Nandita Babu

Physical and psychosocial impact of acne in adult females.

Background: Acne, the most common problem that presents to dermatologists, can persist beyond teen years. Although its physical and psychosocial impact is studied in teen years, it is poorly understood in the Indian adult population. Aim: To study the physical and psychosocial impact of acne in adult females. Settings and Design: This exploratory study was done in the university setting. Materials and Methods: Eleven adult, unmarried females, between the age group of 18 and 25 years, having (mild-to-moderate), acne, for two consecutive years, were interviewed using a semi-structured clinical interview of the Skindex, a quality-of-life measure for patients with skin disease, developed by Chren et al., along with some open-ended questions. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis was done to analyze the data. Results: The results indicated a higher level of emotional and social impairment, in terms of the feelings of physical discomfort, anger, and the intermingling impact of these, among the participants. Conclusions: Acne is a common problem among adults and appears to have a considerable impact on the mental health, therefore, for the treatment to be successful, a sympathetic approach by doctors and significant others, with the basic psychosomatic treatment, are necessary.

Interplay between Creativity, Executive Function and Working Memory in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

Studies reveal inconclusive evidence of the relationship between executive function and creativity. Further, there is a dearth of studies investigating creativity in older adults in the Indian context. Three tests—namely, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Figural), the Stroop Test, and Mental Balance (PGI memory scale)—were administered on a sample of 58 middle-aged and older adults (50–64 years). Analysis revealed a significant correlation between creativity and executive function (rs = −.35). Mann-Whitney U confirmed that individuals who were above average on creativity performed significantly better on executive function. However, there was an insignificant relationship between creativity and working memory, as well as between working memory and executive function. Further, no age decline nor gender differences were found except for speed of processing, which decreased with increase with age. These findings might aid in planning interventions and cognitive retraining exercises for individuals of the same age bracket by targeting their creative strengths. Academically, they can contribute to understanding the cognitive processes underlying creativity and can further help create norms in the Indian context.

A Qualitative Study of Indian Children’s Perspectives on Peer Conflicts

This qualitative investigation explores children’s perceptions of conflicts with peers in the school setting. Forty girls and boys from grades one and five (mean ages 6.4 years and 10.5 years respectively) were interviewed. Results were analysed using the interpretative phenomenological approach. Children reported having conflicts most often over instances of physical and verbal provocation. While younger children reported lower frequencies of peer conflict, older girls perceived such events to be a regular occurrence. Moreover, younger children reported conflicts to be short-lived while older children believed that the duration of conflicts depended on their intensity. Anger was frequently mentioned in relation to conflicts. Sadness was associated with conflicts with friends but not with non-friends. Older boys believed that controlling anger was essential for ending conflicts while girls felt that feelings of sadness and regret motivated them to resolve conflicts. Children reported settling disputes through various strategies like apologising and negotiation. Intense conflicts were perceived to entail negative consequences and were thus considered best avoided. Yet, factors like anger and impulsivity were believed to push children into fights. Implications of the findings have been discussed.

Verbal Abuse and Cognition in the Developing Mind

This study compared a group of 90 high verbally abused and 90 low verbally abused children on tests of cognitive development. The Cognitive Assessment System made up of attention, coding (simultaneous processing and successive processing), and planning subtests were administered to the high-abused and low-abused children. Results indicate that the high-abused children scored lower than the low-abused children on all the tests. In attention and simultaneous processing tasks, the younger children in the high-abused group performed better than the older children, suggesting better attention strategies and an absence of negative thought in the younger groups of high-abused children. Girls performed better than boys on the attention task. Results suggest that verbal abuse is associated with less favorable neuropsychological functioning.

Neurodevelopmental disorders in children aged 2–9 years: Population-based burden estimates across five regions in India

Background Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) compromise the development and attainment of full social and economic potential at individual, family, community, and country levels. Paucity of data on NDDs slows down policy and programmatic action in most developing countries despite perceived high burden. Methods and findings We assessed 3,964 children (with almost equal number of boys and girls distributed in 2–<6 and 6–9 year age categories) identified from five geographically diverse populations in India using cluster sampling technique (probability proportionate to population size). These were from the North-Central, i.e., Palwal (N = 998; all rural, 16.4% non-Hindu, 25.3% from scheduled caste/tribe [SC-ST] [these are considered underserved communities who are eligible for affirmative action]); North, i.e., Kangra (N = 997; 91.6% rural, 3.7% non-Hindu, 25.3% SC-ST); East, i.e., Dhenkanal (N = 981; 89.8% rural, 1.2% non-Hindu, 38.0% SC-ST); South, i.e., Hyderabad (N = 495; all urban, 25.7% non-Hindu, 27.3% SC-ST) and West, i.e., North Goa (N = 493; 68.0% rural, 11.4% non-Hindu, 18.5% SC-ST). All children were assessed for vision impairment (VI), epilepsy (Epi), neuromotor impairments including cerebral palsy (NMI-CP), hearing impairment (HI), speech and language disorders, autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), and intellectual disability (ID). Furthermore, 6–9-year-old children were also assessed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disorders (LDs). We standardized sample characteristics as per Census of India 2011 to arrive at district level and all-sites-pooled estimates. Site-specific prevalence of any of seven NDDs in 2–<6 year olds ranged from 2.9% (95% CI 1.6–5.5) to 18.7% (95% CI 14.7–23.6), and for any of nine NDDs in the 6–9-year-old children, from 6.5% (95% CI 4.6–9.1) to 18.5% (95% CI 15.3–22.3). Two or more NDDs were present in 0.4% (95% CI 0.1–1.7) to 4.3% (95% CI 2.2–8.2) in the younger age category and 0.7% (95% CI 0.2–2.0) to 5.3% (95% CI 3.3–8.2) in the older age category. All-site-pooled estimates for NDDs were 9.2% (95% CI 7.5–11.2) and 13.6% (95% CI 11.3–16.2) in children of 2–<6 and 6–9 year age categories, respectively, without significant difference according to gender, rural/urban residence, or religion; almost one-fifth of these children had more than one NDD. The pooled estimates for prevalence increased by up to three percentage points when these were adjusted for national rates of stunting or low birth weight (LBW). HI, ID, speech and language disorders, Epi, and LDs were the common NDDs across sites. Upon risk modelling, noninstitutional delivery, history of perinatal asphyxia, neonatal illness, postnatal neurological/brain infections, stunting, LBW/prematurity, and older age category (6–9 year) were significantly associated with NDDs. The study sample was underrepresentative of stunting and LBW and had a 15.6% refusal. These factors could be contributing to underestimation of the true NDD burden in our population. Conclusions The study identifies NDDs in children aged 2–9 years as a significant public health burden for India. HI was higher than and ASD prevalence comparable to the published global literature. Most risk factors of NDDs were modifiable and amenable to public health interventions.

Everyday Lessons on Sharing

This study investigates the value of sharing. The primary data are the parent–child (3–5 years) discourses regarding the value of sharing. The discourses are subsequently subjected to discourse analyses. The study also involves a semi-structured interview with the same parents who were a part of the discursive study as well. The data of the interview were subjected to thematic analyses. The aim of conducting the interview was to validate the discursive findings. The study provides exemplary discourses highlighting the issues of (i) sacrifice and (ii) reciprocity in sharing.