, 19.57% were underweight, 11.3% were overweight and only 2.17% were obese. An unfavorable eating attitude was found in 18% of subjects whereas 38.2% had mild to the marked concern of body shape. There was a significant positive correlation between BSQ with BMI (r = 0.387, P ? 0.01) and BSQ-34 with EAT-26 (r = 0.367, P ? 0.01). Conclusion: Current study shows that late adolescent urban females are susceptible to eating disorders and are body image conscious. Institutional mechanisms should be brought in place to address the need of improving their eating habits and modification of lifestyle.
ABSTRACT
Introduction : Self-medication is a harmful practice. There is a need to document its prevalence and educate people about its numerous dangers. This study assessed the prevalence of self-medication practice and its associated factors among adults. Method: This community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1090 adults. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect data regarding self-medication practice and its associated factors. The data was analysed using Epi-info software for windows (CDC Atlanta). Results: The prevalence of self-medication was 18.6%. The most common symptom for which study participants practised self-medication was fever (58.6%). Previous experience was the most common reason for practising self- medication (59.0%). The bivariate analysis revealed that the self-medication practice was significantly more among those aged 50 years and above and widowed individuals; as compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: Nearly one-fourth of the adults practised self-medication. Interventions should be designed to discourage self-medication practice among adults, with a particular focus on those aged above 50 years and widowed individuals
ABSTRACT
Cancer is a leading public health problem worldwide. Contributing factors include lack of awareness regarding cancer and improper help seeking behavior. Objective: To assess the awareness regarding early warning signs of cancer, its risk factors and anticipated barriers in seeking help. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 470 study participants. Trained workers administered a standardized tool to respondents after obtaining their informed consent. Epi Info software for windows version 7.2 was used for the analysis. Results: Overall, merely 7.7% (36/470) of the study respondents were aware of all the nine warning signs of cancer. The most commonly known early warning sign of cancer was “unexplained swelling” (58.3%). Further, although majority knew that cigarette smoking is a risk factor for cancer (90.4%), very few were aware about the role of inadequate physical activity (9.3%) and diet devoid of adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables (11.9%). There were few anticipated barriers in seeking help such as embarrassment (13.2%) and difficult to interact with a doctor (7.9%). Conclusion: There was inadequate awareness about cancer but a favorable help-seeking behavior. It is, therefore, recommended that health-care professionals should scale up efforts for disseminating information regarding cancer among the people.