Burden, trend and determinants of various forms of domestic violence among reproductive age-group women in India: findings from nationally representative surveys.

BACKGROUND: Violence, a notable human rights concern, has a public health impact across the globe. The study aimed to determine the prevalence and determinants of domestic violence among ever-married women aged 18-49 years in India. METHODS: Secondary data analysis with National Family Health Survey 5, 2019-21 data (NFHS-5) was conducted. The complex sampling design of the survey was accounted-for during analysis. The primary outcome was domestic violence. Prevalence was reported with 95% confidence interval (CI). Prevalence ratio was reported to provide the factors associated with domestic violence using Poisson regression. RESULTS: About 63 796 ever-married women aged 18-49 years covered under domestic violence module of NFHS-5 survey were included. Prevalence of domestic violence (12 months preceding the survey) was 31.9% (95% CI: 30.9-32.9%). Physical violence (28.3%) was the most common form followed by emotional (14.1%) and sexual violence (6.1%). Women with low education, being employed, husband being uneducated or with coercive behavior had significantly higher prevalence of domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS: One-third of the reproductive age-group women were facing some form of domestic violence. Target group interventions like violence awareness campaigns, women supportive services and stringent law enforcement should be implemented to eliminate domestic violence by year 2030.

Effectiveness of mobile phone applications for tobacco cessation: An umbrella review.

BACKGROUND: Mobile Health (mHealth), leveraging nearly 4.5 billion people actively use mobile phone and internet, can be crucial in promoting tobacco cessation. This umbrella review aimed to assess the effectiveness of mobile phone applications in achieving this outcome. METHODS: Searches were conducted in databases like Medline, EMBASE, PubMed Central, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and Cochrane library from their inception till June 2022, without language restriction. Quality assessment was carried out using the AMSTAR-2 tool. The narrative synthesis findings were presented in terms of the overall effect size reported by the individual systematic review along with the heterogeneity measures and risk of bias assessment findings. RESULTS: We included 11 reviews, most of which had critical weaknesses in certain domains. Among these, three reviews conducted meta-analyses providing pooled estimates, but the effect sizes were non-significant and imprecise, indicating that mobile phone applications did not have a significant effect on tobacco cessation. Only three reviews concluded a promising role for mobile phone applications in tobacco cessation, particularly when these applications were based on theoretical constructs or combined with face-to-face interventions. CONCLUSION: Our review indicates that mobile phone applications could play a promising role in tobacco cessation. However, using a single mobile phone application without any theoretical construct may not sufficiently drive behavioural change to reduce tobacco usage.

Factors associated with the knowledge about breastfeeding among antenatal and postnatal women in selected rural villages of Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu: A community-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Addressing good breastfeeding practices among antenatal and postnatal mothers is important as it helps in bringing about a positive change in the behavior, attitude, and practice with appropriate health education. Hence, this study was done to determine the awareness level of antenatal and postnatal mothers about the breastfeeding practices and benefits and identify the factors associated with it in rural Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted this community-based cross-sectional study among 377 antenatal and postnatal mothers in the selected rural villages of Chengalpattu between October 2019 and September 2020. Details regarding the sociodemographic characteristics and awareness/knowledge about the breastfeeding were collected using pretested semistructured questionnaire. Knowledge adequacy was summarized as proportion with 95% confidence interval (CI), and factors associated with knowledge were interpreted as adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) with 95% CI using log-binomial regression. RESULTS: About 19.6% (95% CI: 15.7%-24.0%) mothers had inadequate knowledge about breastfeeding. Women who were unemployed (aPR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.02-2.51), belonging to the lower socioeconomic status (aPR = 2.62; 95% CI: 1.80-3.82), belonging to Muslim religion (aPR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.14-2.35), and living in joint family (aPR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.12-2.21) had significant higher risk of inadequate knowledge about breastfeeding practices compared to those who were employed, belonging to puper socioeconomic status, Hindu religion, and living in nuclear family. CONCLUSION: We found that almost one-fifth of the antenatal and/or postnatal mothers had inadequate knowledge about the breastfeeding benefits and practices. Health education sessions are required to promote the awareness about breastfeeding during antenatal and postnatal check-ups.

Development and validation of scale assessing the knowledge about breast feeding benefits and practices among antenatal and postnatal mothers in South India.

BACKGROUND: Developing a scale to address the breastfeeding benefits and practices among antenatal and postnatal mothers is important as it helps in evaluating the change in the behavior, attitude, and practice with appropriate health education. AIM: This study was done to develop and validate a scale to assess the knowledge about the breastfeeding benefits and practices in Tamil language among antenatal and postnatal mothers belonging to rural areas of Chengalpattu, South India. METHODS: We developed a scale to assess the knowledge about the benefits and practices of breastfeeding through literature review and expert opinion. Final version was administered among 377 antenatal and postnatal mothers in selected villages of rural Chengalpattu, South India. Construct validation was evaluated through principal component analysis (PCA). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to check the goodness-of-fit of results. Internal consistency was evaluated through the Cronbach's alpha co-efficient. RESULTS: A total of 11 questions were finalized in the questionnaire following face and content validity. In PCA, three factor models were obtained with the eigen values of 4.18, 1.91 and 1.48, respectively. These three factors were able to explain for about 68.9% of the variance. Goodness-of-fit indices revealed satisfactory comparative fit indices (0.81), Tucker-Lewis Index (0.73), standardized root mean square residual (0.11), and root mean square error of approximation (0.14). The reliability co-efficient for the questionnaire was 0.80. CONCLUSION: We have developed an internally valid and reliable tool for evaluating the knowledge about breastfeeding benefits and practices. The scale should thus facilitate and fast-track the development of a structured breastfeeding educational program for antenatal and postnatal mothers receiving care at the primary health care level. RELEVANCE FOR PATIENTS: This questionnaire allows for the objective monitoring of effectiveness of educational activities and also help in comparing the efficiency of various educational models targeting the antenatal and postnatal mothers.