ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: Anaemia in India is still a point of concern when it comes to adolescent girls. Adolescent girls are more prone to develop anaemia if they lack knowledge on how to manage the menace of anaemia in adolescence. The study was conducted to identify the prevalence of anaemia in adolescent girls and assess the effectiveness of teaching program on knowledge regarding prevention of anaemia in adolescent girls. Methods: The study was conducted in two phases. First phase adopted exploratory survey design and second phase involved one group pre-test post-test design. The sample consisted of 400 adolescent girls (13 – 15) years studying in rural schools of Haldwani block, Uttarakhand. Results: The study results revealed that about 90 (22.5%) adolescent girls were anaemic. Maximum 64 (71%) adolescent girls had average knowledge regarding anaemia and its prevention. There was 11% enhancement in the level of knowledge of anaemic adolescent girls post administration of teaching program and was significant at 0.05 level. Conclusion: The present study found that there was significant enhancement in the level of knowledge of adolescent girls in the post-test. Thus, it emphasizes the need to educate the adolescent girls regarding dietary choices they make so that it may help in reducing prevalence of anaemia in later ages of life in young girls of India.
ABSTRACT
Personal hygiene refers to set of individual practices and conditions that help maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases. Maintaining personal hygiene is important for social health, physical health and psychosocial health. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and reported practices of school going children regarding personal hygiene with a view to develop an information booklet. The study adopted cross sectional design to collect data from 410 school going children in rural villages of Haldwani block, Uttarakhand. The children were recruited via convenient sampling technique. It was found that majority (n=230, 56.09%) school going children had moderate knowledge of personal hygiene. The overall practices of children were found to be appropriate for 366 (89.51%) children. Regarding knowledge and hygienic practices, mother' s education plays vital role for school going children. Also, teachers with parents can play a pivotal role in providing health education regarding personal hygiene from early stage of childhood itself for longevity and to protect from illnesses.