Anupama Korlakunta

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effect of COVID-19 lockdown period on seven domains of mental health of children. Materials and Methods: The study was a qualitative explorative research conducted in October 2020, using Snow ball method of sampling through online (Google form) questionnaire constructed to assess the mental health and wellbeing of children as perceived by their parents. The online questionnaire consisted of total 35 items presented under seven mental health dimensions. The responses received were 173 of which 17 were invalid and the total sample comprised of 156 parents of children (3-8 years). Results: The data was subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS to examine the association between the age and mental health in seven domains and also the gender and mental health. In addition, the Kruskal -Wallis H test was used to test the seven null hypotheses formulated. Conclusion: The findings of the study showed that parents perceived mental health problems in their children in seven dimensions and they did not vary much in their perception of problems. There was strong relationship between the age of the children and five mental health dimensions studied, indicating the need for equipping the parents with necessary skills to help children cope with the mental health problems.   Keywords: COVID19, Lockdown, Mental health, Children, Early childhood (MESH)

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Abstract

Background: The adolescence is a transition period from childhood to adulthood, filled with adjustments in the areas of physical, psychological, academic, social and family relationships. The mid adolescents need to be equipped with life skills to handle the problems, solve day today issues, cope with academic stress and achieve good mental health. Through the present study an effort was made to evaluate the academic stress and the levels of ten life skills recommended by WHO among 240 school going adolescents to undertake intervention programme to improve their stress coping abilities. Materials and Methods: The study is a formative research with a purpose to assess the levels of academic stress and life skills among 120 boys and 120 girls aged between 14 to 15 years and studying 10th class in high schools in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. A questionnaire consisting of a five point Likert type of rating scale for Life skills assessment and Academic stress scale were used. Results: Using independent sample t -test the difference between the girls and boys was studied with regard to life skills and also the academic stress. The association between the levels of academic stress and levels of life skills was examined using chi quare test, further, the correlation between academic stress and life skills of boys and girls was also studied. Conclusion: The study allows to conclude that the academic stress of the school going adolescents can be reduced by improving their LS as there is a strong relationship between these two variables in spite of the gender differences. Keywords: Academic stress, Life skills, Adolescents, High school children, Gender.

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Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension caused by the acts of others, situations and tasks which demand a performance beyond a person’s capability or capacity. The children are compelled to spend more hours in schools on all six days a week in Andhra Pradesh, some private schools conduct special classes on Sundays and public holidays. The long hours of schooling, with less scope for; play, sports, recreation, socialization, hobbies and travel, is causing more stress among school children. This study was an exploratory research designed to assess the levels of academic stress among the adolescent boys and girls aged between 14 to 15 years and studying 10th class in Tirupati Municipality. The sample consisted of 240 children of which 120 were boys and 120 were girls. The Academic stress scale consisting of fourty items representing five stressor domains namely; Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral, Physical and Social was developed, standardized and administered. The findings showed that the adolescent girls and boys perceived high (57.9%) to very high (40%) levels of academic stress. There was significant difference between boys and girls in their academic stress in cognitive domain at 0.05 level (t=2.311*and p=0.022) and the girls had stress levels (31.71 ±3.67) higher than boys (30.45± 4.70) in this domain. The boys and girls also differed significantly in their physical stress at 0.05 level (t=2.213* and p=0.028) and boys had higher levels (28.23 ± 4.86) of physical stress when compared to the girls (26.86 ± 4.76). Among the five stressor domains, statistically significant association was found between gender and behavioural domain of academic stress at 0.01 level (? 2=9.903** and p=0.007).There was no association found between gender and Cognitive, Affective, Physical and Social domains. The findings of the study indicates the need for intervention programmes for High school children in stress management and also stresses the need to revisit and revamp our examination system to provide a stress free learning environment to promote mental and general health of school children

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Objective: To study the relationship between sensation seeking and high risk behaviour in alcohol dependent patients. Introduction: Several studies have indicated the role of sensation seeking as a personality construct in explaining the relationship between the alcohol use and sexual risk taking. The high sensation seeking behaviour predicted a willingness and inclination to take risks as well as future alcohol use. Aim: To study the association between sensation seeking and the high risk behaviour among patients with alcohol dependence syndrome. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study carried out on 178 men and 22 women alcohol dependent patients admitted to Psychiatry ward of Mamata Medical College and General Hospital, Khammam (TS), India. The study period was 15 months, from January 2011 to April 2012. The instruments used for selection of sample were ICD-10, CIWA-AD and MMSE. The tools used for collection of data were; Sensation Seeking Scale–Form V (Indian Adaptation), Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SOADQ), High Risk Behaviour Questionnaire (HRBQ), Barratt’s Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-II) version II. Results: Significant association was found between high risk behaviour and sensation seeking behaviour (p value-0.000). The one way ANOVA showed no significant influence of SSS scores on high or low impulsivity of the sample (p values- 0.500>0.05 and 0.195>0.05). Conclusion: The patients scoring high on certain personality constructs such as sensation seeking and impulsivity are vulnerable to indulge in high risk behaviour. Keywords: Sensation seeking, Alcohol dependence, High risk behaviour, Personality constructs, Impulsivity.

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