Impact of yoga and physical exercise on psychological wellbeing among substance abusers: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: Substance use disorder is a pattern of recurrent use of illicit substances that leads to severe psychosocial imbalance and recurrent relapse. The study was to evaluate the efficacy of a yoga-based intervention as an add-on in enhancing psychological wellbeing, compared with physical exercise among substance abusers. METHODS: In this randomized controlled study, 96 male participants with substance use disorder from a residential rehabilitation treatment center, Kathmandu, Nepal, were randomly allocated into two groups namely the yoga group (n=48, mean age ± SD=25.18 ± 6.43) and the physical exercise group (n=48, mean age ± SD=25.02 ± 5.02). The participants in the yoga group attended the 90 min yoga sessions for 12 weeks (six days per week) whereas the physical exercise group attended exercise sessions for the same duration. Above mentioned interventions were in addition to standard rehabilitation treatment. The study measured the Self-Control, Anxiety, Depression, Sleep parameters, and Mindfulness at the baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention. RESULTS: A significant enhancement in self-control was observed in both the yoga (p<0.033, d=0.33) and the exercise group (p<0.038, d=0.32). Yoga group showed significant improvement in mindfulness score (p<0.017, d=0.37), whereas exercise group did not show any significant changes in mindfulness (p<0.169, d=0.21). The depression and anxiety scores reduced significantly in both yoga (p<0.044, d=0.31; p<0.025, d=0.35 resp.) and exercise (p<0.032, d=0.34. p<0.039, d=0.32. resp.) group. Furthermore, significant reduction was seen in sleep disturbance after yoga (p<0.001, d=0.52) and exercise (p<0.001, d=0.78) intervention. The sleep - somnolence score reduced significantly only in yoga group (p<0.020, d=0.36). The magnitude of improvement was higher in the yoga group than physical exercise group on self-control, mindfulness, depression, anxiety and some sleep parameters, however the between group differences could not reach to the level of significance. CONCLUSIONS: The 12 week yoga intervention did not appear to be significantly more effective than the 12 week physical exercise program on psychological wellbeing in male participants with substance use disorder. However, greater improvement in psychological wellbeing was observed within the yoga group. In future, a multi-centric study with robust design, larger sample size and longer follow-up is required to conform the present results and to find out the difference between the impacts of yoga and physical exercise on psychological wellbeing in substance abusers.

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.

Safe Abortion among Underprivileged Group Married Women of Low Resource Country: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Unsafe Abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal death. The unhygienic and dangerous practice has been encountered in various geographical areas of Nepal. Despite its legalization, many women are still being not concerned and well informed regarding safe abortion and become victims of it. The main aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and practice regarding safe abortion among married women of reproductive (14 to 49) years of an underprivileged group of low resource country, Nepal. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was done in Rajbanshi community of Jhapa District. Data collection was done after taking ethical approval. Study population was selected conveniently. Data was collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire via face to face interviews among 420 married women of reproductive (14-49) years. All the extracted data were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Services version 20. Descriptive analysis was doneand presented using frequency and percentage. RESULTS: Out of 420 respondents, 388 respondents (92.4%) found to have poor knowledge, regarding safe abortion. Likewise, only 44 respondents (10.05%) had practiced abortion, of which only 2 respondents (0.05%) had an unsafe abortion and 42 respondents (10%) had practiced safe abortion. CONCLUSIONS: Practices of unsafe abortion were prevalent. Respondents with poor knowledge werefound to have done abortion. In this context, it can be concluded that knowledge regarding safe abortion can be increased by educating and providing awareness to the people of society.