Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Pages: 24-29
Satish Kumar, Amrita Yadava and Nov Rattan Sharma (Department of Psychology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana)

Executive functions are cognitive abilities that allocate for more goal-oriented and self-directed behavior. It is well-established fact that these higher cognitive control abilities are associated with lower levels of negative emotion and allocate positive states. The objective of this piece of research was to examine the associations between positive psychological characteristics i.e. well-being, forgiveness and empathy with executive functions. The sample consisted of 100 postpostgraduates who are taken from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak by using incidental sampling technique. The age range of the sample varies from 20 to 30 years. The participants are administered Subjective Well-Being Inventory (SUBI), Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and Executive Functions Index (EFI). The data were subjected to correlational analysis in order to assess the relationship between the variables. Further regression analysis was applied to identify positive psychological characteristics which predict executive functions. Results indicated that forgiveness, empathy and well-being seem associated with executive functions. Regression analysis indicated that three variables i.e. forgiveness dimensions i.e. Self and Situation and well-being total accounted for 32% of the variance in executive functions. Thus, it is evident that positive psychological attributes related to forgiveness (self & situation) and well being played a significant role in executive functions.

Pages: 37-40
Rutuja Karkhanis and Kamayani Mathur (Department of Psychology, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat)

Menopause is understood as the permanent cessation of menstruation as a result of the loss of ovarian activity which may lead various physical and mental health problems (WHO, 1999). The aim of the study was to examine the impact of physical distress and Psychological Distress in women undergoing through the phase of menopauseA sample of 300 women of Pre, Peri and Post Menopause phase were taken which were equally divided into 100 each. To measure the Physical and Psychological Distress in women, Cornell Medical Health Index(1947) was used. Spearmen correlation method was used to measure the between correlation between phases of menopause and physical & psychological distress. The findings of the study showed that there is a positive correlation between pre menopausal phase and psychological (r=6.66). Peri menopausal phase has a positive correlation between the physical distress(r=14.63) and psychological distress(r=5.89). Post menopausal has a positive correlation between Physical Distress(r=1.00) and psychological distress (r=1.00).

Pages: 45-47
Neeti Sharma, Ashutosh Gupta, Prerna Puri, and Manika Mohan (Department of Psychology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur)
Gupta, A. (Principal, Data Scientist, Walmart Labs)

Many evidences support the anxiety-headache-depression syndrome as a distinct disorder, and also its association with psychiatric illness. This study highlights the importance of prospective research for studying the developmental course and consequences of headache syndromes. The relevant information for the sample of 100 patients was recorded on a Performa designed for this purpose comprising of socio-demographic variables like age, gender and triggering factors. The correlation-coefficient indicated a significant positive relationship between the anxiety and depression in chronic headache patients. These findings implicate high prevalence of anxiety and depression in the general population, and indicate an association between headache and psychological disorders. Also, various psychotherapies should be applied to the headache patients so as to treat them right at the onset level of anxiety and depression.

Pages: 54-55
Zareen Fatima and Afshan Bey (Department of Periodontics, Dr. Z A Dental College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh)
S. A. Azmi (Department of Psychiatry, J. N. Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP)

Periodontal disease is an immune-inflammatory response of tooth supporting structures to microbial dental plaque. It is influenced by various factors such as poor oral hygiene, smoking, systemic diseases and psychological factors like stress, depression, anxiety. This study investigated the impact of antidepressant drugs on periodontal health. A total of 52 subjects were included in this case control study those were suffering from severe depression(HAMD Score≥16) for more than 1 year. In this 26 subjects were on antidepressants (case group) and rests were not taking any drugs for depression (control group). Periodontal examination was done to measure oral hygiene index, gingival index, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level. Values for debris index, calculus index, gingival index, mean probing depth and clinical attachment level were 1.74±0.56, 1.62±0.53, 1.49±0.51, 3.15±0.84,4.31±1.25and 1.69±0.56, 1.30±0.63, 1.33±0.71, 3.10±0.89 in the case group and the control group respectively. A Univariate analysis was performed using software for statistical analysis. Values for all the parameters were significantly high in case of depression patients taking antidepressants in comparison to patients not on drugs (p<0.05). Within the limits of this study it is possible to conclude that there was significant impact of antidepressants on periodontal health.

Pages: 61-66
Satchit Prasun Mandal, Yogesh Kumar Arya and Rakesh Pandey (Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh)

Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ: Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer & Toney, 2006) though is a widely used measure for assessing the trait mindfulness, its five factor structure has been questioned and a four factor model (without observe dimension) has been advocated in several studies. The validity of the initially proposed five factor and the alternative four factor models of the FFMQ was tested in the present study using the Hindi version of this measure (FFMQ-H) on a sample of 300 non-meditators (163 males & 137 females). Findings of the confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the original five factor of the FFMQ do not provide a good fit to the data even after allowing the five dimensions and some of the error terms to correlate. The test of the alternative four factor model (without the observe dimension) yielded a better fit compared to five factor model. The model was further revised by dropping three items (33, 4 & 10) having poor psychometric properties and/or poor loading which resulted in considerable improvement in the model fit. The final 28 item Hindi version of the FFMQ (without observe dimension) and its four factors demonstrated satisfactory reliability (alpha coefficient for the whole scale was .85 & for the four factors it ranged from .61 to .81). The findings suggest that the FFMQ-H can be used to reliably measure the trait mindfulness among Hindi speaking Indians and the trait mindfulness can be better summarized by four factors without the observe dimension that may be redundant for assessing it among non-meditators.

Pages: 73-78
Rajashree Ranjita, Soubhagyalaxmi Mohanty and Alex Hankey (Division of Yoga and Life Science, SVYASA Yoga University, Bengaluru)
H. R. Nagendra (SVYASA Yoga University, Bengaluru)

Ayurvedic texts have described 'Kasa' as an independent Vyadhi and a symptom of various debilitating diseases with its separate types, signs, symptoms, pathogenesis, and treatment. If treatment of Kasa Vyadhi is not done in time it can give rise to critical conditions like Swasa, Shosa, Rajyakshama, Urakshata, Rakttapitta, Granthi, Arbuda of respiratory tract etc. So to avoid the above complications it is essential to prevent and manage Kasa Vyadhi. Kasa is of five types; Vataja, Pittaja, Kaphaja, Kshayaja and Kshataja. Among all, Kaphaja Kasa is prevalent in these days originated due to the exposure to active and passive smoking, air pollution, occupational hazards. Kaphaja Kasa is a disease described in Ayurvedic texts that shows close resemblance with chronic bronchitis on the basis of clinical manifestations. However, according to WHO chronic bronchitis and emphysema are now included within the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a major cause of health care burden worldwide and the only leading cause of death among respiratory diseases that is increasing in prevalence. So in this article, critical analysis was done on the Ayurvedic management of Kaphaja Kasa vis-à-vis chronic bronchitis.

Pages: 85-90
Pradeep Kajal and Kamal Nain Rattan (Department of Pediatric Surgery, GIMS Rohtak, Haryana)
Sanjiv Nanda (Department of Pediatrics, PGIMS Rohtak, Haryana)
Namita Bhutani (Department of Pathology, GIMS Rohtak, Haryana)

Esophageal atresia (EA) is a type of congenital anomaly caused by an abnormal embryological development of the esophagus, anatomically characterized by a congenital obstruction of the lumen of the esophagus or interruption in the continuity of the esophageal wall. The esophagus is divided into two blind pouches, an upper and lower, which may or may not communicate with the tracheobronchial tree, through a fistulous tract called tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF/TOF). It is a rare anomaly occurring in between 1 in 3000 and 1 in 4500 live births. To analyze the factors influencing mortality and morbidity in neonates with Esophageal Atresia in a tertiary care centre in a developing country.The hospital stay and progress of all neonates with esophageal anomalies admitted between July 2009 and Dec 2011 at the neonatal surgical unit, PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana, India was analysed prospectively. Data extracted included age at admission, sex, gestational age, birth weight, place of delivery, history of feeding , associated congenital anomalies, respiratory status, type of esophageal atresia, gap between upper and lower pouch and postoperative complications. The survival was defined when the infant was discharged. Waterston prognostic criteria were used for survival. In this study, records of 174 neonates were analysed. The male to female ratio was 2.3:1. The mean gestational age was 37 weeks (32-42 weeks) and the mean birth weight was 2.3 kg ( 900 g to 4.0 kg). Majority of the babies were having history of feeding before being referred from peripheral health care centres including private nursing homes. The mean age at admission at our surgical unit was 2.7 days . The associated congenital anomalies were seen in 53% patients and the cardiac anomalies were the commonest (37%). The commonest type of anomaly was esophageal atresia with distal fistula (90%). Twenty two (13%) neonates could not be operated due to reasons which included parental refusal for surgery, multiple anomalies and babies too sick even for staged repair. The operative survival rate in this series was 65% and the overall survival was 57%. The factors responsible for high mortality in this series were: delayed diagnosis, poor antenatal as well as postnatal services, prematurity, low birth weight and early feeding leading to aspiration pneumonitis and sepsis. Moreover, lack of transportation facilities for sick neonates also added to the poor survival.

Pages: 97-100
Soubhagyalaxmi Mohanty, Satyaprakash Purohit, Rima Mayanglanbam Rajashree Ranjita, Balaram Pradhan and Alex Hankey (Division of Yoga and Humanities, SVYASA Yoga University, Bangalore, Karnataka )

The protective effects of fitness on several health related outcomes have clearly been shown among normal sighted students. However, currently there is a dearth of data pertaining to children with visual impairment regarding their fitness. The purpose of the study was to examine differences in minimum muscular fitness among students with visual impairment and normal vision. Two hundred thirty six students; visually impaired (n=125) and sighted (n =111); of South India matched on age, height, weight, and gender participated in this study. Participants were evaluated for minimum muscular fitness through Kraus -Weber test. Chi - square test was used to calculate the frequency and percentage of failure and success in both the groups. The results demonstrated that sighted students had significantly greater levels of muscle fitness than students with visual impairment. It appears that students with visual impairment are deficient in muscle strength as compared to sighted students. Inclusion of physical activities such as yoga in the regular curriculum of the school is suggested for the improvement of the failures status.

Pages: 106-108
Soudabeh Alizadeh and Mahbobeh Chin Aveh (Department of Psychology, Arsanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arsanjan, Iran)

The aim of this study was to examine the role of emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence on suicidal tendency among high school students in Gachsaran. This study was correlational. The statistical population of this study consisted of all high school students living in Gachsaran. According to Morgan's Table, the statistical sample of this research was 367 high school students. Measurement tools of this study included Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire and Beck Suicidal Thought Scale. After completing the questionnaires by researcher and using face-to-face interview with interviewees (respondents), they were entered into statistical software SPSS. Then, they were analyzed by using appropriate statistics. According to the findings, there is a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence of individuals with suicidal tendency. Also, emotional intelligence and its dimensions were able to predict suicidal tendency among individuals. On the other hand, there is a significant difference between emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence and spiritual tendency of girls and boys, so that emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence were higher in girls than boys, and suicidal tendency was high among boys.

Pages: 113-116
Riju Raj Roy, Anand Manjhi and J. Mahto (Post Graduate Institute of Behavioural and Medical Sciences, Raipur, Chhatisgarh)

Speech disorder is increasingly understood to be a significant indicator and characteristic of schizophrenia. Abnormalities in receptive language processes are also reliably detected for patients with schizophrenia including disturbances to word perception, sentence comprehension, and semantic and syntactic processing. Thus the objective of the study was to assess receptive speech among male and female patients suffering from schizophrenia using Receptive Speech Function Scale of AIIMS comprehensive neuropsychological battery in Hindi (Adult form). Thirty patients, i.e., fifteen male and fifteen female patients already diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia (as per ICD-10 DCR) were selected from outpatient and inpatient department of PGIBAMS, Raipur, through purposive sampling. The result of the study concluded that there were only significant differences found between male and female subjects on certain aspects of receptive speech like understanding of commands that involves exhibiting motor responses and to identify non-sensible words.

Pages: 121-124
Satya Prakash Purohit, Balaram Pradhan and Hogasandra Ramarao Nagendra (SVYASA Yoga University, Bengaluru, Karnataka)

Loneliness is common among orphans and has been found to activate biological stress processes; also responsible for many psychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, sleep problems, personality disorders, eating disorders along with nausea, headaches and poor immunity. Yoga is already emerged as an integrated approach to bring positive physical and mental health and as a preventive medicine for psychosomatic disorders in children and adolescents; however it is not much tested on orphans. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of a Yoga program on the loneliness in orphan adolescents. This was a randomized wait-list control (WLC) pre-post study. Eighty orphan adolescents of age ranging from 11 to16 years were included in the study. Yoga group underwent three months of Yoga program with a schedule of 90 minutes per day, four days per week. The WLC group underwent the routine activities. Ethical approval, informed consent form and inform assents were obtained prior to the study. Socio-demographic information form and Children's Loneliness Scale (CLS) were assessed in the beginning and end of the intervention. Independent sample 't' test showed that there was significant difference (p=0.001) in the post scores of CLS in Yoga group compared to WLC group. There were no significant difference observed in both the groups between pre and post scores although the magnitude of change in Yoga group (19.28%, p=0.069) is higher as compared to WLC group (7.45%, p=0.884). Three months Yoga program may be useful for the young orphan adolescents in reducing loneliness.

Pages: 129-132
Aastha Sharma (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

Recent studies are only beginning to suggest possible linkages between children's parental attachment and aggression. This study focuses on highlighting the possible link that may exist between parental bonding (Maternal care, maternal overprotection, Paternal care and Paternal overprotection) and aggression (Total aggression, physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility) in adolescents. The present investigation was conducted to see whether adolescents differing in parental bonding differed significantly on aggression. For this purpose, a group of 80 adolescents (40 males and 40 females) was administered the Aggression Scale (given by Buss & Perry, 1992) and the Parental Bonding Instrument (given by Parker et al., 1979). The socio-economic status of the group was controlled. The data was analysed using Pearson Moment Correlation and significant results were obtained. Results indicated that parental bonding indeed has a direct influence on the level of aggression of the adolescent.