Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 1452-1454
Farah Ashraf, Asma Bashir, Shahab Mehmood and Bushra Saeed (Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Clifton, Karachi, Pakistan)

Orchids are well-known around the globe as plants of decoration and called as gems in the area of horticulture. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the flower extracts of Dendrobium nobile and phalaenopsis plants, in vitro for their antibacterial activity against pyogenic skin infection isolates, that is, Staphylococuus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis by means of agar disc diffusion method. For this intention, strains were isolated from skin acne patients and were identified by conventional methods. The flower extracts of Dendrobium nobile and phalaenopsis showed antibacterial activity against pyogenic skin isolates. In comparable, five standard antibiotics were also checked against the isolated strains. The data demonstrated promising outcome in case of Dendrobium nobile and phalaenopsis compared to five broad-spectrum antibiotics. Moreover, the analysis also demonstrated that the pyogenic skin infectious isolates were challenging against several broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Pages: 1458-1460
K. G. Dhanesh (Clinical Psychologist, CRC for persons with disabilities, Kozhikode)
S. Karthikeyan (Lecturer in Rehab. Psychology NIEPMD, Chennai)

Autism is widely regarded to be the most severe of the childhood psychiatric conditions. It is a developmental disorder and is diagnosed on the basis of abnormal social development, abnormal communicative development, and the presence of narrow, restricted interests and repetitive activity, along with limited imaginative ability. The symptoms are usually evident by the age of three years. All the levels of IQ can occur in autism, but there is significant mental retardation in some three-quarters of the cases. The present study was to find out the relationship between Level of Intelligence & Social Quotient among children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with regards to severity of the condition. The results shows while severity of Autism increases, the level of intelligence is found to be reduced and there is strong positive correlation between level of intelligence and social quotient among children with ASD.

Pages: 1463-1466
Hardeep Kaur (Department of Social Work, Punjabi University, Patiala)

Significant limitations in intellectual functioning and also in adaptive behavior consisting of many daily social and practical skills, fall under, the definition of intellectual disability .It normally starts off before the age of 18. Impact of which can be seen not only on the person concerned but also on the family as a whole too. There exists a body of literature that not only explores the abilities and identifies several perspectives emerging from experiences of families of persons with intellectual disability and but also throw light on obstructions faced by them at various stages of development . The author in this paper has reviewed the literature related to issues pertaining to reactions and responses of the families to the challenges that arise due to the birth and upbringing of the child with intellectual disability

Pages: 1470-1473
Bhattacharya Sayantani and Das Sanjukta (Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata)

Pregnancy being an important milestone in a woman's life, motherhood has long been a debated topic. Every individual posit a different view of motherhood and its importance in one's life. From the time immemorial it has been considered as an expression of female identity, and every woman aspires to become mother to be socially accepted. But what exactly drives a woman to be mother is still a curtained fact. The present article is an endeavor to search for its cause in the society and in psychological makeup of the women. Though the societal operations have important contributions in having favourable attitude towards motherhood, personal choice and psychological factors do manipulate this attitude. A small survey was also conducted to get the impression of motherhood directly from the women to get a more magnified view of their perspectives. The survey revealed the influence of the lifestyle factors that shapes the decision of child bearing of the contemporary women. In this regard, the stance of the different theorists about motherhood has also been taken into account to provide an answer to the question, why every woman wants to have baby and yearns to be called 'mother'.

Pages: 1479-1480
Masood ul Hassan (Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh)

The study was intended to examine the effects of yogic and physical exercise on mental health. 100 subjects in four groups viz. light exercise group, heavy exercise group, yoga performers group and control group were administered measures of mental health. All the subjects are male in the age range of 19-24 years. Data were analyzed by simple ANOVA suitable for multigroup design. Results revealed that the control group had significantly poor mental health than the exercise and yoga performing group.

Pages: 1486-1489
Eva Panda and B. B. Pradhan (SOA University, Bhubaneswar, Orissa)
P. K. Mishra (Centre for Good Living, Bhubaneswar, Odisha)

This paper focuses on work and life. It tries to integrate and balance work life and quality of life Today's world is highly competitive. The workplace demands more than the expertise possessed. Vital is the mastery of technical and analytical skills. It is also necessary to learn effective time management skills. This will enable one to develop a confident attitude towards work and bring about a balance within the work and one's own life. Today's research in Organizational Behaviour has gathered momentum due changes in technology, organizational culture and changes in the society. The focus has been renewed into newer area like Quality Of Life. Different scholars have tried to quantify and define Quality of Life. It is viewed as a multiple relationship in happiness .It involves perception, attitudes, beliefs, experience, personality traits and everyday aspects of living. It is nothing but a situation that occurs at the individual level. The satisfaction plays an important role. It will bring about a positive attitude and in turn success in work and life. This in turn contributes to a higher order of Quality of Life and a balance in work Life.

Pages: 1492-1496
Pooja Bhatnagar and Waheeda Khan (Department of Psychology, Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi)

The present retrospective study investigates the influence of positive and negative affects among heart disease patients. The sample was comprised of 120 males equally divided in three groups, i.e., MI, AP and CO. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) developed by Watson and Clark (1988) was administered on the heart patients and control group. The data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The results indicated that mean score of control group on the measure of positive affectivity differed significantly from MI and AP groups, however the latter two groups did not yield significant mean differences on this measure. Analysis of post- hoc mean comparisons on the measure of negative affectivity showed that means of AP and MI groups are significantly higher than Control group.

Pages: 1502-1505
Roopa K.S., Rama Devi G. and Praname Sharma (Department of Human Development and Research Centre, Smt. V.H.D. Central Institute of Home Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore, Karnataka)

An assessment of the existing knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) in the management of diabetes and hypertension among old age people was undertaken as the objective that was accomplished through a questionnaire on KAP in the management of diabetes and hypertension developed by the investigators and administered to a sample of 120 old age people of which 60 men and 60 women further classified into 30 in 65-70 and 71-76 years of age group. The quantitative analysis was made applying percentage and student 't' test for significance of difference among the groups classified for the study. The finding revealed in the management of hypertension the mean score of men and women respondents were found to be higher in attitude followed by knowledge and practices. In the management of diabetes men and women respondents showed higher mean score in knowledge followed by practices and attitude. There was no significant difference in KAP in managing diabetes among men and women respondents. There was no significant difference in KAP among the two age groups of elderly in managing the disease. The KAP scores of elderly people can further improve with well planned educational programme using various audio visual aids to impart knowledge about the disease diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

Pages: 1512-1516
Charlane Pereira e Rebello (Smt. Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts & Science Margao, Goa)
Priscilla Paul (Department of Applied Psychology & Counseling Centre University of Mumbai, Mumbai)

This paper presents the report of an investigation to explore the effect of leisure satisfaction on life satisfaction among 300 professionals in Goa. The study adopted the survey design. Simple regression analysis indicated that there is a predictive positive relationship between leisure satisfaction and life satisfaction among the professionals. Implications of the research findings are also discussed.

Pages: 01-06
B. Jayabharathi (Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, SRM College of Nursing, SRM University, Chennai)
Jayamohanraj (Department of Community Health Nursing, SRM College of Nursing, SRM University, Chennai)
Menopause is a normal occurrence in the life of every woman. The term is derived from the Greek, which actually means 'cessation of periods'. Menopause occurs due to cessation of ovarian function.The word menopause and climacteric are used interchangeably. It also indicates a 'change of life' from one of reproduction, which is coming to an end. The age of menopause varies from 45 to 50 years .In some woman, the age of menopause may be 51 or 52 years. This community based study tested the effect of yoga on climacteric symptoms of menopausal women. This was a prospective randomized interventional study. The study was conducted in selected villages at Kattankulathur Block, Chennai,Tamilnadu, India. Multistage sampling technique was used for the identification of menopausal women for the study. The total sample size was 260 menopausal women and they were randomly allotted to two groups: 130 of them to yoga group and 130 of them to control group. The yoga group has undergone yoga training programme which consists of Yogasanas, Pranayama (Breathing exercise) and Meditation. The yoga group has practiced yoga for 5 days in a week for 1 hr /day for 12 weeks by trained instructor. The assessments were made by five point Rating scale ( to assess the physical and psychological symptoms ) which is based on Standardized Menopause Rating scale(MRS)andPerceived Stress Scale ( for level of stress of menopausal women). After 12 weeks of yoga practice , the physical symptoms of menopausal women were reduced to greater extent in yoga group than in control group at p< 0.001 level of significance. There was significantly better improvement in the psychological symptoms of menopausal women in yoga group (p<0.001) than in control group. In the yoga group, there was a marked reduction of stress level after 12 weeks of intensive yoga practice (p<0.001) than in control group. The present study concluded that, yoga is an effective intervention in reducing the physical, psychological symptoms and level of stress of menopausal women. Yoga's approach to holistic health is powerful tool for helping the women experience the passage into menopause as a positive event, both physically and spiritually.

Pages: 10-15
Georgitta J. Valiyamattam (Department of Psychology and Parapsychology, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam)
D. V. Venu Gopal (Psychology and Human Values, AP IIT, Nuzvid, Andhra Pradesh)

We examined the impact of the level of parental education on adolescent adjustment from early adolescence into late adolescence, across gender and grade groups comprising high school and Grade 12. Participants in this cross-sectional study consisted of 1337 students (676 boys and 661 girls) from High School and grade 12 in various institutes of north coastal Andhra Pradesh. Adjustment patterns were measured along the six adjustment dimensions of the Culturally Relevant Bell Adjustment Inventory (Ashok, Madhu, Suneetha & Ramana, 2004). These dimensions include- Home adjustment, Health adjustment, Submissiveness Vs Assertion, Emotionality, Hostility Vs Friendliness and Masculinity Vs Femininity. Results obtained indicated a significant impact of parental education on adolescent adjustment with a greater impact at the high school level as compared to grade 12 level. Both paternal and maternal education were relatively equal predictors of adolescent adjustment. While paternal education was a more significant predictor of adjustment for males at the high school level, maternal education became a slightly more powerful determinant of adjustment for males at the grade 12 level. Maternal education was also a slightly more influential predictor of adjustment among female students. An impact of the level of parental education was seen on the dimensions of home adjustment, hostility and masculinity in the male subsample and the dimensions of emotionality and masculinity in the female subsample. Male students with graduate fathers exhibited a greater degree of home adjustment difficulties and lowest levels of hostility. A higher level of maternal education was found to foster better home adjustment among males at Grade 12 and better emotional adjustment among females at the high school level. Both the independent and interaction effects of parental education largely revealed that the levels of masculinity tended to be high for both males and females, regardless of the grade group, when both the parents had either graduate or post graduate levels of education.

Pages: 21-25
Shriti Choudhary (Department of Psychology, R L S Y College, Ranchi)
Anjani Jyoti Toppo (Department of Psychology, Ranchi University, Ranchi)

The elderly in India accounted for 5.7% in 1990, estimated to reach 12.6% in 2020 with 13% of the total population. India will have the second largest greying population in the world by 2025.(Chadha & Easwasamoorthy, 1993). Majority of them 70% will be fully dependent on productive population with a need of economic support and responsible caregiving. The relationship of elders with their caregivers and the caregiving burden has emerged as a vital field of investigation affecting the psychology of everyday life. In this backdrop, the present study attempts to measure the general wellbeing of the elderly and perceived caregiving burden of their family caregivers. The study aims to assess the wellbeing of male and female elderly and see the impact of place of residence on their wellbeing. As the wellbeing of the elderly is directly related with the caregiving burden, the present study also attempts to measure the caregiving burden of their family caregivers. Data have been collected using PGI General Well Being Measure Verma, and Verma (2009) and Perceived Caregiving Burden Scale by Gupta (2007). A purposive sample of 120 elderly, stratified randomly on the basis of gender (male/female) and place of residence (rural/urban) was taken for the study. It was found that rural female elderly scored more on Well Being Measure than their male counterpart, urban females also scored higher than the males. On total Wellbeing Measure the female sample had a better wellbeing than the male. As far as the caregiving burden is concerned, it was found negatively correlated with the wellbeing of the elders. Higher the wellbeing lower was the perceived caregiving burden. Urban caregivers perceived fewer burdens than the rural ones. In both settings, feeling of entrapment was highest perceived burden, followed by financial and sense of abandonment. The study recommends improvement in the wellbeing of the elderly for minimising the caregiving burden.