Mamatha Shivananda Pai

Engel's Model as a Conceptual Framework in Nursing Research: Well-being and Disability of Patients With Migraine

Exploring, selecting, and utilizing an appropriate conceptual framework is a vital step in development of a research work. This article discusses the application of “Engels model on biopsychosocial well-being,” in exploring the relationship between biopsychosocial well-being and disability of patients with migraine headaches.

Clinical profile and functional disability of patients with migraine

Background: Migraine is a common disabling primary headache disorder. Globally, migraine was ranked as the seventh highest cause of disability. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the clinical profile and functional disability of patients with migraine. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the neurology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Karnataka. Materials and Methods: Using a consecutive sampling technique, 60 patients were recruited for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Majority of the participants were in the age group of 18–40 years with a mean age 35.22 years. There was a female preponderance with 70% of study participants being females. The various symptoms experienced by patients include throbbing pain (90%), photophobia (93.3%), phonophobia (85%), nausea (76.7%), and vomiting (41.7%). Most of the subjects (73.3%) under the study belonged to moderate to severe levels of functional disability. About 53.3% of patients were in the category of episodic migraine and 46.7% were in the category of chronic migraine. Conclusion: Migraine is associated with moderate to severe functional disability. Frequency of migraine has a positive correlation with the levels of disability/migraine disability assessment scores of migraineurs.

Quality of life and Social Support among Children Living with HIV (CLHIV) in South India

This study was a descriptive correlational survey performed to find the quality of life and social support of children living with HIV (CLHIV). The subjects were 50 CLHIV selected using purposive sampling, living in one of the districts of South India attending ART plus centre of Distrcit hospital. Among 50 CLHIV, 23(46.1%) of the belonged to the age group of 16-18 years and 28 (56%) subjects were males. Poor quality of life was found among 30(60%) children and majority,43(86%) of the subjects were found to have low social support. Statistically significant weak positive relationship (r= .293; p =.039) between quality of life and social support of CLHIV. The present findings suggest that interventions to improve quality of life and social support could have a positive influence on CLHIV. An interventional study should be performed in future.

Knowledge and perception of eco-friendly environment among high school students in southern india- a quasi experimental study

Quasi experimental pre-test post-test control group design study was carried-out to find the effectiveness of a sensitization program on knowledge and perception on eco-friendly environment among high school students. The participants were 140 rural higher primary students of 8th and 9th standard. Knowledge questionnaire and perception scale was administered to collect data and Sensitization programme was given using teaching machine and lecture. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found a significant difference in the post-test level of knowledge (‘t’ value is 24.47, p=0.0001) and perception (t’ = 14.43 p=0.00001. Sensitization programme is an effective method to improve the children’s knowledge and perception on eco- friendly environment.

Knowledge among mothers’ of children and youth with hemophilia-A cross sectional survey at a hemophilia center

Introduction: Hemophilia is a genetic disease caused by deficiency of factor VIII or IX. Awareness about the disease condition among parents and children also is as important to manage the disease effectively. Objectives: To assess the knowledge on hemophilia among mothers’ of children with hemophilia and youth with hemophilia. Methodology: A cross sectional survey was conducted at hemophilia center(Manipal, Karnataka). In total, 23 mothers’ of children and 27 youth with moderate and severe hemophilia were included. The participants were selected based on purposive sampling. Approval was taken from the ethical committee. Demographic proforma and knowledge questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 version. Results: The mean age of the participants were 13.68 years. Out of 50 participants 42 had moderate and 8 had severe hemophilia. Moderate knowledge was found among 43.5% of mothers’ and 66.7% of youth with hemophilia. Conclusion: This study shows that mothers’ knowledge on hemophilia is limited and highlights the importance of continual education of parents and youth about their disease.

Lived experiences of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD)-qualitative review

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common, debilitating illness of aged population which causes consequential mortality and morbidity. The purpose of the study was to examine the qualitative research focused on lived experiences of COPD patients. Focus of the study was qualitative meta-synthesis on research integration by combining the findings of similar topics from qualitative studies. A comprehensive search for original relevant research studies which are published between 2000 and 2016 was conducted among three scientific data bases of PubMed, Ovid Medline and CINAHL. Data was extracted independently from the included studies by reviewers into the pre-designed structured data extraction forms. The study adopted a summative approach of qualitative content analysis to synthesize the data. The initial search produced 672 studies, after removing the duplicates 494 studies were included for title screen. After removing the non-relevant, non-English and quantitative studies, only ten articles were included for the full text review. Based on the inclusion criteria six relevant articles were included in the final review. The four areas of concern were, feeling incapacitated where breathing difficulty and bulk of carrying portable oxygen systems were the key factors for restricted walking and activities. Social isolation; here the social participation and physical involvement was interpreted as possible for few and was difficult for others. In views on death and dying; thoughts about “suicide” and “why living” and thought about future concerns related to aging, decline in cognitive function and deterioration in health were the major areas discussed.

A portrayal of childhood injury among under- five year children

Introduction:Children and injuries are always closely associated. Injuries to children irrespective of its seriousness will affect the whole family function. One of the major reasons for childhood morbidity and mortality are injuries. Method: A cross sectional house to house survey was conducted in Udupi Taluk to identify the major types of childhood injuries. The study also tried to find the association between the age of the child and the common injuries.Results:The present study used a sample subject of 2040 for the survey. The mean age of children included in the study were 2.60 (SD + 1.16) years. Majority of children included in the survey were males 52.5%. The overall injury identified in survey was 14%. Fall from stairs (92%), burn with hot water/food (41%), injury with a sharp knife (72%), accidental ingestion of medicine (3%), injury during play (94%) and foreign body in ear and nose (79%) were identified as the most common injuries among children of 2 to 5 years.Conclusion:This article establishes the need for a detailed prevalence survey. A detailed survey will help in planning an intervention for caregivers which can reduce the injuries in children.

Economic burden of cancer in India

Background: Incidence of cancer is increasing alarmingly in India. There are very few public funded cancer centers to cater to the needs of growing population of persons getting diagnosed and living with cancer. Insurance schemes or government funded schemes are few and sparse. Objective: To analyze the economic burden faced by persons living with cancer and their families; both direct and indirect costs. Methods: Literature Search: A comprehensive literature search was made in PubMed, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Proquest and Science Direct for retrieving the related studies. Data were analyzed according to the objective. Narrative analysis was adopted to write this review. Conclusion: Persons living with cancer and their families experience significant economic burden. Burden is more in persons with advanced stage of the disease, people living in rural areas and those who belong to low socioeconomic status.

Eating experiences of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients after radiotherapy- Qualitative meta-synthesis

Background: Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) patients’ often experience problems related to eating of various severities. Damages to the salivary gland, changes in salivary consistency and pain have greater influence on eating behaviour and psychosocial life. Method: The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative meta-synthesis on eating experiences of HNC patients followed by radiation therapy. A comprehensive literature search of qualitative studies was done between March and May 2015, using the MeSH words, key words and Boolean operators from three online data bases such as PubMed, Ovid Medline and CINAHL for the articles published between 2010 and 2015. A summative approach of qualitative content analysis was adopted for summarizing the findings. Results: Total of 878 articles was identified. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) qualitative checklist was used to for critical appraisal of individual studies. Data was extracted from four research articles which were relevant for the review question. Experience of eating was described as difficult and painful. Longer time was taken to eat due to longer chewing, changes in the consistency of saliva and difficulty in opening the mouth. Because of the changes in the behaviour of eating HNC patients isolate themselves. A theme-”Disquieting eating experience” evolved from the present review. Conclusion: Patients with HNC experience many problems related to eating. Early identification and rehabilitation of such patients is essential to improve the Quality of Life (QOL).

Psychological impact of cancer diagnosis in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the impact of cancer diagnosis on the psychological status of women with breast cancer, focusing on anxiety and psychological distress experienced by breast cancer patients. Materials and Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 breast cancer patients after an initial cancer diagnosis by using purposive sampling. The study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in South India. Data was collected by using Demographic and Clinical proforma, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Impact of Event Scale. Sample characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the influence of anxiety on psychological distress was tested with correlation and a chi-square test was used to test the association between anxiety and distress with demographic and disease-related variables. Results: The sample consisted of 80 women with a mean age of 48.1 years. 96% were married, and 90% of them were housewives. Half of the subjects were educatedupto primary school. 80% were in stage II of cancer with a duration of diagnosis of 2-4 weeks.48% of the subjects were suffering from a moderate range of distress and 16% had severe psychological distress. Similarly, 80% of subjects had moderate to high level of anxiety. Anxiety did not have any influence on psychological distress. And only duration of diagnosis was associated with psychological distress. Conclusion: Results of the study suggest that cancer diagnosis can cause moderate to severe distress in breast cancer patients. Recognizing distress and intervening it on time is pivotal to improve treatment outcomes of women with breast cancer.