Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 951-954
Arpita Acharya (Department of Psychology, MBB College (A College Affiliated by Tripura University), Agartala, Tripura, India)
Krishna Biswas (Tripura Council For Child Welfare, Agartala, Tripura India)

This study is an attempt to measure the amount of depression, hopelessness, and self-esteem of a group of destitute women of Tripura who lives in various destitute homes of this state. Three leading homes who work for the welfare of the destitute women are selected and data were collected from 50 women by using three psychological scales, viz. The Beck hopelessness scale, the Beck depression inventory and Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Data were also collected from 50 non-destitute women of the same age and socioeconomic status. Results showed that destitute women have a higher level of depression and hopelessness, but a lower level of self-esteem than non- destitute women. Significant positive correlation between depression and hopelessness was found, but self-esteem is negatively correlated with both depression and hopelessness.

Pages: 961-964
J. Jeffrin Margreat and N.S. Rohini (Department of Psychology, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India)

The study on “management of hopelessness and coping among breast cancer patients” was conducted in Coimbatore Cancer Foundation in Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital, Coimbatore by purposive sampling method. 75 breast cancer patients served as the sample. They were in the age range of 35-70 years under medication. The patients with high scores in Hopelessness and low in brief coping were selected for the study. The tools used for assessment were case study schedule, Beck hopelessness scale (Beck, 1978), and brief coping scale (Carver, 1997). The psychological intervention, “rational emotive behavior therapy” (REBT) was administered to the patients. After 15 days, the re-assessment was given using the same questionnaires. The results indicated a significant reduction in the mean hopelessness with increase in coping strategies. This clearly indicates the effect of REBT in coping among breast cancer patients.

Pages: 969-972
Urooj-un-nisa and Humera Shafi (Department of Psycology, University of Kashmir Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between spiritual well-being (SWB) and depression among adults among Type 2 diabetes. The Universe of the Study was based on 430 Type 2 diabetic adults from Endocare: Advanced centre for diabetes and endocrine care. Purposive sampling was carried out to collect the data. SWB scale developed by Paloutzian and Ellison (1982) was used to investigate SWB among Type 2 diabetic adults and Beck’s Depression Inventory-II by Beck et al. (1996) was used to investigate depression among these diabetic adults. The results showed significant negative correlation between SWB and depression among Type 2 diabetic adults. Results also revealed that Type 2 diabetic adults differ significantly on SWB with respect to their gender but regarding rural/urban dichotomy and their educational status, Type 2 diabetic adults didn’t differ significantly. Further results also showed significant differences on depression among Type 2 diabetic adults as far as their gender and educational status is concerned but with respect to rural/urban dichotomy they didn’t differ significantly.

Pages: 976-978
Namita Shah (Department of Psychology, Government of Arts & Commerce College, Jafrabad, Amreli, Gujarat, India)

There are many internal and external factors that play very important role in psychological well-being (PWB). And it is also the fact that the PWB, it depends on every human nature. In the present time, every students suffer in academic stress, social anxiety, and sometimes depression also. And this all surrounding factors are affected on person’s well-being either mental or physical. The main aim of the present research is to find out the PWB among girls and boys student. In this study, PWB questionnaire was used which was constructed and standardized by Bhogle (1995). And t-test was applied to check the difference between the two groups. The result obtained through the study showed (t=4.63) significant difference among boys and girls.

Pages: 990-994
Sudha Rathore and Roopa Mathur (Department of Psychology, IIS University Jaipur, Rajasthan, India)

Parents of children with disability have additional demand than the parents of children without disability. Perhaps because of this reason dysfunctional families are particularly noticeable in medical setting, much of the literature on families with children with disability has approached family stress from a deficit model. Successful, adaptive functioning of families with children with disability has not received sufficient attention. In fact, there is a growing body of knowledge, which indicates that the presence of a family member with a disability may contribute to the strengthening of the entire family unit, as well as contribute positively to the quality of life of individual members of the family. Children with supportive parents have fewer problems and also reported positive change in life. These parents, especially mothers used problem-focused coping, religious-faith and denial-blame. They also reported that as coping increases psychological stress decreases. Social factors play important role in coping. Support by others to the mothers of developmentally delayed children act as the facilitators in carrying up the life ahead. Parents especially mothers of developmentally delayed shows high resilient behavior and high quality of the dyadic relationship.

Pages: 998-999
Shams Un Nisa, Humera Shafi and Touseef Rizvi (Department of Psychology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India)

Child’s disability has a profound impact on parent’s functioning especially mothers. Mothers are most distressed, and this stress shows itself in the form of depression and other psychological problems and causes mother’s function or performance to drop. The present research endeavor was aimed to study the relationship of different stressors with depression among mothers of children with mental retardation. The sample consisted of 38 mothers of mentally retarded children drawn from three institutes of Srinagar city working for these children. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between different stresses (viz. daily care stress, family emotional stress, social stress, and financial stress) and depression.

Pages: 1004-1008
Lekshmi. K (Department of Psychology, University of Kerala, Kerala )

Myopia is a condition where both the lens and the cornea are too strong or the eye ball too long that the parallel rays entering the eye converge into focus anterior to the light sensitive area of the retina. Studies indicate stress disorders may be characterized by neurological disorders like impairment in taste, vision, smell and tongue movements (Hussain.A, 1999). Stress is found to accelerate the progression of myopia. In tissues directly affected by stress a Local Adaptation Syndrome (LAS) can occur, triggering selective exhaustion of muscles, eyes or inflamed tissues all represented in the final stages only in LAS. LAS in turn stimulate the hypothalamic pituitary adrenalin inducing the production of cortisol. Cortisol in excess in combination with reduced level of testosterone levels indicates myopia (Balacco, 1982). The physiological effect of stress is also influenced by the psychological makeup of the individual, as in the case of personality. One of the most accurate and concise measure of personality is through self report inventories like five factor inventory of personality. The five factors in consideration are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience. The present study attempts to trace the effect of eye relaxation practices on myopic patients taking into account the influence of personality. The sample included in the study is 42 myopic patients. Intervention involving ten sessions of eye relaxation practices are given to the sample. Analysis of the results indicates that openness to experience can be taken as an individual personality dimension that influences the change in visual acuity affected through eye relaxation practices.

Pages: 1013-1016
Merry Wijaya (Department of Nonformal and Continuing Education, School of Postgraduate Studies, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229 Bandung, Indonesia)

There was a case of maternal death in Pataruman Administrative Village due to late medical aids and low competences of the cadres. The phenomenon has to be taken under research in order to find solutions as inputs for the government. The research aimed to improve cadres' competences in maternal and child health. The method used was research and development, while sampling was done purposively, with a number of 30 respondents, using Guillford's measurement scale. The outcomes of the research showed that: 1) Empirically, the process of health cadres' training did not use participatory method and was not appropriate to the characteristics of adult teaching and learning; in addition, the content of the training was not based on the local needs; 2) Improvement in the competence of maternal and child health of the cadres was observable after they joined gender-based participatory training; 3) The cadres experienced improvement in their understanding on the influence of gender on maternal and child health after joining the gender-based participatory training; 4) The instructional model was developed based on philosophical and psychological principles, linked to the problems of maternal and child health appropriate to the community's needs; 5) In the implementation, the model could be accepted by the training participants; 6) The effectiveness test of the model using Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test demonstrated a significant difference. The development of participatory training materials using andragogy principles in the dimensions of health and gender, applied in an integrative way in the whole training program, was an innovative and effective model in improving health cadres' competences. The training should be supported by the government to be experimented in some regions, ultimately remote areas. The training method can be an added value for other training programs, especially those in the field of health.

Pages: 1023-1026
Shashi Prabha Kashyap and Sandeep Kumar (Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P.)
Anshula Krishna (Vasanta Collage for Women, Varanasi, U.P.)

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of resilience as a moderator of the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health of the employees of supervisory level. The present study was conducted on 315 supervisory level employees of a manufacturing organization in India. The sample was selectedusing convenience sampling method. The different tools used for data collection in this study are Occupational Stress Index (Srivastava & Singh, 1981), General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hiller, 1979), and Resilience & Optimism Scale (Srivastava, 2008).The moderated regression analysis of the data revealed that resilience significantly moderate the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health of the supervisors. This study may help supervisors to understand their positive traits or attributes like resilience which could help in coping with occupational stress and maintaining good psychological health to work efficiently which is need of the hour for smooth functioning of organizations.

Pages: 1032-1035
Shaimaa E. Basha (Department of Psychology, Helwan University, Egypt)

This study aims to assess the reliability, and validity of the Egyptian version of Intimate partner Acceptance- Rejection/ Control Questionnaire (IPAR/CQ) prepared by Rohner, study were conducted in Egypt. A sample of (N= 151) Egyptian married adults (70 men and 81 women). Ranged from 22 through 60 years (M= 38.38, SD= 9.546). Results obtained in the Egyptian sample were consistent with other validation studies conducted in the U.S., Turkey, and India, with regard to reliability coefficients for the Egyptian IPAR/CQ scales, the measure's factor structure. The IPAR/CQ is a reliable, and valid measure for assessing the perceptions of intimate partner acceptance-rejection and behavioral control in Egypt, Thus it is a cross culture questionnaire.

Pages: 1040-1044
Reetinder Kaur (Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

The experiences of cancer patients at the time of diagnosis affect their future course of treatment. The present study was conducted to understand the experiences of newly diagnosed cancer patients. The data was collected from 230 cancer patients using an interview guide. The experiences of cancer patients were divided into various themes: ignoring symptoms and late diagnosis, social support at the time of diagnosis, previous experiences and role in decision-making and information needs at the time of diagnosis. The results suggest that there is a need to understand the experiences of patients at the time of diagnosis in socio-cultural context so that therapeutic process can be made more sensitive and effective. The careful analysis of the experiences of patients at the time of diagnosis suggests that there is a need for more information and open communication between the patients, caregivers and health care providers. The health care of cancer patients should be made more culturally sensitive and family centered.

Pages: 1054-1057
Nirupama Bhuyan (D.A.V Public School, Cuttack, Odisha)
Sadasiba Mohapatra (Retd. Prof of Rajadhani College, Bhubaneswar, Odisha)

“Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them.” Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It is believed that the syndrome of autism probably begins before birth. That is why it is considered a congenital birth defect. Autism is also known as the tri-impaired disorder: social impairment, language / communication impairment and repetitive/restrictive behaviour. Autism occurs more frequently in males. The sex ratio is approximately 3.5 to 1 which are similar to other developmental disabilities. The prevalence of autism is generally estimated as 1 case per 1000 population. Mudur (2004) found out that one in 500 Indian infants has autism. Gardner (2008) found out that children who are born underweight or early have more than double the risk of developing autism and the risk was especially pronounced among low-birth-weight girls. Park et al. (2014) suggested that males are more severely affected than autistic females in major symptoms. Many other studies have indicated a number of key factors related with autism, but the association between family types and the development of autism has not been discussed anywhere despite its' significance. The present study was conducted with the objectives to assess different cognitive deficits in autistic children and to find out the effect of joint family and nuclear family on autism. The study comprised of 60 autistic children within the age group of 3 to 5 years belonging to different socioeconomic background. They were selected randomly and diagnosed through administration of Autism Checklist (AC) and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Their performances were tested with the help of Hema Pandey's scale “Pandey's Cognitive Development Test for Pre- schoolers (PCDTP)”, which consists of six sub-tests (Concept Formation, Information, Comprehension, Visual Perception, Memory and Object Vocabulary). The data found in Hema Pandey's test along with the demographic scores analyzed statistically by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). In the result, it was found that family types have more or less significant effect in determining cognitive deficits of autistic children. As regards Concept Formation, it is found that children in nuclear family have significantly more deficits than those coming from joint families, whereas in Information process, though not significant the nuclear family children indicated more deficits than those from joint families. As regards Visual Perception scores, it is found that the autistics belonging to nuclear families have more deficits than those belonging to joint families. Analysis of Variance performed on Object Vocabulary indicates that children from nuclear families have more cognitive deficits than the children from joint families. Regarding Memory scores, the children from joint families performed significantly better than the children from nuclear families. Overall, the findings of the above study strongly establish the fact that the types of families have significant contribution towards cognitive functioning in autism. The subjects with joint family