RESUMO
CONTEXT: The nature of the work in saw mills carries a huge risk as the workers are exposed to various life-threatening hazards. AIMS: This study was conducted to know the "Work place Wellbeing" of the saw mill workers, occupational Hazards identification and Risk assessment (HIRA) including hazard communication, occupational accidents, injuries and diseases. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The study was a cross sectional study amongst workers of saw mills. METHODS AND MATERIAL: A total of 219 saw mill workers were interviewed. "Work place wellbeing", was studied by using the "Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire - Black Dog Institute" which includes four areas of workplace wellbeing viz. (1) Work satisfaction, (2) Organizational respect for the employee, (3) Employer care, and (4) Intrusion of work into private life. Reliability analysis was done and Cronbach's alpha was found. Association was found between the work place wellbeing and other demographic and occupational variables. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Proportions and Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: Scores of all the participants fall in the medium scale for "work satisfaction". For "respect", 93.6% fall in the medium scale. In "employer care" 97.7% fall in medium category. All the workers scored in the medium scale for the "intrusion in private life". None of the scores were in low scale for any domain. Injury as an event was reported by 8.22%. Specific disease prevalence was highest for back ache as 72.1%. Hazard communication was done in 40% workers. CONCLUSIONS: We found poor working positions at work place and they did suffer from various medical morbidities at the work place.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Smartphone use is escalating among adolescents, thereby increasing the risk of its addiction among them. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of smartphone use and its addiction among adolescents in 16-19 years of age group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted among 496 students in the age group of 16-19 years. Relevant information was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and the Smartphone Addiction (SA) Scale. Chi-square test and logistic regression were applied to study the association between independent and dependent variables. RESULTS: Smartphone use was found to be 83.9%. It was associated with age, area of residence, discipline, use of hands-free kit, and parents' education and income. The smartphone addiction rate was reported to be 37%. It was found to be associated with age, area of residence, place of education, duration of smartphone use, daily hours of use, perception that cellphone use is harmful to health, and parents' education and income. CONCLUSION: A high rate of SA among adolescents warrants effective strategies at local, state, and national level to address this growing health problem in this population.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Faith healing is a method of treating illnesses through the exercise of faith rather than medical methods. The current study was done with the objective to find out demographic variables of faith healers, various conditions for which the people approach them, various practices and processes used and to look for scope of integrated approach to healthcare with faith healers. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: RHTC village was a sub center village of PHC Morad. Hence, for the study, all the villages which comes under PHC Morad were selected. The design of the study was a cross-sectional study. METHODS AND MATERIAL: The study was a cross sectional study where faith healers were interviewed based on a semi structured questionnaire comprising of both close and open-ended questions. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Absolute numbers. RESULTS: Different reasons for which the persons usually came for ranged from supernatural possession, unemployment, family problems etc., and various different processes were used by these healers to solve the problems included giving charms and amulets, personal sacrifices like "baddha" (Nischay/praan) and many others. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that faith healers in many conditions and situations became the first point of contact as the faith of the community in these faith healers is deeply rooted.
RESUMO
CONTEXT: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in first the 6 months of life is the most effective way to satisfy nutritional and psychological needs of a baby. However, EBF rate for India remained low at 54.9% during 2015-2016. It is therefore essential to understand the reasons for such a low EBF rate in the country so that appropriate interventions can be developed and implemented. OBJECTIVES: (1) To estimate the prevalence of EBF in rural community of central Gujarat and (2) to identify barriers to EBF in this community. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based cross sectional study was conducted among mothers of 330 infants of age 6 months to 1 year using pretested questionnaire. Two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select the sample. χ2 test, t-test, and logistic regression were applied to assess the significance of associations. RESULTS: EBF rate in the studied population was detected to be 49.7%. Early marriage of parents, less educated parents, male child, Christian religion, working mother, less number of antenatal visits, operative delivery, late initiation of breastfeeding, not feeding colostrum, lack of knowledge about EBF, and poor counseling of mother regarding EBF were identified as barriers to EBF. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of EBF was found to be lower than the national average in the rural community of central Gujarat. Effective strategies at local, state, and national levels should aim at addressing the barriers to EBF that are identified in this study.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Accredited social health activist (ASHA) has the pivotal role to play in the whole design and strategy of national rural health mission (NRHM). The performance of ASHA is, therefore, critical for the success of NRHM and hence of the health improvement strategy of the government of India. OBJECTIVES: (1) To evaluate the knowledge and performance of ASHA. (2) To assess the factors affecting these two attributes of ASHA. METHODS: Ten ASHAs were randomly selected from each of the eight administrative blocks of Anand District. Thus, a total of 80 ASHAs participated in the study. Knowledge of ASHAs was assessed by computing knowledge score which included 15 questions, while the performance was assessed through performance score which included 17 indicators. Each ASHA was ranked "Poor," "Average," and "Good" based on the performance score. RESULTS: Out of 80 ASHAs, 49 (61%) were in the age group of 30-40 years. Majority of ASHAs(68%) belonged to other backward class (OBC). 73 (91%) ASHAs had education up to at least secondary level. 65 (81%) ASHAs were working for more than 4 years. About 84% of ASHAs had knowledge score between 12 and 15. Nearly 51% of ASHAs ranked average in performance, while 49% ranked poor. None of the ASHAs ranked good. Knowledge score and performance ranks were not associated with age, caste, education, and duration of service of ASHAs. Performance ranks were found to be significantly associated only with time lapse since the last training received. CONCLUSION: To strengthen the grass root cader of ASHAs, their evaluation should be conducted regularly. Additional refresher training should be provided to ASHAs with low knowledge and performance scores so that the engagement of rural community with the health system can be improved.
RESUMO
CONTEXT: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the musculoskeletal disorders that is often described as an occupational hazard, including occupations involving computer use. However, clear consensus is lacking as far as the association between the use of computer and risk of possible CTS is concerned. AIM: To assess the association between CTS and computer use. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A case-control study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A sample size of 411 (137 cases and 274 controls) was calculated using Epi Info (version 6). Thus, 137 confirmed cases of CTS and 274 controls (matched for age and sex) were studied using a structured questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval was calculated between the two groups to analyze the association. For control of confounding factors, logistic regression analysis was done. RESULTS: Current use of computer was found to be significantly higher in controls rather than cases (OR = 0.47, CI = 0.27-0.84, P = 0.009). Similarly, past use of computer was also found to be higher in controls. However, the difference was not statistically significant (OR = 0.38, CI = 0.11-1.35, P = 0.20). On applying logistic regression, variables found to be significantly associated with CTS were education (OR = 0.79, CI = 0.66-0.94, P = 0.01), obesity (OR = 3.11, 95%CI = 1.92-5.04, P = 0.00), and short stature (OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 1.02-1.1, P = 0.00). Although current use of computer (OR = 0.33, CI = 0.16-0.67, P = 0.00) was significantly associated with CTS in multivariate model, OR of value less than one does not indicate positive association between this variable and CTS. CONCLUSION: The study did not demonstrate any positive association between computer use and CTS.
