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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.
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Background: The current threat of Covid-19 pandemic is not only disrupting the economy but also creating psychological impact on the people. As a measure to control the spread, India imposed lockdown on various occasions. During this period only essential services were operational, while educational institutions remain closed. Due to social distance norms and restricted recreational activities, children are more prone to behavioural changes and it can also cause anxiety and depression. The current study focusses upon this aspect among school going children due to Covid-19.. Methodology: A cross sectional study was done on school going children, currently restricted to home. A semi-structured questionnaire which included (RCADS-25 scale for depression and anxiety) was administered to the parents through online platform. Bivariate logistic regression was used to test the significance of association between changes Impact of covid-19 and emotional status of Children and also between behavioural changes in children and presence of at least one sibling. Results: Majority of respondents were males (59%) and mean age was 9.9yrs. Majority (47.2%) belong to Middle school. Mean score of RCADS-25 scale was 15.61±9.4 for the study population. Worry was seen in 67.3% and frustration was seen in 32.4% for conduction of online classes. Irritability was seen 31.91% and restriction of outdoor activities caused loss of temper in 56.9% of the study population. Insomnia was often seen in 20% while 50% had sadness/empty feeling at some point of time. Lack of confidence was seen in 52.7% children. Majority (69.5%) were scared to sleep alone at night. Chi-square test for significance showed significant association between Parent’s behaviour and mood changes in Children (O.R- 2.43(1.1-5.33 - 95%C. I) p=0.04). Bivariate logistic regression showed significant association between Impact of covid-19 and emotional status of Children (O.R=2.967,95% C.I(1.582-5.564), p=0.001) and also between behavioural changes during pandemic and presence of at least one sibling(O.R =0.578,95% C.I 0.345-0.971,p=0.038). Conclusion: The behavioural changes of children due to Covid -19 is evident and necessary measures like counselling the parents are necessary
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Background: The world health organization has described obesity as one of today’s most neglected public health problems, affecting developed and developing countries in the world. A dramatic increase in overweight and obesity among children and adolescent has raised the concern of various public health physicians especially in developing country like India. This study was conducted with an objective to study the prevalence of overweight and obesity and its associated risk factors among school going children of Cuttack city.Methods: School based cross sectional study was done among the children of 6th to 10th class. To calculate the maximum sample size prevalence of obesity was assumed to be 10%, taking absolute error of 2% and 10% non-response rate the sample was calculated to be 1000. By multistage sampling method the children were selected. Data was collected using a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire and analyzed by using SPSS version 16.Results: The combined prevalence of overweight and obesity was 20.2% and it was higher among boys (20.6%) than girls (19.8%). Overweight and obesity was found to be significantly associated with type of school, parent’s occupation, hours of using TV/computer, eating habit, family history of obesity, type of family and mode of transport to school.Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be high in school going children, which indicates an urgent need to increase awareness via education and motivation of all stakeholders to prevent the complications in future.
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Introduction: Normal hearing is very important for overalldevelopment of child. If a child is suffering from hearing loss,it affects his ability to acquire knowledge and skills. So thisstudy was done to estimate true prevalence in primary schoolsof Jodhpur region between ages 8 to 14 years.Material and Methods: Total 1200 students were includedin study from various schools of Jodhpur between ages 8 to14 years. Detailed otological examination done and hearingassessment done in silent room with 512 HZ turning fork test.All data with history obtained and analysed.Results: Total 146 students from 1200 students had hearingloss with most common type of hearing loss is conductive.Conclusion: Hearing loss specially in age group 8 to 14 yearsof school going children is preventable by simple measureslike paying attention to children regarding hearing by theirparents, teachers, Para-medical staff and conducting regularscreening programs.
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Objective: The aim of this narrative review is to examine the available literature related to association of physical fitness and physical activity with academic achievement in school going children. Methodology: Literature was searched with the use of many electronic databases (Google Scholar, CINAHL, Pubmed central and Oxford Press, Science direct, National Library of Medicine (Pubmed), Biomed Central).Additionally, more reference articles were searched to increase the search of accuracy. Results: Results of most of the studies evaluating the relationship of the physical fitness and physical activity with academic achievement are contradictory. Findings from the most of the studies indicated either a positive or null association. Negative association was found to be very rare. Missing from this literature is a clear understanding of whether individually or collectively physical activity and physical fitness influences the academic achievement & executive function is lacking in current literature. Conclusion: Most of literature suggests that increasing physical activity and aerobic fitness are often proposed as a way to improve children’s health, physical fitness and Academic achievement but there has been some inconsistency across studies concerning the relation between physical activity, physical fitness and academic achievement. This is due in part to measurement and methodological issues (e.g., measuring only physical activity or only aerobic fitness, lack of adequate control for confounding factors).This could be an active topic of future research. So the more studies are necessary for providing definite evidence to confirm this relationship.
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Background: Parenting is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting is a complex activity that includes much specific behavior that works individually or together to influence child's outcomes.Methods: It is prospective observational study carried out in the Department of Pediatrics, Shyam Shah Medical College and associated Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, India during the period from July 2008 to June 2010. Parents were interviewed with predesigned proforma. Parenting was graded in to three grades (1, 2 and 3) according to the performance of parents in various aspects of parenting.Results: In this study, 60 parents had 155 children constituting 2.5 children per family and male to female ratio was 1.18:1. We observed that literate parents performed well in all aspects of parenting (i.e. behavioral, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, nutritional), but illiterate parents could not score on these points especially in spiritual and nutritional aspects. 33% graduate parents fulfilled the criteria for grade 3 parenting in nutritional aspects, 55% intermediate passed parents in nutritional aspects were in grade 3, whereas there were more than 50% parents in behavioral, physical and emotional aspects who had education level up to primary class.Conclusions: Educational status of parents has a positive impact on almost all aspects of parenting and the educational status of mothers appeared to be even more influential. Socioeconomic status of parents and residential area have a great influence on all aspects of parenting.
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Tobacco use has become prevalent in India and nearly 15% of youth use tobacco in one or other form. However, very few studies have explored the use, knowledge about its hazard, and attitudes of tobacco use among youths. So, this study was done to determine the pattern of use as well as knowledge and perception of tobacco among students attending schools of 8th to 9th grad in Sasaram, Bihar. Methods: A cross sectional survey was performed among 515 students in the 8th and 9th grades in 8 schools in Sasaram, Bihar. The study period was from 1st January to 31st December, 2018. Results: Ever use of smokeless tobacco was reported by 31 (6.1%) students in the survey. 18 (3.5%) students reported ever using smoked tobacco. Students were more likely to identify cigarettes and bidis as tobacco products compared to smokeless tobacco products like gutkha and khaini. Betel nut products were used by 91 (17.7%) students. Conclusion: The high rate of smokeless tobacco and betel nut use along with less levels of knowledge about their contents and harms suggests that tobacco control programs of Government of India targeting youth should ensure that these products are adequately explained and understood by students all over India.
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Background: Nocturnal enuresis or bedwetting is a common health problem in children in the age group of 5 to 15 years. In India the prevalence of nocturnal enuresis ranges from approximately 7% to 12.6%. The prevalence from other parts of the world ranges from 6% to 42%. This study was planned to find the prevalence and determinants of nocturnal enuresis in school going children.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in four primary and secondary schools in Solapur. A predefined questionnaire, prepared in English and translated to local languages, Marathi and Kannada, was handed over to all the children attending the selected schools. Children were asked to hand over the questionnaire to their parents and return with the filled questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared to obtain the information related to the socio-demographic factors of the family and child, frequency of enuresis and information related the risk factors. Nocturnal enuresis was defined if the frequency of enuresis was more than twice per week.Results: The overall prevalence of nocturnal enuresis was 11.4 %. The maximum prevalence was found in the age group of 8 -9 years (22.96 %). The prevalence of nocturnal enuresis in boys (14.34 %) was significantly more than the prevalence in girls (8.31 %). The study showed that nocturnal enuresis was significantly associated with stress, poor school performance, sleep pattern (hard to awaken), family history, burning micturition etc. But it was not associated with maternal or paternal education, birth order, type of family.Conclusions: The prevalence of nocturnal enuresis is 11.40 % in school going children and it is associated with age, sex, stress, family history, burning micturition, hyperactive child, poor school performance, sleep pattern (hard to awake) avoidance of going to micturate before sleep etc.
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Introduction: Large number of studies on the prevalence ofrefractive errors in various population groups have been done.Refractive errors, are by far the commonest cause of defectivevision in school children around the world. Undetected anduncorrected refractive errors are particularly a significantproblem in school children. With these rationales this studywas undertaken in schools of Kashmir with the objective toassess the magnitude of refractive errors.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study wasconducted in schools of Kashmir valley from june 2016 tomay 2017. Sample size was calculated to be 1110. The 6 to16years children of selected schools of Kashmir valley whowere present on the day of the interview were interviewed andexamined. Snellen chart, pinhole, a trial box, a trial frame,self-illuminated vision box and streak Retinoscope were usedto detect refractive error. MS excel package and SPSS11.5software was use for analysis.Results: Out of 1110 cases (2220 eyes),856(77.12%) caseswere emmetropic, 56 (5.04%) cases had hyperopia of 0.25Dto 1.75D whereas only 4(0.36%) cases had a hyperopia ofequal to or greater than 2.0D. Myopia was the most commonobserved refractive error. 188(16.94%) cases had a myopiaof 0.25D to 1.75D and 6 (0.54%) cases had a myopia of2.0D to 3.75D.No case had myopia of equal to or greaterthan 4.0D(Table-V) Myopic astigmatism was seen in 22(1.98%) cases and hyperopic Astigmatismin 10(0.9%)cases.Conclusion: Refractive error was a significant cause of visualimpairment among school children and screening of schoolchildren plays a major role in detecting refractive errors.
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Background: During adolescence, that the child is heavily influenced by his surroundings and attempts to change his or her habits and take on to newer habits. This has made relevant the emphasis of safe health behaviour in school and incorporation of stress assessment and subsequent counselling among the adolescent age group. The current study was planned among mid adolescent age group boys and girls, both from government and private schools of Bhubaneswar. Aims & Objectives: To see the association of socio-demographic characteristics with perceived stress among the adolescent children and to find the association of safe health behaviour with perceived stress among the adolescent children and determine the significant factors. Material & Methods: A total of 480 students (240 boys and girls each) selected randomly from 4 government and private schools were included in the study and administered a self-marking questionnaire which elicited information regarding safe health behaviour and also stress scores by using the Perceived Stress Scale which is a 10 points item. Results: Type of school and mother’s education emerged most significant in the sample in terms of stress experienced by the children. Children who were verbal abused by the teachers had higher stress (28.9%) compared to who were not abused (p = 0.012). In terms of health history, any report of sickness or illness in the past 3 months accounted for significantly higher stress levels (37%) compared to the group with no such history (22.5). Conclusion: These findings hint that school environment has a major role to play on the adolescent’s stress levels.
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Background and Aim: Over two billion people worldwide are affected by intestinal protozoans and helminths. Intestinal helminthic infestations are most common among school-age children and tend to be of high intensity in this age group. These diseases can affect child development, educational achievement, reproductive health, and social and economic development. Aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of parasitic infestation in school going children between 5 years to 12 years of age. Methodology: Macroscopic examination of stool samples was followed by direct saline (0.9%) preparation & for ova iodine preparation. Mounted wet saline (0.9%) and iodine preparations were examined under microscope using x10 and x40 objective lens. Concentration method with saturated salt solution was done in all the samples collected. Statistical analysis has been used. Results and Conclusion: Out of all 85 students enrolled in this study, 4 were observed with different parasitic structures in their stool. The common parasitic infection in this study was Cyst of Entamoebahistolytica and eggs of Ancylostomaduodenale.
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This community-based investigation was carried out to estimate the prevalence of intestinal parasitosis in primary school-going children of the Dharan municipality, Sunsari, Nepal from 2007 through 2008. A total of 182 stool samples were collected from 101 male and 81 female children of ages 4 to 10 years. A questionnaire including the factors predisposing to parasitosis, was filled up by the parents of each child. Parasitic examination was carried out by direct wet mount examination and concentration method using 10% formol-ether. The prevalence rate was found to be 22.5%. The result revealed preponderance of Giardia lamblia (11.5%) followed by Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (4.4%), Ascaris lumbricoides (3.3%), hookworm (1.6%) and Enterobius vermicularis (0.5%). Statistically significant difference in the prevalence with respect to age and gender was not seen. However, socioeconomic status, type of toilet used and the practice of hand washing had a strong correlation (p<0.05) with the prevalence of parasitic infection. Abdominal discomfort also had a strong statistical association (p<0.05) with the prevalence of parasitic infection. Proportionally higher infection rate was seen in participants not using filtered or boiled water. Lack of education of mothers and children, improper toilets and failure to practice proper hand washing were perceived from this study as contributors to the acquisition of intestinal parasitic infections.