ABSTRACT
Background: The status of spiritual health of the population of India at large including that of young medical undergraduates who are the caregivers of the future and its association, if any, with coping skills in crisis situations is yet to be explored. Objectives: To measure the spiritual health status of the study population, describe the coping skills used by them in crisis situations, identify the sociodemographic factors associated with their spiritual health, and to determine the association of spiritual health status of the study population and their coping skills. Materials and Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was performed among the third semester medical students in government medical colleges of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The study was conducted among 362 medical students by the survey questionnaire method. The Spiritual Health Scale 2011 (SHS 2011) and the Brief COPE Scale were used to measure the spiritual health and coping status, respectively. Results: Of all the respondents, 75.7% had refined spiritual health. The mean spiritual health score of the female students was significantly higher than that of the males. Of all the students, 66.1% showed good coping scores. Of all the respondents, 86.2% and 24.5% had higher adaptive and maladaptive coping scores, respectively. Refined spiritual categories were seen more among those students whose fathers had higher education and whose families arranged rituals at their homes. The spiritual health, self-evolution, and self-actualization scores of the respondents were significantly related to the adaptive coping scores and the fathers' education. Conclusion: The coping skills and hence, the spiritual health of the medical students were greatly influenced by the education of the father and cultural factor(s) like arranging annual rituals at home.
ABSTRACT
For last few years in the early spring bird flu poses a threat to India. The causative agent H5N1 virus is also getting robust day by day acquiring an ability to cross the species barrier. It is now known as (H5N1) which is emerging as killer virus to man. Although human casualty is yet to be recorded from India, but the threat is not over. The present study had been undertaken in the village of Hakimpur of Singur Block of District Hooghly, West Bengal, with a population 862 of 215 families. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge of the study population regarding bird flu and to study their practice regarding poultry maintenance. The head of the family from each family was interviewed. A house to house survey in the census method on a pre-designed, pre-tested, semi-structured schedule was done. Information regarding socio-demographic profile, poultry keeping, correct knowledge about bird flu, mode of transmission, culling, etc was recorded. The data were collected and analyzed by relevant statistical methods. The results showed that 46% respondents knew what bird flu is, 62.8% knew the mode of transmission, and 35.3% knew the procedure of culling. Out of literates about 53% and out of the illiterates only 0.93% were aware of the transmission of the virus through body fluids. The predominant source of information was mass media. 57.14% of the families rearing poultry, kept the birds in shed, 40.48% in cage, and 2.38% in living room.