District Srinagar Research Articles

Prevalence of Depression among Geriatric Population in Block Hazratbal, District Srinagar

Background: Elderly population aged 60 years and above in the world will reach 1.2 billion by the year 2025, the majority of whom will be in developing countries. Major health problems which are faced in this age group are hypertension, CAD, atherosclerosis, strokes, DM, obesity, cancers, cataracts, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive airway disease, benign hyperplasia of prostate, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, senile Dementia and depression. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of depression among geriatric population in block Hazratbal, district Srinagar. Methodology: The 496 elderly subjects were interviewed in their local/Urdu language and they were examined by using a pre-tested, pre-structured study questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part comprised of the socio-demographic information which covered a diverse set of parameters such as age, sex, marital status, education, socio-economic status, Non-communicable diseases, living conditions, economic dependency and the dependency for the activities of daily living, impact of turmoil caused due to conflict in the state. In second part Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS 30-item) was used to measure depression in geriatric population in the selected sample population. Results: In the present study, it was found that 31.5% of elderly were suffering from depression. 27.2% of elderly had Mild depression, whereas only 4.2% had severe depression as males (31.5%) p<0.001. Both the categories of depression were found to be more in elderly females. Prevalence of severe depression in elderly females (7.1%). Conclusion: Overall prevalence of depression was fairly high among the elderly subjects in this part of the world. Depression was more common in females as compared to males. Advanced age, illiteracy, occupations, marital status, socio-economic class, family pattern, economic dependence, dependence for activities of daily living, children dependency, expected care givers, relationship with spouse are the strong predictors on the prevalence of depression in the elderly.

Population dynamics of brinjal fruit and shoot borer, Leucinodes orbonalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Kashmir

Field surveys were carried out on the population dynamics of brinjal shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis at the University Experimental Farm, Shalimar Campus; Vegetable Farm, Habak and Wanganpora (Iddgah); and Bugam, Narkara and Gangbug from Budgam. Observations on the infestation were made at weekly intervals during kharif, 2014. The least shoot infestation was in the district Srinagar (Shalimar) at 13.03%, followed by Habak (14.47%) and Wanganpora (16.02%), whereas in the district Budgam it was 11.93% followed by Narkara (14.79%) and Gangbug (16.53%). Fruit infestation was also the least at Shalimar (14.57%) followed by Wanganpora (19.02%) and Habak (19.44%), whereas in district Budgam, the least infestation was 17.06% followed by Narkara (18.43%) and Gangbug (20.13%). Correlation coefficients between weather factors and adult catches at all the six locations revealed positive and significant relationships with minimum temperature, while maximum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity (evening), wind speed had positive and non significant ones; relative humidity (morning) had negative and non significant correlation. Multiple regression analysis too revealed that minimum temperature as the major weather factor followed by relative humidity (evening), wind speed, maximum temperature, and rainfall had the least effect.

Service quality in private hospitals of Jammu and Kashmir - an empirical assessment from District Srinagar

The growing middle class, increased health consciousness and inadequate public health facilities have led to an enormous growth of the private healthcare sector in India. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the service quality of private hospitals in Srinagar District of India from the perspective of outpatients. The study used SERVQUAL model to determine the overall service quality and gaps between perceptions and expectations of outpatients regarding service quality attributes in sample private hospitals. The results revealed that there existed a statistically significant difference between total mean perceptions and total mean expectations of patients across all the dimensions and variables of healthcare service quality (p < 0.05) except for three variables (hospital being visually appealing; floor being clean; and, hospital having regular water supply). The overall service quality of −1.22 implies that the private hospitals in Srinagar District are far from meeting the expectations of patients.

Service quality in private hospitals of Jammu and Kashmir - an empirical assessment from District Srinagar

Service quality in private hospitals of Jammu and Kashmir - an empirical assessment from District Srinagar

Diversity and abundance of insect pollinators of sweet cherry Prunus avium in Kashmir valley

The study was carried out in temperate conditions of Kashmir valley during 2013–2015. The patches of cherry crop were located in different landscape categories, and the maximum insect pollinator species richness of 45 was observed in Budgam, belonging to 5 orders, 31 families and 20 genera. Amongst these, the genus Lasioglossum was the most abundant flower visitor followed by the less abundant genera Xylocopa spp., Andrena spp., Megachile spp., Syrphus spp. and Musca spp. The maximum Simpson and Shannon diversity indices and Simpson's dominance were observed to be 8.319, 6.506 and 0.879, respectively in district Srinagar. The equitability index, Pielou's evenness, Nakamaru's richness, Menhinick's and Margalef's varied significantly across the landscapes studied. Species richness showed a corresponding and parallel increase with various indices estimated. The unequal distribution of species abundance on cherry allow the use of dominance index of Berger-Parker to express the proportion of individuals accounted for by the most abundant species (Lasioglossum marginatum) in each site. The mean dissimilarity coefficients of species richness were 6.57-halictid species (Lasioglossum spp.) exhibited hourly abundance commencing from early morning, but generally the pollinators increased in course of day, becoming maximum at mid day (÷2=0.97, p-valued”0.05%), and decrease in afternoon (1400-1500hr) and the least was observed late afternoon (1500-1600hr). Hymenoptera was the most abundant of all the insect orders with rank (K) one and K-dominance of 0.683 followed by Diptera with rank value 2 and K-dominance value-0.958.

A Descriptive Study on Perceived Levels of Stress, Coping and Their Correlation in Retirees of Kashmir Valley

Background: Retirement is a major and fundamental life change that affects numerous areas. The transition from a life of work to one of retirement has both practical and emotional implications. Apart from physical health issues, they are more likely to suffer from mental and psychological distress.Materials and methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 retirees of district Srinagar from June 2015 to June 2016, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Levels of Stress and coping among retirees were assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales and Brief COPE scale.Results: Nearly 40(40%) of cases had moderate level (10-12), 03(03%) had severe level (13-16), 04(04%) had extremely severe level (17+), and around 35(35%) had no stress (0-7). Majority of retired employees 85(85%)either used average level (57-84), or used good level (85-112) of coping with a minority 10(10%) using low level (28-56) of coping. There was a significant positive correlation between the stress and coping scores among retired employees.Conclusion: The perceived level of stress was moderate among retired employees and the retirees used average level of coping to deal with the retirement stress. There is a need for organized family and social support to improve the physical and psychological health of retirees.

Living Conditions of Workers in Informal Sector: A Case Study of Street Vendors of District Srinagar

Living Conditions of Workers in Informal Sector: A Case Study of Street Vendors of District Srinagar

Impact of State-Trait Anxiety and Academic Stress on Social Adjustment among Flood Affected College Students

The purpose of the study was to find out the significant relationship between state-trait anxiety, academic stress and social adjustment among the flood affected college students of Kashmir. The study was conducted on a sample of 400 flood affected college students of third year from district Srinagar and district Anantnag of Jammu &amp; Kashmir. The tools used in the study were Sanjay Vohra State-trait Anxiety Test, Dr. Poorva Jain &amp; Neelam Dikshit Academic Stress Scale and Dr. R. C. Deva Social Adjustment Inventory. The data was analyzed by applying co-efficient of correlation. The analysis of the data revealed that a significant positive correlation is found between state-trait anxiety and academic stress among the flood affected college students. It has also been found that there is a negative correlation between academic stress and social adjustment among the students affected by floods. Furthermore, a significant negative correlation is found between state-trait anxiety and social adjustment among the students of the above said areas.

A Study of Organizational Commitment among Secondary School Teachers of District Srinagar

Organizational commitment is most often defined as a strong desire to remain a member of a particular organization; a willingness to exert high levels of effort on behalf of the organization; and a definite belief in, and acceptance of the values and goals of the organization. Previous studies have revealed that decision making power, job satisfaction, and opportunities of promotions etc. shows better commitment to the institution/organization. When teachers are highly committed, they show a better level of self-confidence and are able to influence work environment in a positive manner. Therefore, this study intends to explore the influence of teacher’s commitment on their organization. A sample of 100 daily Secondary school teachers of district Srinagar has been selected for this study. Simple Stratified random sampling technique was used for this research. As a research tool Teacher’s Organizational Commitment Scale Constructed and Standardized by Jamal and Raheem (2013) was incorporated. Simple Mean, Percentage and S.D techniques were used for statistical analysis and interpretation. The findings have revealed the OC among secondary schools Teachers was found average and on the basis of gender, Marital Status and Type of School, there was no significant difference found on OC among secondary school teachers Based on these findings, this study provide recommendations for enhancing teachers commitment towards their institution for the better and fruitful results.

Feto-maternal outcome among pregnant females in block Hazratbal of district Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir: a prospective longitudinal study

Background: Pregnancy is a normal physiological state which a woman experiences at some point of her life. During pregnancy a woman may develop complications which pose a risk to both maternal and fetal health. Caesarean section is a surgical procedure in which incision is made through a mother’s abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies. The aim and objective of the study was to describe feto-maternal outcome among the study population in block Hazratbal, Srinagar.Methods: A community based longitudinal study was conducted in block Hazratbal (District Srinagar) for a period of 18 months. All the pregnant females attending the antenatal clinic at the subcenters and PHCs were included in the study and assessed for eligibility. The pregnant women enrolled in the study were examined again around 30 weeks, 37 weeks and once in postnatal period. Results: Only 2.6% were home deliveries. More than two-thirds (71.7%) of the study subjects delivered by LSCS and less than 2% of the study subjects delivered twins. Out of 391 children born 2 were born dead and 55.2% were of male gender. The mean gestational age at delivery was 38.56 weeks and the mean birth weight of neonates was 2.731 kg with only 4.9% LBW neonates. Conclusions: The percentage of institutional deliveries was good (97.4%) and the proportion of twins and male babies were within expected limits. The prevalence of LBW babies was only 4.9 against the national average of 28%. But the 71.7% caesarean section rate is too high and needs immediate attention by policy makers. Moreover both healthcare professional as well as general population need to be educated about the disadvantages of unnecessary caesarian sections.

Prevalence of self-reported gynaecological problems in a community of district Srinagar Kashmir valley

Background: Gynaecological disorders are quite frequent in the community but still mortality is an indicator of maternal health. Treatment seeking behaviour depends upon the individual perceptions and attitudes towards health care. Methods: A community based cross sectional study in which 419 eligible women in the age group of 15-45 were enrolled and interviewed for the study. A semi structured pretested questionnaire was used. The questionnaire included information about the socio demographic characteristics of the students. Data was analysed using percentages. Results: The prevalence came out to be 20.28% which was percentage of women reporting one or more gynaecological disorders. 52.94% did not seek anywhere care or visited any health care facility. Conclusions: The study found a good percentage of women who self-reported one or more gynaecological disorder, which prompts one to find out various factors associated with this problem.

Training Need assessment of Anganwadi Workers of District Srinagar of Kashmir valley

Background: Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India for early childhood care and development. Anganwadi worker (AWW) is a frontline worker of Anganwadi centres (AWC). Training is the most crucial element in the ICDS Scheme, as the achievement of the programme goals depends upon the effectiveness of frontline workers in improved delivery of packages under ICDS. The importance of training and continuous capacity building of the ICDS functionaries in ICDS is well recognized as vital for success of the programme. Since the success of programme depends upon the knowledge and capacity of AWWs, the present study was conducted among the AWW of District Srinagar. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in district Srinagar. Training workshops were conducted by the department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Govt. Medical College in collaboration with ICDS Srinagar for three days in the month of January 2017. After seeking the verbal consent, a predesigned self-administered questionnaire was given to the participants both at the beginning (pre-test) and end of the workshop (post-test). Results: Among the 110 AWWs, 77% had experience in the range of 5-20 years with 29.1% had done graduation and post graduation. Regarding the post training assessment , there was an improvement of nearly 15% in the level of knowledge about the different components of ICDS services and others. More than 70% of the participants graded sessions of workshop as very good and none of them reported them as bad or very bad. Conclusion: Although job and refresher trainings are provided to all the Anganwadi workers under ICDS but the same is not being reflected in the knowledge assessment of anganwadi workers. It indicates the need to strengthen Integrated Child Development Services scheme training programme. Refresher courses for Anganwadi workers should be organized frequentlyalong with the timely supply of educational material.

Knowledge, Attitude towards tuberculosis among the attendants accompanying the patients visiting various Health centres of Block Hazratbal of District Srinagar of Kashmir Valley: A Cross Sectional Study

Knowledge, Attitude towards tuberculosis among the attendants accompanying the patients visiting various Health centres of Block Hazratbal of District Srinagar of Kashmir Valley: A Cross Sectional Study

Incidence of pregnancy-induced hypertension in block Hazratbal of district Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir: a prospective longitudinal study

Background: The term pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) suggests a disorder of blood pressure that arises because of the pregnancy. PIH is defined as new onset hypertension with or without significant proteinuria emerging after 20 weeks of gestation, during labour, or in first 48 hours post-partum. It is classified as gestational hypertension (without proteinuria), preeclampsia (with proteinuria), and eclampsia (associated with convulsions). Incidence of PIH varies from country to country and has been reported to occur as low as 0.51% to as high as 38.4%. The objectives of the study were to estimate the incidence of PIH in block Hazratbal, Srinagar and to see the extent of progression of gestational hypertension into preeclampsia and eclampsia.Methods: A community based longitudinal study was conducted in block Hazratbal (district Srinagar) for a period of 18 months. All the pregnant females attending the antenatal clinic at the sub-centers and PHCs were included in the study and assessed for eligibility (less than 20 weeks and normotensive), till the desired number of 385 eligible pregnant females was reached. The pregnant women enrolled in the study were examined again around 30 weeks, 37 weeks and once in postnatal period.Results: The incidence of PIH was 20%. Majority of them (14.5%) had Gestational Hypertension and about one-fourth (5.5%) progressed to pre-eclampsia, while no one developed eclampsia.Conclusions: PIH is common among Kashmiri females, 20 out of 100 pregnant females develop PIH. PIH is a major cause of perinatal mortality, preterm delivery, IUGR, and maternal morbidity and mortality.

Influence of Heavy and Low Television Watching on Study Habits of Secondary School Students A Study

The study was undertaken to find out the influence of heavy and low TV watching on study habits of secondary school students. A sample of 500 students was drawn randomly from various Government secondary and higher secondary schools of District Srinagar (J&K). Heavy and low TV viewers were identified on the basis of Q3 and Q1. Besides, Study Habits Inventory by M.N Palsane and Anuradha Sharma was administered to assess the study habits. The collected data was analyzed by using Mean, Standard Deviation and ‘t’ test. Line graph was plotted in order to make the results transparent. The results revealed a significant difference between the mean scores of heavy and low TV viewers on study habits.

Influence of Heavy and Low Television Watching on Study Habits of Secondary School Students—A Study

The study was undertaken to find out the influence of heavy and low TV watching on study habits of secondary school students. A sample of 500 students was drawn randomly from various Government secondary and higher secondary schools of District Srinagar (JK Watching; Study Habits; Secondary School Students

Socio-economic status of fishermen in district Srinagar of Jammu and Kashmir

&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class="Tablecaption0"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;A Socio-economic status of fishermen living on the banks of River Jhelum, Dal Lake and Anchar Lake was investigated in district Srinagar of Jammu and Kashmir. The total numbers of 150 samples of respondent were selected randomly from the areas and the information was collected by in-depth guided interviews through well structured pre-tested schedule developed for the study. The result of the study revealed that the age group of the fishermen varied between 20 to 60 years. About 57% of total respondent were found to belong under the age group between 41-50 years. Illiteracy was found one of the major problems of the study area about 49% respondents was found to be illiterate. Economic conditions of the fishermen revealed that the 42% of fishermen income of Rs. 5001 – Rs. 10000 per month. If fishery facilities of these areas are improved upon, it could support the strides towards employment generation and poverty alleviation.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

Indicator Based Assessment of Medicines Procurement Practices in Various Public Sector Hospitals of District Srinagar

� ABSTRACT� Introduction: An organized and systematic drug procurement process based on well-established scientific principles effectively ensures the availability of right medicines in the right quantities, at reasonable prices, and at recognized standards of quality. It ensures 'value for money' and 'economies of scale' to the best possible extent. Methods: This study was carried out to evaluate various drug procurement and tendering practices prevalent at three tertiary care public health facilities of District Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K state. One children's tertiary care hospital (CH), one Govt. Medical College Hospital (MCH), one district hospital (DH) was selected for the study. Two different pharmaceutical supply chains were involved in procurement of medicines for the study hospitals. A set of 149 qualitative and 15 quantitative indicators were developed to evaluate drug procurement practices in these healthcare settings. Results: Qualitative indicator based assessment revealed that a centralised procurement and decentralised distribution practice was being followed by both the supply chains studied. Procurement funds were found to be grossly inadequate whereas pre-qualification of suppliers was undertaken. Competitive e-tendering method was followed using double envelope system. However, rate contracts were not regularly updated and there were no means available to check and determine the quality of drugs effectively. Available pool of human resource was found to be inadequate and there were no standard procedures in place to monitor the performance of procurement and supply system on regular basis. Conclusion: Appropriate measures need to be taken for proper selection, quantification, forecasting and procurement of medicines in accordance with well established guidelines to make the supply chain more efficient. Allocation and disbursement of funds for procurement should also be sufficient and timely to cater to the needs of individual hospitals across all levels of care.

Indicator Based Assessment of Medicine Storage and Inventory Management Practices in various Public Sector Hospitals of District Srinagar

Introduction: The role and relevance of medicines, vaccines and other health supplies are critical, as they are considered important building blocks of the health care system. Well-located, well-built and secured storage facilities are an essential component of a pharmaceutical supply system. Methodology: This study was carried out at various public sector hospitals of District Srinagar using a set of 138 assessment indicators to study the drug storage and inventory management practices in terms of storage facilities and procedures, inventory and stock management practices and daily, monthly, yearly storage and inventory related activities. Results: Indicator based assessment for drug storage and inventory management practices revealed highest percentage adherence of 80% in managing expired drugs followed by 55.4% in daily, monthly, yearly storage and inventory control activities, 48% adherence in storage procedures, 46.1% in receiving supplies, 42.5% in stock positioning, 40.9% in storage space, 38% in stock management, 26% in stock-outs and the lowest percentage adherence of 22.9% was observed in inventory management. Facility-wise assessment revealed highest overall percentage adherence of 64.1% at Children’s Hospital (CH) followed by 54.3% at District Hospital (DH), 49.3% at Medical College (MC), 29.6 % at Sub-District Hospital (SDH) and 24.4% at Primary Health Centre (PHC). Overall percentage availability of indicator medicines was found to be 32.5% (CH=56.2% & DH=18.6%). Stock cards were not found in any of the health care facility and no expired products were found stocked in CH, MC and DH. Average indenting frequency was found to be 31 days (PHC=60; MC=10) whereas average numbers of medicines indented in one go were found to be 24. Average lead time was found to be 15 days (CH=15; MC=60) whereas average no of stock out days was found to be 66.6 days (CH=10 & PHC=115). Conclusion: Overall adherence towards various storage conditions was found to be less than 50% and lack of adherence to the basic inventory management principles was found to be common

Evaluation of Microbial Antagonists for the Management of Wilt/Root Rot and Damping-off Diseases in Chilli(Capsicum annuum)

The present study was aimed to assess wilt and root rot/damping off prevalence in chilli (Capsicum annuum) in Kashmir and to examine the potential of various bio-agents in manage-ment of these diseases. Survey was carried out in three districts of Kashmir viz., Pulwama, Budgam and Srinagar during the year 2013. The damping off and wilt/root rot incidence in chilli growing areas varied from 7 to 36 and 10 to 54%, respec-tively with highest disease incidence in district Pulwama and lowest in district Srinagar. The pathogens responsible for wilt/root rot were Rhizotonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium solani, F. oxysporium, F. pallidoroseum and Phy-tophthora capsici. Pythium sp. was observed to be the incitant of damping off. Fifteen isolates of Trichoderma species and 2 isolates of Pseudo-monas fluorescens and Bacilus sp. each were isolated locally and evaluated against above pathogens (except P. capsici) in vitro. Trichoder-ma viride isolate TK1, T. harzianum isolate TK8, Pseudomonas fluorescens isolate Ps1 and Bacil-lus sp. isolate B1 were most effective in inhibit-ing the mycelia growth of pathogens. In vivo wilt/root rot disease management through use of effective bioagents revealed that all the four biocontrol agents, used individually or in combi-nation, significantly improved seed germination (62.7–76.3%) as against control (57.7%). The fun-gicide treatment of 2-(methoxycarbamoylamino)-benzimidazole (carbendazim 50 WP) had less damping-off incidence of 2% as against 6.0 to 13.7% in bioagent treatments and 18.7% in con-trol. Similarly, wilt/root rot was significantly re-duced in bioagent or chemical treatments than control.