Social media impact on psychological well-being-A cross-sectional study among the adolescents of Odisha.

Background: Psychological well-being encapsulates positive dimensions, encompassing an individual's sense of mastery, autonomy, personal growth, and a profound connection with purpose and meaning in life. In the domain of mental well-being, research indicates that social media yields consequential outcomes, contributing to elevated levels of well-being, life satisfaction, and social support. The engagement of adolescents with social networking sites serves as a facilitator in fortifying existing friendships and cultivating new connections through online platforms. This, in consequence, alleviates social isolation and loneliness, thereby fostering a discernible enhancement in the mental health of adolescents. Method: The study was conducted among 120 undergraduate students studying in different colleges of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The study was based on a 2 (social media use) ×2 (gender) factorial design with independent variables being the social media use (high use and low use) and gender (boys and girls) of the undergraduate students. All of the adolescents were in the age group of 17-19 years. Subjects were randomly selected from different undergraduate colleges of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Data analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics software version 21. Results: The sample consisted of 120 students from different colleges of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Comparisons of psychological well being mean scores of subjects indicated that high social media use had higher psychological well being than their low social media use among the counterparts. Psychological well being scores of the boys was found to be higher than girls, indicating that boys were psychologically healthier than their girl counterparts. Conclusion: The finding of this study revealed that higher social media users had better perceived social support than lower social media users. Comparison of mean scores disclosed that boys and higher social media users had better psychological well-being than girls and lower social media users respectively. Social media is linked to social support and psychological wellbeing among the college students. This information will provide information to psychologists and public health specialist guiding their work with college students.

Prevalence of Severe Depression among Adolescents in Rural Area of Odisha, India.

BACKGROUND: In adolescents, major depression is projected to rank the second most cause of human illness by the year 2022. Unfortunately, half of the depressed adolescents go undiagnosed in primary care settings. OBJECTIVES: The objective is to estimate the prevalence of severe depression among rural adolescents and also to identify few epidemiological determinants causing severe depression. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This cross-sectional study included 341 adolescents from a selected village of Balasore, Odisha. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A semi-structured questionnaire, and "Beck's Depression Inventory II" questionnaire for screening depression. RESULTS: Only 24 (7%) of adolescents were found to be having severe depression. The subcategories of depression showed mild mood disturbance in 8.8%, borderline depression in 15.2%, and moderate depression in 12% individuals. Almost 267 (78.2%) were between 15 and 19 years of age. The mean age (standard deviation) of the participants was 16 ± 1.9 years. Majority of the participants belonged to joint family and lower middle-class status as per the Modified Kuppuswamy Scale. CONCLUSION: Female gender was found to be significantly associated with depression (P = 0.006). Other contributory factors for depression were sleep duration (<6 h), parental fighting, and socioeconomic status.

Determinants contributing for poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy: A hospital record-based study in Balasore, Odisha.

CONTEXT: Over the years, because of the increase in the awareness among the population and strong political will, people have better access to services for diagnosis and treatment of the HIV and it is ensured that their confidentiality is maintained. To attain good results from Antiretoviral therapy (ART), high level of sustained adherence to ART is essential. High level of adherence to ART (at least 95%) is needed to ensure optimal benefits. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to find out the proportion of patients who did not adhere to ART and its associated factors among people living with HIV/AIDS attending ART center of a tertiary care government hospital in Balasore, Odisha. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a hospital record-based study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Overall, 131 HIV-positive individuals were selected from hospital records using simple random sampling technique. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data analysis used SPSS version 20.0. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to identify determinants affecting nonadherence to ART. RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 33 years ± 7 SD. The study data revealed that 47.3% of the study subjects were on ART for less than 24 months. There was a statistically significant association between duration of ART and adherence rate (P = 0.036), and using logistic regression, we found that patients who were on ART for less than 24 months are 2.1 times more at risk of becoming nonadherent. Of the total, 48% of patients are suffering from the concurrent infection. There was also a statistically significant association found between opportunistic infection and nonadherence to ART. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that the duration of treatment and opportunistic infections were factors associated with nonadherence to medication.

Health impact on women using solid cooking fuels in rural area of Cuttack district, Odisha.

BACKGROUND: Around 3 billion people use solid fuels (biomass and coal) for cooking and heating, and this number is expected to grow until at least 2030. Around 73.7% of households in rural Odisha use wood for cooking. This current study is an attempt to evaluate the impact of solid cooking fuels on health of rural women in age group of 20-40 years and to study the relationship between the duration of exposure to cooking fuels and various health problems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out in a village which is under the field practice area of the rural health and training centre, under Department of Community Medicine, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences. Universal sampling technique was adopted for sample selection. Chi-square test was used to find the association between cooking fuel usage and self-reported symptoms. RESULTS: Dry cough was the most common presenting symptom (15.03%), followed by eye and nose irritation present in nearly 12% each among the study participants. Headache, dry cough, and hypertension (HT) was found to associated with number of cooking years and was also found to be statistically significant (P = 0.03, 0.02 and 0.0065, respectively). DISCUSSION: Our study clearly indicated that the exposure to biomass fuel smoke is significantly associated with the prevalence of symptoms of headache, dry cough, and HT. Further research is required for improving information on dose-response relationships between indoor air pollution and various health effects. Conclusion: The morbidities were increased with increase in duration of cooking . Knowledge related to health effects of cooking fuels seems to be poor among the participants.

Common mental disorder and its socio-demographic correlates among married women residing in slum areas of Bhubaneswar, India.

The mental health of women residing in slum areas is a neglected and important public health concern. The present cross-sectional study was undertaken during 2012-2013 to assess frequently occurring mental disorders and associated factors among married women 15-45 years of age, residing in slum areas of Bhubaneswar, India. A multistage, cluster, random sampling design was applied to select the study areas. The presence of a mental disorder was determined using a validated, self-reported questionnaire, developed by the World Health Organization. Using a predesigned, pretested schedule, relevant data were collected from 362 eligible, willing women respondents. Eighty women (22.1%) had a mental disorder, 56 (70.0%) of whom never consulted a health-care provider. Results of multiple logistic regression indicated that presence of a mental disorder was positively associated with not being satisfied with managing household financial affairs, not having time to attend social obligations, attending religious services less than four times per month, addiction of a family member to alcohol or drugs, and misunderstandings or quarrels in the family. Policy makers should be encouraged to incorporate such determinants in schemes or programs intended to promote the mental health of married slum women.

Undernutrition and its correlates among children of 3-9 years of age residing in slum areas of Bhubaneswar, India.

Undernutrition among children is a major public health concern worldwide, more prevalent in Asia and Africa. It manifests itself in various forms such as wasting or stunting or underweight and retards physical and mental development, increases susceptibility to infection, and reduces educational attainment and productivity. The present study was undertaken to assess the level of wasting, stunting, and underweight and determine its associates among slum children of 3-9 years of age, residing in Bhubaneswar city, India. After obtaining informed consent, a total of 249 children from 249 households were studied and their parents/guardians were interviewed to collect all relevant information. 23.3%, 57.4%, and 45.4% of children were found to have wasting, stunting, and underweight, respectively. Variables like birth order of child, period of initiation of breastfeeding and mother's education were found to be strong predictors of wasting, whereas toilet facility in household and practice of drinking water storage were significantly associated with stunting among slum children as revealed in multiple regression analysis. Thus, a multipronged approach is needed such as giving priority to improve education for slum community especially for women, creating awareness regarding benefits of early initiation of breastfeeding, small family size, and proper storage of drinking water, and providing toilet facility in slum households which could improve the nutritional status of slum children.