Journal of Biratnagar Nursing Campus

Health Seeking Behavior of Marginalized Santhal Population in Jhapa District, Nepal

2024-02-28T11:41:31+00:00

Introduction: Santhal is one of the ethnic groups, living in Jhapa and Morang districts of Nepal. The proportion of Santhal population compared to the previous census report is continuously declining because of marginalization and migration to India.

Methods: This study was carried out qualitative cross-sectional study based on a household survey. The research work was undertaken in two Village Development Committees (VDCs) and two wards from each VDC by using simple random sampling. A total of 382 households were selected as respondents to the study. A Santhal graduate and three more interviewers were trained for data collection. The research was funded by Purbanchal University, Research Division. Approval for data collection was taken from the Research Division of Purbanchal University and permission for data collection was taken from the concerned VDC authority.

Results: The study found that 84.8% had a poor level of knowledge of health-seeking behavior, very few that is 1.7 % of respondents visited traditional healers whereas 92.9% of Santhal people had a positive perception of modern medical treatment. The majority of respondents (97.4%) took medicine when they got sick, among them 46.5% got the medicine from a primary health care center.

Conclusion: The majority of Santhal people visit healthcare settings when they become ill. Regarding the information on health-seeking behavior about two/third were informed from the senior member of the family. The majority of Santhal people had poor knowledge of health-seeking behavior and the majority had positive health-seeking behavior on modern treatment.

Knowledge, Attitude and Willingness to Work with Older Adults Among Nursing Students in Nepal

2024-02-28T11:46:11+00:00

Background: Globally, the number of older persons is growing faster and with aging co-morbidity increases, resulting in declined health outcomes, high mortality and increased use of health care resources. The need for production of nurses with the right attitude and knowledge on aging is crucial to improve their willingness to care for older adults. Objectives of the study aims to identify the knowledge, attitude and willingness to work with older adults among nursing students in Nepal.

Methods: Cross- sectional research design was used and the settings for the study were four constituent nursing campuses of TU IOM (Biratnagar, Pokhara, Birgunj and Nepalgunj), population were B.Sc Nursing and BNS students. Census method was adopted to collect the data through a self-administered questionnaire through email. Questionnaire was developed based on Palmore’s Facts on Aging Quiz (Revised) and Willingness to Work with Elderly People Scale (WEPS). Descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi square test, Correlation) was used to analyze the data.

Results: The findings suggested that among 148 nursing students, 50.7% had good knowledge on elderly care with mean ±SD =26.66 ± 3.44. More than half of the participants (52%) had favorable attitude on elderly care with median score 26 and 63.5% had willing to care elderly with Mean ± SD = 20.61 ± 5.37.

Conclusions: Nursing students had good knowledge with favorable attitudes and had a willingness to work and care for the elderly. This study tends to associate between willingness to care for older adults with positive attitudes and knowledge on ageing among nursing students.

Challenges Faced by Nurses Working in Emergency Unit of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan

2024-02-28T11:55:30+00:00

Introduction: A challenge is regarded as a very difficult situation with a variety of conditions at a given time. Nurses are the major human resources in health care services of the world and are the backbone of the hospital but still they are facing various challenges. The objective of the study was to assess the challenges faced by nurses working in the emergency unit of BPKIHS.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to conduct the study. Fifty nurses who met the eligibility criteria were selected by total enumerative sampling technique. For data collection, self-prepared semi-structured, self-administered questionnaires were used. Collected data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical tests.

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 25.72. Among the challenges, two-thirds (66.0%) of the respondents have faced physical violence. Majority (84.0%) of the respondents have faced psychological violence at least once. More than half (54.0%) of the respondents have faced more stress. More than half (58.0%) of the respondents have faced more workload, nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60.0%) have more salary and employment benefits. Marital status and education level had a significant association with workload domain (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Among the challenges, majority of the respondents had faced psychological violence, more than half of the respondents had faced more workload whereas nearly two-thirds of the respondents had more salary and employment benefits.

Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Mental Illness among People Residing in Selected Ward of Biratnagar

2024-02-28T12:00:27+00:00

Introduction: For all people having a healthy mind, body, and social life is essential and intricately connected to one another. But in most of the countries mental health are given less importance than physical health. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the number of people who suffer from anxiety and depressive illnesses greatly increased in 2020. Lack of public awareness is a potential barrier for the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. This study was conducted with objective to assess knowledge and attitude regarding mental illness among people residing in selected ward of Biratnagar.

Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design with probability sampling technique (simple random lottery method) was used to select ward out of 19 wards of Biratnagar and non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample which was 154. People who were critically ill and were unable to speak and hear at the time of data collection were excluded. Face to face interview using structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed by using descriptive as well as inferential statistics.

Result: The study showed that 64.9% of respondents had good knowledge and 61.7% had favorable attitude towards mental illness. Finding showed association between community people’s knowledge about mental illness with their religion and educational status and their attitude with educational status.

Conclusion: Majority of the respondents had good knowledge and attitude towards mental illness. Furthermore, the study found a statistically significant association between knowledge and religion, educational status, and attitude with educational status toward mental illness. To further increase knowledge and attitude regarding mental illness there is need of conducting awareness program among community people.

Parental Feeding Practices among Young Children of Selected Wards of Biratnagar Metropolitan City

2024-02-28T12:06:59+00:00

Introduction: Traditionally, parenting style has been defined as a classification of attitudes and behaviors that distinguish the way that parents interact with their children across various domains of parenting. The eating behavior of children is not only influenced by feeding practices but also by their food preferences and weight, sooner or later. The objective of the study was to assess the parental feeding practices among young children.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in selected wards of Biratnagar Metropolitan city from 30th December 2018 to 25th January 2019. A total of 96 parents meeting the eligibility criteria were purposively selected. A validated standard ISS tool was used to assess the feeding practices. Student T-test and One-way ANOVA test were used to find out the association between the outcome variable with selected demographic variables.

Result: Restriction was the most frequently used feeding practice (20.17±3.330) by parents followed by rewarding (11.92±2.582). Restriction was significantly associated with ethnicity (0.010) while rewarding was not significantly associated with any socio-demographic variables. Higher mean restriction scores were found in children who were at risk of being overweight (21.20±3.011). Modeling was significantly associated (0.029) with the body mass index of the child.

Conclusion: The study concluded that most of the parents used restriction while feeding. Ethnicity was statistically significant with the use of restriction (p=0.010) and monitoring whereas use of pressure was statistically significant with primary care giver and religion.

Adherence to Therapeutic Regimen among Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Attending at Medical OPD of BPKIHS

2024-02-28T13:02:38+00:00

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health issue, associated with mortality and morbidities. The effective treatment of COPD requires long-term adherence to a therapeutic regimen. The objectives of this study were to assess the adherence to therapeutic regimens among patients with COPD and to find out the association of medication adherence with different factors.

Methods The study used a descriptive cross-sectional research design. A total, 91 samples were chosen using a convenience sample method. An interview questionnaire was used for data collection. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. The level of confidence was set at 0.05.

Results A high adherence rate was found in 60.4%. A significant association was found between mean adherence score with occupation, income to run family, opinion regarding the use of an inhaler, satisfaction with the time given by the physician during follow-up, presence of co-morbidity, interference in daily activities by the effect of medicine, perception about the need of medicine, presence of co-morbidity, family support in the treatment, stressful situation in the family affecting medication taking habit, stigmatization due to illness, support by social insurance, disease curability and feeling of susceptibility to illness or its complications. The study found a significant correlation between the mean adherence score and the frequency of total drugs (r= -0.221).

Conclusion The finding of the study concluded that nearly two-thirds of the subjects had a high adherence rate to therapeutic regimens.

Behavioral Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases among Pregnant Women Attending Health Centers of Morang Nepal

2024-02-28T13:07:12+00:00

Background: Obstetric transition, where patterns of maternal mortality due to indirect causes, such as NCDs, are replacing patterns of maternal mortality due to direct causes, including hemorrhage and infection. The change in the social determinants has affected the behavioral and metabolic risk factors of NCDs. Thus the aim of this study is to assess the behavioral risk factors of non-communicable diseases among pregnant mothers attending health centers in Morang Nepal

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the behavioral risk factors among 250 pregnant women attending health services in Morang district in 2022. Face-to-face interviews were done to gather data using the WHO NCDs STEPS survey questionnaire version 3.2 from two hospitals and 1 PHC and 100 pregnant women from each hospital and 50 pregnant women from taken PHC consecutively. Descriptive statistics like mean, proportion, and standard deviation were used to assess the prevalence of NCD risk factors. Likewise, total physical activity is categorized as respondents meeting WHO recommendations and not.

Results: The mean and standard deviation of respondents’ age was 24.70±4.18. In dietary habits, 38.8% of respondents sometimes add salt to their food right before they eat, and 70% of respondents sometimes eat processed food high in salt. More than half (58.8%) of respondents did not meet the physical activity recommendations of WHO and more than half (56.8%) of the respondents received advice to eat at least five servings of fruit and/or vegetables from doctors and healthcare workers.

Conclusion: The study concludes that high amounts of salt consumption and insufficient physical activity are the behavioral risk factors of NCDs among pregnant mothers.

Psychological Aspects and Coping Strategies Among Children of Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang

2024-02-28T13:19:07+00:00

Background: Child development incorporates physical growth as well as intellectual, language, emotional and social development. During Juvenile home stay they are unable to fulfill their need and requirements of children over the duration of sentences, so many children are compromising their childhood as well as mental health. Assessment of psychological aspects and coping strategies of the children to identify their mental health and their measures to cope or overcome ups and down, also to identify the root causes of offending behavior and measures to prevent such behavior. Assessment of psychological aspects and ability to cope among children of Baal Sudhar Griha, Morang was the objective.

Methods: Descriptive cross sectional study was adopted. At present 152 children residing at Baal Sudhar Griha of Morang were included by population enumerate sampling method. To assess socio-demographic variables semi- constructed structured questionnaire was used. To assess psychological aspects and coping strategies DASS-21 and Brief Cope was used. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used for data analysis.

Results: Most of the children (46%) were facing severe form of psychological challenges like stress, anxiety, depression. Similarly majority (67.1%) of the respondents were found to have emotion focused coping strategies used by the children of Baal Sudhar Griha.

Conclusion: Study result reveals that majority of the children were facing severe form of stress, anxiety and depression. Around half of children used emotion focused coping strategies to cope such psychological distress in their day today life.

Factors Associated with Timely Initiation of Breast Feeding among Mothers Attending Maternal and Child Health Clinic at Government Institutions of Biratnagar

2024-02-28T13:26:14+00:00

Background: Timely initiation of breastfeeding (TIBF) means giving breast milk to newborn within the first hour after birth, as recommended by WHO. This is an important part of good breast feeding practices that helps to reduce infant illness and death. So, this study is conducted to identify the factors associated with TIBF among mothers having child of 9-15 months attending at government health institutions.

Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used among purposively selected 206 mothers having children 9-15 months who were attending the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics at Koshi Hospital and Family Planning Association of Nepal in Morang district. Data was collected through interview using a self-developed structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, additionally factors affecting TIBF were analyzed by bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Findings: The findings reveal that among 206 mothers, less than half (49%) had initiated breast feeding within one hour of birth and more than half (56.8%) had done exclusive breastfeeding to their baby till 6 months. Mothers belonging to madhesi ethnicity (OR= 2.394, 95% CI=1.219-4.700, p- 0.011), mothers having normal delivery (OR= .461, 95% CI= 0.250- 0.851, p-0.013), multiparous (OR=1.965, 95%, CI= 1.099- 3.514, p- 0.023), lower middle economic class (OR=1.848, 95%CI=1.009-3.382, p- 0.047) were more likely TIBF than others. TIBF is significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding (p=0.007).

Conclusion: The study concludes that ethnicity, mode of delivery, parity and socio-economic status are the factors associated with TIBF. Furthermore, TIBF is connected with practice of exclusively breast feeding.

Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices among Mothers Attending a Government Hospital

2024-02-28T13:33:31+00:00

Background: Appropriate young children (from birth to two years of life) feeding practice is very crucial to boost up children’s survival and optimum growth and development. Early initiation of breastfeeding (within an hour of childbirth), exclusive breastfeeding for six months and providing nutritionally adequate and appropriate complementary feeding for six months and continued breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond are the major components of infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. The objective of the study was to find out the IYCF practices of mothers.

Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional research was used and all 180 mothers attending government hospital of Biratnagar were the sample. Interview-based data collection was used by a self-developed, structured and semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics using SPSS version 25.0.

Result: Less than half (40%) mothers started breastfeeding within an hour after delivery, 90.6% fed colostrum, 73.3% practiced exclusive breast feeding and 89.4% continued to feed breastmilk along with complementary feed to under two years children. Among mothers, 68.3% started feeding complementary food at appropriate age, 70.6% of the mothers fed minimum numbers of time or more according to their child age, 80% mothers used to provide diverse food and 66.1% children were receiving minimum acceptable diet.

Conclusion: The prevalence of timely initiation of complementary feeding at 6 months, minimum dietary diversity, minimum feeding frequency and minimum acceptable diet were satisfactory as almost two third and more children have met minimum acceptable diet. However, practice of early initiation of breast feeding is still low.

Knowledge and Preventive Practice of Dengue Fever among Students studying in MMAMC Biratnagar

2024-02-28T13:42:13+00:00

Introduction: Dengue is a vector-borne viral disease that has rapidly spread in many countries in recent years. Dengue Shock Syndrome have become major public health concern which clearly evident to give attention to follow the healthy behaviors and attitude for its prevention and control. The objective of the study is to assess the knowledge and preventive practice of dengue fever among students studying in MMAMC, Biratnagar.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted in Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus in September 2018, among 271 students using non probability purposive sampling technique. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection and analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics.

Result: Out of 271 students 55.7% were male and 44.3% were female. The overall mean and standard deviation of the age was 20.65±1.53 years. The study revealed that the respondents had inadequate knowledge (85.6%) and inadequate preventive practice (64.2%) of dengue fever. There was no significant association between level of knowledge and level of preventive practice on dengue fever with p <0.05.

Conclusion: This study concluded that majority of the respondents had inadequate knowledge regarding dengue fever and more than half of the respondents had a inadequate preventive practice. Despite the rapid expansion of dengue virus in Nepal, the knowledge and preventive practice of respondents on dengue fever was very low. Educational intervention and awareness program on dengue fever are recommended for its prevention.