Help-seeking behaviour towards anxiety among undergraduate students of Nepal: a web-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Stigma among mental disorders like anxiety has been identified as an important barrier in help-seeking by national policymakers. Anxiety disorders are quite common among college students, and their severity and prevalence are growing. This study aimed to assess help-seeking behavior (HSB) towards anxiety among undergraduate students of Kathmandu University (KU). Methodology: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 undergraduate students. General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) tool was used to assess HSB. Frequencies, percentages, mean, and Standard Deviation were calculated to assess the characteristics of the participants. Factors associated with HSB were examined using Chi-Square test. Pearson correlation was determined to find out the association between professional and informal sources for seeking help. All the tests were carried out at the statistically significant level at a P-value of 0.05. Results: The mean (±SD) age was 20.3±1.1 years in this study. This study demonstrated that 36.5 and 17.5% of the participants were extremely likely to seek help from parents and psychiatrists towards anxiety, respectively. Sex (OR=1.5, 95% CI: 1.0-1.3) was significantly associated with parents, education was significantly associated with parents (OR=0.4, 95% CI: 0.2-0.6), and friends (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.9), meanwhile, ethnicity (OR=0.6, 95% CI: 0.4-0.9), and residence (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.8) were significantly associated with psychiatrists and psychologists for help-seeking behavior, respectively. Fear of criticism (34.1%) and stigma (20.3%) were the main reasons for not seeking help among the participants. The maximum number of participants (41.5%) preferred to seek help immediately if they ever experienced anxiety. This study showed professional and informal sources were positively correlated with anxiety (rpi=0.3) at a P-value <0.05. Conclusion: This study showed that students preferred to seek help from informal sources rather than professional sources. In addition, there is still stigma and fear among students regarding mental health. This study suggests that there is a need to have psychosocial intervention at colleges and educational institutions in order to promote professional help-seeking for any mental disorders including anxiety.

Child Sexual Abuse among School Children of a Municipality: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Sexual abuse remains a hidden and underreported form of violence against children and a serious public health concern. Although it results in severe mental, physical, and psychological risks with consequences such as depression, fear, and low self-esteem, it is still an unexplored and less prioritized area in Nepal. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse among school children of a municipality. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted among 405 students, aged below 18 of Mandan-Deupur Municipality, Kavrepalanchowk from April to May 2018. Ethical clearance was taken from Nepal Health Research Council (Ref no 2506). A simple random sampling technique was used to select the schools. Collected data were then entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentage. RESULTS: In overall, 64 (15.8%) (12.4-19.7 at 95% Confidence Interval) were found to be sexually abused, where a high prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse was reported for boys 46 (73.43%). CONCLUSIONS: According to the findings of this study, child sexual abuse is seen as a significant issue in the place studied. Awareness programs on child sexual abuse should be organized targeting children along with parents and community people.

Knowledge and Practice of Complementary Feeding among the Mothers of the Child Aged Group 6-24 Months, Tanahu Distirct, Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Early and late introduction of complementary feeding is associated with increased morbidity and nutritional deficiencies in children. In 2016, the under 5 mortality rate of Nepal was 39 deaths per 1000 live births and around 1 million under 5 children had suffered from chronic malnutrition. The main aim of this study was to identify the level of knowledge and practice regarding complementary feeding among the mothers of children aged group 6 to 24 months in Bhanu Municipality, Tanahu District, Nepal. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 158 mothers of children age group 6 to 24 months from ward number 1 and 2 in Bhanu Municipality, Tanahu District, Nepal. Data collection was done after taking ethical approvalby using a semi-structured questionnaire via face-to-face interviews. Collected data were entered and descriptive analysis was carriedout in Statistical Package for the Social Services version 20. Categorical variables were presented using frequency and percentage. Clopper-pearson method was used to determine 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: Out of 158 respondents, 26.6% (95%CI:19.9,34.2) had inadequate knowledge, whereas 73.4% (95%CI:65.8, 80.1) had adequate knowledge on complementary feeding. Likewise, the study revealed that 51.9%(95%CI: 43.8, 59.9) did the right practice, while 48.1%(95%CI: 40.1,56.2) were involved in the wrong practice on complementary feeding. Only 39 % mothers gained the knowledge about complementary feeding from the health workers. 2.5% of mother had exclusively breastfed their child up to just 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the good level of knowledge about complementary feeding, the wrong practice was prevalent in about half of the mothers. As a result, enhancing existing strategies and developing new intervention measures including capacity building of healthworkers to improve child feeding practices must be mandatory actions for the government and policymakers.

Patient Satisfaction in Out-patient Services at a Tertiary Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Patient satisfaction is an important and commonly used valid indicator for the measurement of service quality. Patient responses to healthcare services are one of the best ways to obtain information about patient views regarding the quality of healthcare. The main aim of the study was to find out the patient's satisfaction level in the tertiary care center. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 94 outpatients at a tertiary care center. Data were collected after obtaining ethical clearance from the institutional review committee. Patients were selected conveniently who visited any four of the major department. We collected demographic data and the patient satisfaction towards outpatient clinic experience was studied. We used the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-18 to assess patient satisfaction. Data were entered and analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23. The mean score and the standard deviation were calculated. RESULTS: Overall satisfaction was 74.78% with a mean value of 3.7394±0.40128. The highest satisfaction score was found in regards to the interpersonal manner of health personnel (4.2872±0.61561) followed by communication (3.9628±0.40982) and the lowest was seen in accessibility and convenience (3.2394±0.81478). CONCLUSIONS: The mean score and percentage of patient satisfaction were high in the hospital. However, the accessibility and availability of medical personnel were only a matter of concern.