Differential Effect Of Family Disintegration On The Correlation Of Mental Health To Locus Of Control And Self-Efficacy Of Adolescents

The study aims to explore the relationship of mental health to internal locus of control and self-efficacy of adolescents, and further to explore the differential effect of family integration on the relationship. The descriptive correlational study collected data from a random sample of 1246 adolescent learners from different secondary schools of Kerala by administering standardized psychometric instruments. Statistical analysis brought out that both internal locus of control and self-efficacy of the adolescents from broken and intact families are significantly and positively correlated to their mental health. Significant differences were observed between adolescents from broken and intact families with respect to the correlation of mental health to internal locus of control and self-efficacy. Adolescents from broken families excelled their counterparts from intact families in the degree of relationship between the variables. The study revealed that the mental health of adolescents from broken families is more strongly influenced by their internal locus of control and self-efficacy than that of adolescents from intact families

Observational sickness assessment by the NICU staff nurses.

OBJECTIVE: To see the level of agreement on subjectively assessed sickness by NICU staff nurse with doctor. METHODS: Prospective study in NICU for three months. The nurses were asked to assess whether a baby is sick or not on the basis of observed physical variables. Both the nurses and the attending physician made their assessment on a progress sheet separately. Statistical analysis was carried out to see the agreement of the nurses with the doctors in respect to the sickness assessment, treatment, final outcome and the agreement between the symptoms picked up by the nurses and the doctors. RESULTS: Out of 112 babies admitted, 90 were observed to be sick by the nurses out of which 85 were observed to be sick by the doctors (Kappa=0.4098). Considerable accuracy was noted on comparing symptoms picked up by the nurses and the doctors'. The Kappa value for respiratory, GI and neurological system was 0.4278,0.401 and 0.59 respectively. A significant correlation was seen between the two groups with regard to the treatment given (p value=0.0456). CONCLUSION: Trained NICU staff nurse can identify sick neonate on observation.