Domestic violence against women: A hidden and deeply rooted health issue in India.

BACKGROUND: Domestic violence was identified as a major contributor to the global burden of ill health in terms of female morbidity leading to psychological trauma and depression, injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, suicide, and murder. AIMS: The study was conducted to find out the prevalence of different types of lifetime domestic violence against women, factors associated with it, and care-seeking behavior. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: An observational cross-sectional study conducted at a slum of Burdwan district of West Bengal, India. METHODS AND MATERIAL: Study was done among 320 ever-married women of 15-49 years of age using a predesigned pretested proforma from March 2019 to December 2019 by face-to-face interview. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were compiled and analyzed by EpiInfo 6 and SPSS 20 version. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence of any form of violence during the lifetime among the study population was 35.63%. Verbal/psychological violence was the most common form of domestic violence (91.23%) followed by physical (82.46%) and sexual violence (64.91%). Slapping and/or beating, kicking, and object throwing were the major forms of physical violence; humiliation (88.46%) was the commonest form of psychological violence and most common form of sexual violence was forced sexual intercourse (51.35%). About 20% of the study population faced violence every day. Older age, lower age at marriage, longer duration of marriage, lower education of husband and wife, lower family income, unemployment of the husband, and alcohol consumption of husband were associated with the occurrence of domestic violence. We have found that the prevalence of domestic violence in this group of population is high. The alarming issue is that approximately one-third of women (32.46%) who faced violence in their lifetime had never sought any help. The findings indicate to develop appropriate and culturally relevant public health interventions to increase awareness.

Depression among nursing students in an Indian government college.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a major public health threat that can affect anyone including health professionals and nursing students. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: This analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 students of a nursing college to find out the burden of depression on them and possible contributing factors using the Beck Depression Inventory. RESULTS: 63.9% of the students were found to be depressed, the majority being mild in grade. First-year students were found to be significantly more affected (P=0.008). Binary logistic regression showed that familial disharmony, disinterest in the course and insecurity about future placement were statistically significant factors behind the development of depression. CONCLUSION: It is imperative that the psychological condition of nursing students be viewed as an important aspect to be considered, particularly within the Indian population and others in which there is a paucity of data.

Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy in a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal, India.

INTRODUCTION: The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has led to the reduction of mortality and the improvement of the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The present study was conducted to determine the pattern of adherence to HAART among PLWHA, and to assess the factor(s) affecting nonadherence, if any. METHODS: This study was a hospital-based analytical, cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted between July and October 2011. A total of 370 adult HIV-positive patients registered in the Antiretroviral Therapy Centre of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal, India, were included. Nonadherence was defined as missing at least a single dose of medicine within the last four days. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). RESULTS: A total of 87.6% of patients were found to be adherent to HAART. Principal causes of nonadherence were forgetting to take medicine (70.2%), being away from home (65.2%), and busyness with other things (64.7%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that nonadherence was significantly associated with a positive family history of HIV/AIDS (odds ratio [OR] 16; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2-114.3; p = 0.01), occurrence of side effects with HAART (OR 9.81; 95% CI 1.9-51.7; p = 0.01) and employment (OR 5.93; 95% CI 1.5-23.2; p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Although overall adherence was high, the factors that affect nonadherence can be addressed with proper counselling and motivation of patients and their family members. Adherence to HAART could delay the progression of this lethal disease and minimise the risk of developing drug resistance.