Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 1660-1664
Archana Shukla and Pooja Pandey (Department of Psychology, Lucknow University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh )

Spousal chronic illness is a challenge for both partners. The ill partner suffers due to the disease. The well partner suffers as he/she takes on the additional burden of caring for the ill spouse. Thus although only one partner of the marital dyad is ill, both of the marital partners and their relationships as well as lives get affected. Spousal illness therefore necessitates reframing of the underlying cognitions, remodeling of personal relationships, and reorganizing of lives. Much of these have to be done by the well partners. The present study sampled 304 male and female caregivers belonging to the four age groups of 25-35 yrs, 36-45 yrs, 46-55 yrs and 56-65 yrs and explored the extent to which they used three specific cognitive reframing strategies adaptive outlook, mental renovations and relationship remodeling - in order to care for and cope with spouses who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Data were collected through face to face personal interviews with caregivers and analyzed using 2x4 ANOVAs to study the gender and age related differences in the use of cognitive reframing strategies. The analysis revealed a significant main effect of sex with respect to all three cognitive reframing strategies. As compared to female caregivers, male caregivers were found to make greater use of adaptive outlook, mental renovations and relationship remodeling in their daily living. The findings are discussed in the light of sex roles, gender role socialization and clinical researches. The worth of the study lies in showing how care giving experiences of females differ from that of males in terms of nature, structure, range, amount and quality and also how cognitive reframing interventions, particularly for women, could be of great benefit in the context of caring for their chronically ill spouse.

Pages: 1669-1673
Sona Raghuvanshi (Amity Institute of Behavioral and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Gurgaon, Haryana)

The present study aims to compare criminals and non-criminals on the basis of psychological factors like Hostility, guilt-feeling, conflict over hostility and different areas of approval motive. The study was conducted on 200 respondents including 100 criminals and 100 non-criminals. The criminals were selected from the four important jails of Bihar namely Patna, Buxar, Gaya and Bhagalpur and equal number of non-criminals (persons having non-criminals record) were also selected from the same four towns of Bihar mentioned above. The sample was purposive one and included only married males in the age group of 21 to 40, who had minimum education up to seventh standard. The scales used were (1) Questionnaire of Hostility, Guilt and Conflict (Q-HGC, Sowaid, 1972), and, (2) Approval Motive Scale developed by Tripathi and Tripathi (1980). The data obtained were analyzed by t-test. The hypotheses formulated were:(1)The criminals would score higher on hostility as compared to the non-criminals.(2) The criminal group of subject would score lower on guilt feeling toward hostility than their non-criminal counterparts.(3) The criminal group of subjects would score high on conflict over feeling of hostility than the non-criminal group of subjects.(4)The criminals would score lower on normative behavior as compared to non-criminals.(5) The criminal group of subjects would score lower on social conformity than the non-criminal group of subjects.(6) The criminals would score lower on positive self-presentation area of approval motive as compared to non-criminal group of subjects.(7)The criminal group of subjects would score lower on the dependency area of approval motive compared to the non-criminal group of subjects.(8) The criminal group of subjects would score lower on defensiveness as compared to the non-criminals.(9)The criminals as a group would score lower on social responsiveness area of approval motive as compared to the non-criminal group of subjects.(10) The criminal group of subjects would score lower on social approval than the non-criminal group of subjects. The findings confirmed eight hypotheses, while two hypotheses could not be substantiated.

Pages: 1692-1695
Rajesh G Meshram (Department of Psychology, Jijamata College, Nandurbar, Nandurbar)

This study examined the school related activities that parents in with their children. The study also examined how parents in Nandubar perceive their involvement and expectations of their children's academic achievement goals. Sixteen parents (15 females and 1 male) who had children in standards five, six, or seven participated in the study. Participants were parents from four different areas of Nandubar. Parents were more involved with their children at home by encouraging their children to put effort. Parents also went to school to communicate with the teachers at school. Some parents assisted with homework even though most parents were challenged by the content their child was learning. Parents had high expectations of their children's academic life regardless of their children's performance in class. Various beliefs mingled with parents' expectations and their children's achievement goal. Although parents varied in their involvement, there was not much difference in their expectations. Lack of time and challenging subject matter were challenges to parents' involvement.

Pages: 1699-1703
Arti C. Kandolkar (S.N.D.T. Womens University, Pune Campus, Pune)
R. N. Kenchappanavar (Karnatata Arts College, Dharwad, Karnatak)

Autism is the most severe developmental disability. It involves impairments in social interaction, limited interests, strange eating or sleeping behaviors or a tendency to hurt oneself. Parenting a child with Autism can be an exhausting task, which may increase parental burden of care and may affect the quality of life. The present study aims to examine the Quality of life and burden of care of parents of autistic and normal children. The sample for the research comprised of 56 Parents of Autistic children and 74 Parents of Normal children. The sample of parents of autistic children was selected with the help of hospital and NGO records and the parents of normal children were selected from the schools of Pune and Mumbai city of Maharashtra. The questionnaires used for the study were Psychological Well-Being Scale by Ryff and Burden of Care Scale by Thara et al. (1998). The results reveal that when the 'Quality of life' as a whole, is considered, there is no significant difference between parents of Autistic and parents of Normal children (t= .368 is not significant) but dimension wise analysis shows that the parents of autistic children differ significantly on 'Environmental Mastery' (t = 2.46; p < 0.05), and 'Self Acceptance' (t = 3.31; p < 0.01). On 'Burden of care' scale a significant difference is seen between parents of Autistic and normal children (t = 3.40, p < 0.01).

Pages: 1709-1711
Anuradha, Raghavendra Huchchannavar and Vinod Chayal (Department of Community Medicine, Pt.BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana)
Savita Chahal ( Department of Psychiatry, Pt.BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana)

Although menstruation is a natural process, it is linked with several misconceptions and practices, which sometimes result into adverse health outcomes. Learning about menstrual hygiene is a vital aspect of health education for adolescent girls. (i) To find out the status of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. (ii) To explorethe beliefs, dietary habits and perceptions regarding menstruation among the study population. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 110 adolescent school girls with the help of a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire regarding menstrual hygiene. The mean age of menarche was 12.4 years. Majority of the girls (66.4%) preferred using both sanitary pads and cloth pieces. Only 11.25% girls used sanitary pads during the entire menstruation. Practices of cleanliness were unsatisfactoryamong 43 (39.1%) girls. Eighty four (76.4%) girls had dietary restrictions, 85.5% girls were restricted to visit temples and 62.7% girls were prohibited entry to kitchen during periods. Menstrual hygiene is far from satisfactory among a large proportion of the adolescent girls with rampant ignorance, false perceptions and unsafe practices regarding menstruation. This emphasizes upon the need to encourage safe and hygienic practices among the adolescent girls and bring them out of traditional beliefs, misconceptions and restrictions with the active involvement of medical and paramedical health professionals.

Pages: 1717-1720
Neelam ( Vocational Counsellor, BPSGMC, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat)
Joginder Singh ( Department of Sociology, M.D.U., Rohtak, Haryana)

Persons with Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are subject to variety of psychosocial consequences, which can be more harmful than the other medical difficulties they have. The present study was mainly aimed at understanding the coping processes used by patients with Ankylosing spondylitis. For this, 100 patients of Anklyosing Spondylitis aged 18 to 30 years were selected from PGIMS, Rohtak and BPSGMC, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat to participate in the study along with 100 normal controls. Data were collected by administering Folkman and Lazarus' Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (Mean, SD, SK, and KU) to ascertain the normalcy of data, t-ratios to compare the two groups in terms of their mean scores of eight measures of coping, and Discriminant Function Analysis to examine the joint contribution of all the eight variables in differentiation of two groups. Results revealed that patients with AS scored significantly low on Confrontive Coping, Self Controlling, Seeking Social Support, Accepting Responsibility, Planful Problem Solving, and Positive Reappraisal. In Discriminant Analysis, Positive Reappraisal, Self Controlling, and Distancing emerged most potent discriminators classifying the two groups correctly by 83.5%. Overall findings revealed the patients with AS to be significantly low on both the problem-focused and emotion-focused ways of coping.

Pages: 1724-1727
Bilal Ahmad and Samina Bano (Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi)
Vibha Sharma (Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, Delhi )

Alcohol abuse is a worldwide problem that causes various sequelae, which severely affect physical and mental health, social and daily life. Quality of Life (QOL) is increasingly recognized as an important outcome measure in treatment studies and for service evaluation. The study was conducted with the aim of exploring the Quality of life in dual diagnosis, alcohol dependence syndrome and control group. A sample of 30 male subjects using purposive sampling and quantitative method. In each group a sample of 10 subjects were taken from OPD and ward of Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Delhi. Tool like quality of life (WHOQOL-Brf, 1998) were collected from subjects personally and separately from each other. Descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis Test techniques were used to analyse the data. Results indicate that there was significant difference in quality of life among three groups but the quality of life related to physical domains, social domain and environmental domain was found poor in of dual diagnosis and alcohol dependent patients. The overall quality of life is high in psychological domains in all the three groups.

Pages: 1736-1738
Ankita Deshmukh and Bansh Gopal Singh (School of Studies in Psychology, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur)

Addiction is associated with various psychological factors. The present study was planned to study Obsession Compulsions in tobacco addictives. Obsession- Compulsion in Gudhakhu Users' was studied on a sample of 28 males and 28 females who use gudhakhu 3-4 times a day. Non users were also studied on a similar sample (28 males and 28 females). To measure obsession-compulsion in participants a self developed Obsession-Compulsion Inventory Screening Form was used. The results indicated that obsessive-compulsive behavior trait was found more in gudhakhu using group. It also indicated that females had more Obsession- Compulsion than males. The interaction between the genders and the user group was found insignificant in both compulsion and obsession.

Pages: 1742-1744
Kalpana Singh and S. K. Srivastava (Department of Psychology, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttarakhand)

The five-year-old girl, was abducted, brutalized and raped allegedly by two men in east Delhi(2012), 'Indian couple from Andhra Pradesh facing charges of child abuse burnt and hit their seven-year-old son with belt (2012),.'Three minor girl of juvenile home were raped by peon at Allahabad'(2012),.'The Noida serial murder and abuse case (also Nithari serial murders, Nithari Kand) took place in nithari village in 2006'. Child abuse is a crime which is committed by individuals who are frustrated by their own lives. Abusing a child is as serious crime as killing a person because a child is soft by nature and any abuse that he or she goes through in early stages of life, leaves a lasting effect on its mind for always. However child finds it difficult to forget or erase such memories all he or she ends up in is being frustrated. Some of the victims of child abuse lose their confidence forever and lead their lives as introverts. Childhood is the primary stage of life. It knows no worry or anxiety, no good or evil. It is the period of both ignorance and innocence. The heart of a child is as pure as a Crystal and it is also said that “God lives in a child” But some people without understanding the importance of the fact that a child is God's gift, abuse them to an extent that their future is ruined forever. The paper is an attempt to analyze the nature and psychological consequences of child abuse.

Pages: 1748-1750
Mary Nivya A., Sanjana Keerthi, Liya Ajayan and Pavitra B. (Department of Psychology, Avinashilingam University for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu)

Middle adulthood is known as a period bodily changes and adjustments required to be made psychologically by the individual. Due to hormonal changes in middle adulthood and one's outlook of past achievements and experiences when compared to their current productivity rate, one may become depressed. Age as a factor by itself may be a cause for depression and also death anxiety, where one starts to contemplate the idea of death to be nearing and thus fear death. The study on “Depression and Death Anxiety in Middle Adulthood” was conducted in Coimbatore Tamil Nadu. The sample consisted of 61 randomly selected adults (28 male and 33 female) in the age range of 40 to 60 years. The prevalence of depression and death anxiety were assessed using Beck Depression Inventory (1971) and Death Anxiety Inventory (Donald Temple, 1970) respectively. It was found that majority of the sample suffer from depression at the mild level and middle aged men are prone to milder forms of depression while middle aged women are more prone to moderate and higher levels of depression. When comparing the male and female population, more percentage of the female population suffers from death anxiety than the male population. Statistically significant correlations were found between age and depression, age and death anxiety and depression and death anxiety. There were positive correlations between having married children with both depression and death anxiety for the parents of those children and between depression and years of marriage.

Pages: 1757-1759
Subodh Bansod (Department of Psychology, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj, Nagpur University Mahatam Jyotiba Fule Education University, Campas, Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh)

During the stage of development, child undergoes a number of physical as well as mental changes which gives rise to a number problems related to emotional, educational, social and other aspect of behavior. Family plays a very important role in the emotional, educational and social development of the child. The child is more readily impressed by the life and example of the mother than that of father. Present study was undertaken to compare the awareness of responsibilities, emotional balance and family adjustment of the children of working and non-working women. The sample was consisted 300 adolescents learning in ninth standard from randomly selected four schools of Nagpur. Out of 300 adolescents, 150 were children of working women and 150 were children of non-working women. A questionnaire was prepared on the basis of five dimensions, namely, proud of mother, expectations from mother, awareness regarding responsibilities, emotional balance and family adjustment. It contains 65 questions. Each item was in the form of a statement about the dimensions, the students indicated their agreement with each of the statement on five point scale. This questionnaire was used for collecting the data. The results revealed that there is no significant difference between the mean proud of mother scores of children of working and non-working women. children of working women are better family adjusted than the children of non-working women.