ABSTRACT
Background: Preventable medical emergencies and accidents accounts for a major share of mortality worldwide. First-aid is the provision of initial, on spot management for an illness or injury, meted out by a trained person, who is not an expert, till professional medical assistance is available. School children have often been projected as a potentially promising agent for radically revolutionizing the health scenario of our society, if properly mentored. The aim of study was to assess the changes in knowledge and attitude of adolescent school children towards first-aid management, after appropriate educational intervention.Methods: It was a school based quasi-experimental study conducted among 201 adolescent children. Baseline knowledge and attitude about first-aid management of selected medical emergencies were assessed using pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire. Then, educational intervention was administered in the form of lectures and demonstrations. Post-interventional evaluation was done using the same questionnaire, after two weeks of intervention. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16.0.Results: Health professionals (29.2%) and teachers (26.1%) were the primary source of knowledge. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test was carried out to determine effect of intervention on knowledge and attitude scores of the students. There was a statistically significant increase in knowledge (Z=-10.982, p<0.001) with large effect size (r=0.54) and an increase in attitude, though not statistically significant (Z=-1.949, p=0.05) with small effect size (r=0.09).Conclusions: There is a need for a uniform, interactive module including hands on activities and periodic mock drills to be incorporated as a separate entity to encourage participation.
ABSTRACT
Background: Menstruation, a phenomenon unique to the females, is the cyclical shedding of the inner lining of uterus. It is associated with myths and misconceptions and poor knowledge of the normal physiology. Above all, poor menstrual hygiene is a precursor of various morbidities related to the reproductive tract. This study was conducted among women of reproductive age (WRA) group with the aim to assess their socio demographic characteristics, to elicit the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding menstruation and to find the factors associated with the menstrual hygiene practice.Methods: This community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 152 women aged (15-49 years) during December 2017 to January 2018 in Lockgate area of Chetla, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practices towards menstruation were obtained from structured questionnaire. Outcome variable was menstrual hygiene practice. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were performed to analyze the data by using SPSS 16.0 version.Results: The mean ages of the participants were 27±8 years. Inadequate knowledge, negative attitude and unsatisfactory practice towards menstruation were 73.7%, 65.1% and 62.5% respectively. Significant correlates were Lower level of education [AOR=1.6 (1.3, 2.1)] and less per capita income [AOR=4.7(1.4, 15.5)] for inadequate knowledge. Less per capita income [AOR=4.7(1.9, 11.1)] for negative attitude. Increasing age [AOR=1.1 (1, 1.2)] and lower level of education [AOR=1.3 (1.2, 1.6)] for unsatisfactory menstrual hygiene practice when adjusted with other variables in the multivariate analysis.Conclusions: Women need to be educated about the significance of menstruation, importance of high quality menstrual hygiene management, use of satisfactory absorbent material, proper and hygienic disposal of menstrual absorbent so as to enable them to lead a healthy reproductive life.