ABSTRACT
Diarrhoea is a major public health problem in Thailand. During November 1998-January 1999, a cross-sectional survey and a nested qualitative study were conducted to understand the relationship between feeding practices and weanling diarrhoea, and to describe the related local beliefs and practices in a subdistrict of northeast Thailand. A cluster-sampling method was used for selecting 156 weanlings aged 3-24 months. A structured interview was conducted with the main caregivers of these weanlings. The questionnaire used for the interview included items about feeding practices and diarrhoea-history of the weanlings in 2 months prior to the interview. Seven focus-group discussions with an opportunistic sample of the caregivers were held in the villages. A series of vignettes and unstructured questions were used for eliciting the local beliefs about weanling diarrhoea and its causes. Thirty-six (23%) of the 156 weanlings had diarrhoea in 2 months prior to the interview. The factors that were significantly related to reported weanling diarrhoea included consumption of unboiled water by weanlings (OR = 10, p = 0.03), not covering perishable foods (OR = 3, p = 0.02), and washing feeding utensils of weanlings without dishwashing detergent (OR = 3.1, p = 0.02), 'Su' and 'tongsia'--two common local terms--were used for describing different types of weanling diarrhoea. Many caregivers considered 'su' a natural occurrence in a child's development. The results suggest that some poor feeding practices may contribute to the higher risk of weanling diarrhoea in northeast Thailand. Some local beliefs about weanling diarrhoea may mask the true causes, and mislead messages about its prevention.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Caregivers/psychology , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , Cultural Characteristics , Diarrhea/etiology , Food Contamination , Humans , Hygiene , Infant , Infant Food , Middle Aged , Surveys and Questionnaires , Risk Factors , Thailand , Water Pollution/adverse effects , WeaningABSTRACT
Cross cultural differences in subjective physical and psychological health problems reported on the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) Thai and Japanese versions were conducted among Thai and Japanese female first year class nursing students from two nursing colleges. All of the Thai (114) and 96.2% (102) of the Japanese subjects self-administered the CMI. The internal consistency reliability of each CMI was acceptable. Mean ages of the Thai and the Japanese subjects were 19.3 (SD = 0.8) and 18.4 (SD = 0.5) years respectively, which was not significantly different. Mean CMI for the physical, psychological and overall health complaints of the Thai subjects were 29.8 (SD = 13.5), 14.5 (SD = 8.0), and 41.3 (SD = 19.3) respectively, and those for the Japanese subjects were 15.7 (SD = 11.8), 7.3 (SD = 6.1), and 23.1 (SD = 15.9) respectively, which were significantly different. Findings indicate that the Thai nursing students have more health problems than the Japanese subjects. These mostly concerned respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, musculoskeletal, nervous, genitourinary systems, fatigability, frequency of illnesses, miscellaneous diseases, mood and feeling patterns, sensitivity, anger and tension. The only one section that the Japanese reported significantly higher health problems than the Thai subjects concerned daily living habits pertaining to questions concerning such matters as drinking, smoking, exercise, sleeping and rest. Percentages of emotional disturbances or neurotic tendencies of the subjects using the conventional CMI score and the Fukamachi criteria are discussed.