Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 1007-1009
Nelofar, S. (Department of Physiology, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical College, Lyari General Hospital, Karachi)
Khalida, S., Zeenat, A. and Masood A. Qurashi (Department of Physiology, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan )
Rukhshan Khurshid (Department of Biochemistry, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan)
Fatima Shad, K. (Institute of Health Sciences, University of Brunei, Darussalam)
Sadaf, A. and Shamoon, N. (Advance Educational Institute & Research Center, Pakistan)

Present study tried to find out the role of midlife, BMI and different stages of hypertension in developing dementia which may lead to Alzheimer's disease in city of Karachi-Pakistan A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2008 and April 2010. Study included 611 hypertensive patients of both males and females gender with age > 50 years. Patients were taken from the local clinic and hospitals of Karachi-Pakistan. Patients were screened for cognitive impairment using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and informants who knew the subjects answered the Informant Questionnaire for Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE). BMI and blood pressure of each patient was noted. Patients were considered to hypertensive according to Joint National Committee criteria. Our study observed that the intensity of dementia is directly related especially with hypertension type 2. Study also observed that with the increasing in age the prevalence of all form of dementia was observed. Highest percentage of patients with low BMI and BMI > 25 showed severe form of dementia as compared to normal weight. It is therefore concluded that hypertension type 2 is the major risk factor that will increase the risk of AD in Pakistan; but along with other factors like obesity and aging, it can lead to AD and related pathological conditions in individuals markedly characterized by dementia and cognitive decline.

Pages: 1013-1017
P.S.N. Tiwari and Krishna Sharma (Department of Psychology, DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, UP)

How people feel and think about their lives is essential and integral part of understanding the well-being in a particular society. The present study is an attempt to investigate the well-being of male and female adolescents (N=240) attending government and public schools of Gorakhpur city. All the subjects belonged to the age group of 15 to 17 years. These participants were subjected to 35 items measure of well-being having seven domains. The results revealed that adolescents attending to public school scored higher as compare to government school on dimensions of well-being namely positive affect, family support and achievement expectation, while male adolescents showed higher emotional support, achievement expectation. The implications of the findings have been discussed.

Pages: 1020-1021
Sat Pal (Demonstrator, Department of Physiology, University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana)
Vijay Silan (Senior Resident, Centre for Community Medicine All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi)
Anup Kumar (Deputy Civil Surgeon, Badshah Khan District Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana)
Anuj Sihan (Demonstrator, Department of Biochemistry BPS GMC, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, Haryana)
Archana, S and Karthik L. Balajee (Junior Resident, Centre for Community Medicine All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi)

Three quarter of the neonatal deaths happens in the first week only and the initial 24 hours itself take a toll of 25% to 45% of deaths. The Studies conducted in the South East Asia Regions has shown the impact of home visits by skilled workers and it has reduced deaths of newborns by 30 to 61%. Home visits by a skilled health worker immediately after birth is a health strategy that can increase newborn survival rates. The present cross sectional survey was done among the 54 ASHA s of the Kurali Block of district Faridabad of Haryana. All the ASHAs were assessed on the basis of their skills and knowledge about the component of Home Based Post Natal Care (HBPNC). Conclusions and recommendations: All the ASHAs were well versed with the vital issues in postnatal care. There is still gap in the skills required for proper HBPNC. There is need of continuous on the job training for the Home Based Post Natal Care.

Pages: 1024-1029
Vinod Kumari (CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Campus Kaul, Kaithal, Haryana)

Ageing is a constant, predictable process that involves growth and development of living organisms. The United Nations anticipates that the number of people aged 65 and over will increase to 822 million all over the world by 2025. The increase of ageing population is a major concern to both the family and the government. Developing countries such as China and India have the largest total population, and will continue to have the largest absolute number of elderly people. Nobody grow old merely by living a certain number of years. Years may wrinkle the skin but worry, doubt, fear, anxiety, tension and self disrespect wrinkle the soul. Elderly people are highly prone to mental morbidities due to ageing of the brain, problems associated with physical health and socio-economic factors like break down of family support and decline in economic independence. The issue is more acute for women because they are disadvantaged in the predominantly patriarchal societies in which most of them live. The present study examines the changes in mental health of aged rural women and influence of various socio-economic factors on these changes. A semi-structured questionnaire on socio-demographic and mental health profiles of women was developed to assess their mental health status. Most of the women under study were consuming those food items which were easily available in villages and their diet generally lacked fruits, eggs and meat as only 17.5 per cent women were consuming egg and meat while 21.3 per cent ate fruits occasionally. Majority of aged women reported that they could concentrate on work (82.5%) and pay a useful role in the family (83.7%) provided they were given due respect and health care. It was found that more than half of them (57.5%) remained under stress due to one or the other reason and the magnitude of their mental stress was more than their physical one. Family education had positive impact on mental health status of elder women of the family as the mental health level of aged rural women from families having higher education was somewhat better than those of having lower level of family education. More rural aged women from married class were mentally good (86.0%) than those from widow class (67.6%). Family bonding among its members plays an important role in maintaining their physical and mental health specially those of older persons. More number of aged women from medium size families (84.4%) was having good mental health level as compared to those of small (78.3%) and large size (50.0%) families. It was found that high family income was not a guarantee of good mental health of its elderly women but it is the love and affection of family members that natters to keep the mental health of aged women sound as more women from families having medium annual income were having good mental health level (87.1%). The present study showed some association of socio-economic factors with mental health and functioning of an elderly woman.

Pages: 1035-1040
Shobhita Rani (Freelancer Psychologist, Dehradun, UK)

This study is based on interviews of the 192 visually impaired subjects. 93 males and 99 females above 5yr of age from National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehradun, were interviewed and their dreams and other relevant information were collected. They were divided into two age group age group I i.e. under 12yrs and age group II i.e. above 12 yrs. Considering the contents of the dream of the visually impaired their dreams were divided into 13 categories and then interpreted. Most of the dreams upon interpretation indicated a feeling of insecurity, fear and anxiety in their personality.

Pages: 1044-1047
Suresh Kumar (Department of Psychology, Govt. College of Girls, Sec -11, Chandigarh)
Rakesh Kumar Behmani (Department of Applied Psychology, G. J. University of Science and Technology, Hisar)

Adolescence is a time of change in life and peer pressure is a main issue of discussion among different fraternities. Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes values or behaviour in order to conform to group norms. Youth peer pressure is one of the most frequently referred to forms of peer pressure. It is particularly common because most youth spend large amounts of time in fixed groups regardless of their opinion of those groups. In addition to this, they may lack the maturity to handle pressure from friends. Peer relationships can be a powerful positive or negative influence. Friends and other ideals of the same age are main source of peer pressure because they affect an adolescent's decision making a lot.

Pages: 1054-1058
A. Velayudhan and S. Selvaraju (Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore )

The study was conducted on 100 samples (50 male and 50 female) in KSR Textiles, Erode. The textile employees face stress, which affects their general functioning and attitude toward life. The present investigation was carried out to a) Differentiate the life stress events among male and female textile employees and b) to find out the difference in occupational stress among male and female textile employees. The results indicated no significant difference in the level of life stress events between male and females working in the textile mill. Whereas, there was a significant difference in the role behavior stress between male and female textile workers in the level of occupational stress.

Pages: 1068-1071
Sanjay Kumar (Department of Psychology, Chaudhary Charan Singh University Campus, Meerut, UP)
Madhulika Sharma (Department of Psychology, Vashya Arya Kanya PG Maha Vidyalay, Bahadurgarh, Haryana )

The present study focuses on the investigation of life satisfaction, marital adjustment, and psychological distress of perimenopausal women. The sample for the study was consisted of 60 women subjects of age range 36-55 years, who were randomly selected after screening of more than 250 menopausal women. These subjects were similar in onset of menarche, education, and family type (nuclear families of medium economic status). The selected subjects were than randomly assigned to three groups according to their age of menopause, they were early, natural and late menopause. The standardized tools were used for the measurement of variables under study. The results obtained through mean and ANOVA indicated that pre-menopausal women experienced significantly lower life satisfaction and marital adjustment as compared to natural and late menopausal women.