Methods: This study included 224 mothers of under-five children living in urban slums of Udupi Taluk, Karnataka. A total of 17 urban slums were selected randomly using random cluster sampling.
Results: Undernutrition was high among children of illiterate mothers (63.8%), and the children of working mothers were affected by more morbidity (96.6%) as compared with housewives. Morbidity was also found to be high among children belonging to families with low incomes (66.1%) and low socio-economic backgrounds (93.1%). Safe drinking water, water supply, sanitation, hygiene, age of the child, mother's and father's education, mother's occupation and age, number of children in the family, use of mosquito nets, type of household, and family income were significantly associated with child morbidity, nutritional status, immunization status, and personal hygiene of under-five children living in urban slums.
Conclusion: Overall, in our study, family characteristics including parental education, occupation and income were significantly associated with outcomes among under-five children. The availability of safe drinking water and sanitation, and the use of mosquito nets to prevent vector-borne diseases are basic needs that need to be urgently met to improve child health.
Funding: Self-funded.
METHODS: The present study consisted of 50 lower limbs from formalin-fixed male adult cadavers aged about 70 years (45-85) belonging to the South Indian population. Total length of the quadriceps tendon, patellar height, patellar ligament height, proximal width, distal width and thickness of the patellar ligament were measured meticulously. Mean, standard deviation, median scores of each parameter were computed for groups using SPSS 16.0. Level of significance was considered as p
RESULTS: Out of 339 participants, 24.8% (95% CI 20.21-29.30) fell into the normal nutritional status range; 49.6% (95% CI 44.29-54.91) were at risk for malnutrition while 24.8% (95% CI 20.21-29.30) were in the malnourished range, based on Mini Nutritional Assessment scores. Our findings revealed that belonging to a Dalit community, being unemployed, having experience of any form of mistreatment, lack of physical exercise, experiencing problems with concentration in past 30 days and taking medication for more than one co-morbidity was significantly associated with the malnutrition status of the elderly.
METHODS: Following informed consent, a total of nine families with 22 participants took part in the study including nine adolescents, aged between 14 and 16 y, and 13 parents. One-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted at their homes following informed consent. Following transcription, the data was coded and themes were identified using Atlas.ti software. A grounded theory approach was undertaken in analysing the data.
RESULTS: Two main themes were identified including perceptions of parental involvement in the lives of their adolescent children and family strategies to improve bonding. Adolescents' concerns centered on reduced interaction time with their family members. Concerns were also raised over the adolescents' increasing academic burden and parents particularly emphasized the increasing use of media and mobile technology by adolescents as deterrents to interaction. Though mothers functioned as primary caregivers, fathers also took on more active roles in the rearing of their children, stepping away from the traditionally viewed role of being a distant patriarchal provider. To improve interaction, parents devised creative strategies to increase time spent interacting with family members such as having dinner, performing household chores, playing games, or visiting places together.
CONCLUSIONS: The increasing academic burden and access to digital media were perceived as factors leading to reduced interaction between the parent-adolescent dyad. Creative parenting strategies to increase interaction were sought as a solution.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using stratified sampling at the community level, 640 parents including 419 mothers and 221 fathers participated in the study. Tools included a socio-demographic pro-forma; Parental attitude inventory (PAI) to assess parenting attitudes, Parent Global Report of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) to assess current parenting dimensions, and the parent version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess behavioural problems among adolescents. We examined the prevalence and predictors of total difficulties, externalizing and internalizing behavioural problems among adolescents from paternal and maternal reports.
RESULTS: Paternal and maternal reports of total difficulties (11.3 %, 13.6 %), externalizing (2.3 %, 1.9 %) and internalizing behaviours (8.6 %, 7.4 %) among adolescents are reported. Predictors of abnormal behaviours per paternal reports included lower social class and poor paternal control. Being a male adolescent increased the odds of total difficulties and externalizing problems. Favourable maternal attitude, good maternal warmth and control predicted the reduced likelihood of total difficulties and externalizing behaviours per maternal reports. Paternal control and maternal warmth and control were found to reduce the likelihood of internalizing behaviours among adolescents.
CONCLUSION: Maternal attitude, paternal control and maternal warmth and control dimensions emerged as significant predictors of total difficulties, externalizing and internalizing behavioural problems among adolescents.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study followed a cross-sectional design and was conducted among 1032 Bangladeshi older adults aged 60 years and above during October 2020 through telephone interviews. Self-reported information on nine non-communicable chronic conditions (osteoarthritis, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease, cancer) was collected. Participants were asked if they faced any difficulties in accessing medicine and receiving routine medical care for their medical conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The association between non-communicable chronic conditions and accessing medication and health care was analysed using binary logic regression model.
RESULTS: Most of the participants aged 60-69 years (77.8%), male (65.5%), married (81.4%), had no formal schooling (58.3%) and resided in rural areas (73.9%). Although more than half of the participants (58.9%) reported having a single condition, nearly one-quarter (22.9%) had multimorbidity. About a quarter of the participants reported difficulties accessing medicine (23%) and receiving routine medical care (27%) during the pandemic, and this was significantly higher among those suffering from multimorbidity. In the adjusted analyses, participants with at least one condition (AOR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.33-2.85) and with multimorbidity (AOR: 4.75, 95% CI: 3.17-7.10) had a higher likelihood of experiencing difficulties accessing medicine. Similarly, participants with at least one condition (AOR: 3.08, 95% CI: 2.11-4.89) and with multimorbidity (AOR: 6.34, 95% CI: 4.03-9.05) were significantly more likely to face difficulties receiving routine medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study found that a sizeable proportion of the older adults had difficulties in accessing medicine and receiving routine medical care during the pandemic. The study findings highlight the need to develop an appropriate health care delivery pathway and strategies to maintain essential health services during any emergencies and beyond. We also argue the need to prioritise the health of older adults with non-communicable chronic conditions in the centre of any emergency response plan and policies of Bangladesh.