Nepali Language Research Articles

Self-Care Practices and Knowledge on Menstrual Hygiene Management among Adolescent girls

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is an essential aspect of hygiene for women and adolescent girls between menarche and menopause. The menstruation cycle is treated as something dirty, impure, and contaminated. Girls and women are alienated from society as well as their friends and families during this time of the month. They are forced into harmful social restrictions and have to face the human condition and humiliation. The objective of the study was to measure the knowledge and self-care practices of adolescents on menstrual hygiene. A mixed method of qualitative and quantitative study designed to access the knowledge attitude and self-care practices, social cultural practices food taboos during menstrual hygiene among 459 adolescent girls of urban area in the Government Schools of Kathmandu Valley from 23, August 2019 to May 29, 2020. Semi-structured open-ended questionnaires along with a Likert scale and in-depth interviews were done among selected 92 students based on scoring of the Likert scale, focusing on socio-cultural practices, food beliefs and practices, and feelings and emotions during menstruation. The interview was accompanied by concurrent note-taking in the Nepali language which was later translated to English. The code book was generated and thematic data analysis was conducted. The result showed that 19.72% of students need improvement in attitude towards menstruation. Menstruation is taken as a secretive and indiscriminate management practice. During menstruation, 83.09 % of students used old and used cloths as absorbent, and 46.5 % disposed of their used pads by throwing them with other waste. Change of pad depending upon their bleeding was practiced by 54.9% of the student. More than half of the students i.e. 60.6% students don’t take a bath every day during their periods. Even though all adolescents have facilities of the toilet but they are still facing the problem of water which, is a great obstacle for them to maintain their menstrual hygiene. Sociocultural rituals of the menstrual cycle are hampering the self-esteem of the girl's student, for which there is a needto focus on interventional study and MHM programs that suitably address the problems of adolescent girls.

Patient’s Satisfaction with Healthcare Services in Out Patient Department of a Tertiary Cardiac Centre in Nepal

Background and Aims: Patient’s satisfaction with the healthcare services is important because evidence suggests that satisfied patients are more adherent to treatment guidelines and have better clinical outcomes. We aim to assess the patients’ satisfaction with healthcare services in a tertiary cardiac centre of Nepal.
 Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross sectional study to collect the data by convenience sampling method from 365 patients who attended the out-patient Department of Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre from December 2021 to March 2022. In this study a validated tool was used after translation into Nepali language. A semi structured face to face interview schedule was used to collect data from the patients, which was then filled in Kobo Toolbox; the web based questionnaires and were analyzed.
 Results: Overall satisfaction rate of the patients with the health care services provided by a tertiary cardiac center was 91.25%. In this study, 89.86% were satisfied with physical facilities, 91.24% with registration and pharmacy services, 93.36% with physicians and nurses’ services and 90.56% with other services.
 Conclusion: In this study, most of the participants were highly satisfied with the services provided by the hospital. However, the feedback from this study can be used for the improvement of the health care services which could be beneficial for the hospital as well as cardiac patients with overall benefit in cardiovascular outcome.

OCR Of Devanagari Script Using CNN

Devanagari script is widely used across India. It forms many languages like Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and Sanskrit languages. As the Devanagari characters are similar to the hindi character the national language of India. It is important to recognize the characters to understand the message that particular tries to tell. The automatic character recognition system is thus developing for the Devanagari script. The character recognition process converts an image of a character into machine-readable format also its English corresponds. In this paper, we are using Convolutional Neural Network for developing the character recognition system. Convolutional neural network learns directly from data. It is a type of Deep learning neural network architecture. CNN is useful as it does not require any human intervention and performs the identification of important features on its own. The proposed paper uses a CNN algorithm applied to a dataset of 49 characters of Devanagari script. The dataset contains of total 4018 Images. The algorithm of the Convolutional Neural Network is applied to train the dataset. The input image to be predicted is first preprocessed and then the model predicts the output result. The system is designed in Jupyter Lab using Python. The Convolutional Neural Network model's overall accuracy is 98%.

Translation, Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Assessment of Psychometric Properties of Nepalese Version of Skindex-16

Introduction: Assessment of the quality of life is an important aspect of managing skin diseases. The tools to measure the health related quality of life are still scarce in our country. We have planned to add one useful and widely used tool in the local language. The main objective of this study was to translate English version of skindex-16 in Nepali language and evaluate its psychometric properties. Methods: Standard protocol was followed to translate the English version of Skindex-16 into Nepali language after due permission from the Mapi Trust. The translated version was completed by the patients in the out-patient unit of dermatology department, which was subjected to statistical validation. Some participants completed the same questionnaire in seven to ten days gap. Cronbach’s, Intra-Class correlation, Pearson’s correlation and factor analysis were performed for validation of newly translated Skindex-16 version. Results: In total 190 people were enrolled in this study, 92 (48.4%) were males. One hundred and nineteen of the total participants had inflammatory conditions, 8 had facial pigmentation and remaining 63 had a solitary non-inflammatory skin lesions. Overall Cronbach’s was 0.91, for items related to symptoms it was 0.74, for emotions .91 and for functioning .86. The mean inter-item correlation coefficient was 0.403, the Intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.918 and the Pearson’s correlation coefficient 0.929 (P value <.001). The Principal component analysis derived three factors and the items loaded on these factors satisfactorily. Conclusion: The Nepali version of Skindex-16 is a well translated and validated tool to measure the health related quality of life in skin diseases.

Enhancing earthquake preparedness knowledge and practice among Nepalese immigrants residing in Japan

This study aims at increasing earthquake preparedness knowledge perception and practice among Nepalese immigrants residing in Japan through an educational intervention. A single arm quasi experimental study was conducted among Nepalese immigrants residing in Japan. An educational intervention was prepared along with a 52 itemed questionnaire. In total, 165 participants responded to our questionnaire. Majority of them were male (67.88%), and the mean age was 32.78 years. Generalized equation model showed that the knowledge score of earthquake preparedness was 4.01 points higher immediately after the intervention [95% CI (2.78–5.24), p-value < 0.001] compared to baseline with a further increase by 7.02 points [95% CI (5.96–8.09), p-value < 0.001] at two weeks follow up. However, the practice score increased only by 2.83 points [95% CI (2.51–3.14), p-value < 0.001] immediately after the intervention with a similar increase at two weeks and 12 weeks follow up period [OR: 2.62, 95% CI (2.29–2.96), p-value < 0.001]. The educational intervention, when conducted in native language, can increase both the knowledge and practice score of earthquake preparedness hence, information related to earthquake preparedness in Nepali languages in the government websites of Japan could potentially increase information seeking behavior of people.

Translation, Cultural Adaptation and Validation of Cardiff Acne Disability Index in Nepali Language.

Acne causes significant impairment in the quality of life of patients, but clinicians in Nepal lack a simple validated tool to measure the psychological side of acne. We planned to translate and validate Cardiff Acne Disability Index, a five item questionnaire into Nepali language to address this need. A linguistic translation with semantic equivalence to the original English language Cardiff Acne Disability Index was achieved through standard forward and backward translation into Nepali language. All eligible patients were requested to fill the Nepali translated version of both Cardiff Acne Disability Index and Dermatology Life Quality Index questionnaires. Reliability and validity of the newly translated questionnaire were established, based on statistical analyses of factor structure, item correlations and concurrent correlations. This validity study included 94 patients with male: female ratio of 1:3.27 and mean age 21.29 (±3.92) years. Reliability analysis revealed a Cronbach's alpha of .72 and mean inter item correlation coefficient of .337. A single factor was extracted on Principal Component Analysis explaining 48.40% of variance. A strong correlation of Cardiff Acne Disability Index scores to the Dermatology Life quality Index score (rs>.7) indicated good concurrent validity. The newly translated Nepali Cardiff Acne Disability Index is a valid tool to measure the impact of acne in Nepalese patients. This short and simple assessment tool will help clinicians understand the patient's perspective of her acne.

Grammatical Category of Nepali and Doteli Language

The problem statement of the study is to identify the grammatical categories (gender, person, aspect, voice, mood, case, respect, and tense) in Doteli and Nepali languages. On the basis of their similarity and difference, the purpose is to solve the possible problems in teaching and learning. This is a qualitative research design based on purposive sampling. The primary participants (A and B) of this study are two native speakers of Doteli who are from the Kailali district, Nepal. The interview was held based on structured questions. Further data was collected from books and other published resources. The collected data were analysed on the basis of similarities and differences between those two languages. It was concluded that there is a possible chance to commit errors Doteli first language speakers to learn Nepali as the second language. It is believed that this study will be useful to those who want to carry out study in grammatical categories.

Editorial

This issue of the Bhutan Journal has focused partly on language─ the most specifically the changing needs and status of the language of the Bhutanese diaspora. When the Royal Government of Bhutan wanted to reduce its potential political opposition, one of the major criteria in its target list was Nepali language and its users. The evicted people- who were mostly of Nepalese descent- reached Nepal where they reinvigorated their skills in Nepali language and literature that had almost extinguished in Bhutan. During their migration for resettlement, for many literate people, Nepali language or literature was the only possession they carried with them.

Post-resettlement Bhutanese Poetry: A Thematic Content Analysis through Natural Language Processing

Interpretation of poetry is generally based on qualitative analysis of semantics, figurative language and expression, and knowledge about the author and literary elements. Recent advancements in computer-based text processing allow us to analyse a large amount of text quantitatively. This paper presents two useful aspects of literary analysis. Firstly, it interprets the social, cultural, and contemporary aspects of Bhutanese people’s lives after resettlement represented through poetry. Secondly, it presents NLP as a methodological technique in analysing literary texts written in the Nepali language.

Propagation of Tectaria coadunata (Wall. ex Hook. &amp; Grev.) C.Chr by Spores

This study explores the spore germination and formation of sporophyte of Tectaria coadunata (Wall. ex Hook. &amp; Grev.) C.Chr from its spores. Tectaria coadunata is a perennial evergreen edible fern species belonging to the family Tectariaceae. It is locally known as kali niuro in Nepali language and it is a very common wild vegetable in Nepal. We carried out the successful propagation of Tectaria coadunata from spores using two propagating media: coco-peat and soil mixture (soil, sand and compost manure).The temperature recorded from the spore sown time to development of sporophyte phase was 18-27°C while the general florescent light regime for 14-16 per day was supplied. To keep the propagating media humid and moist it was regularly monitored and maintained. The research is now in acclimatize phase and success of this study will be shared soon. Moreover, the work is successful in laboratory under control condition of certain factors like light and moisture and it is under progress to exploit its capacity to get survived in natural field, and the findings could be used as an alternative method of raising the plant in semi-natural environment.

Welcome the Unwelcoming: Exploring Social Justice in School Pedagogies

This article emphasizes looking for social justice in school pedagogies and practices to welcome students coming from other than the mainstream cultural background. The article utilizes the qualitative research design under which the narrative interview was carried outwith a single student coming from an ethnic minority background in one of the rural schools situated in the Kathmandu district. The goal was to explore their experiences about the mainstream school’s practices in which Nepali language as a medium of instruction, uniformed pedagogy, and centralized curriculum are the dominant approach. To understand the experiences of children with diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, the article employs the multicultural perspective as a lens.The article argues that most of the classroom management, teachers’ teaching skills and manners, school culture, and subject matters in the curricula and text are the most unwelcoming aspects to welcome children coming from different socio-cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds. The article explores many unexplored areas that concern the several gaps between entire schooling processes and ethnic/indigenous students’ socio-cultural backups. School culture, pedagogy, and classroom management have not well fostered thewillingness to nurture and support cultural competence, interconnectedness, inter-reciprocity, and mutual understanding to welcome the unwelcoming in school. The article, therefore, warrants an immediate initiation to bringing an entire improvement in school culture in a way that addresses every need and expectation of linguistically, culturally, ethnically, economically, geographically, and religiously diverse children.

Understanding the Attitudes of School Teachers Towards Inclusive Education at the Local Context of Nepal

Teachers' positive attitudes are widely acknowledged as necessary for successful policy making and implementation of inclusive education. This study aims to assess general education teachers’ attitude towards inclusion of children with special needs education into regular education classrooms. It seeks to replicate previous findings regarding the effects of gender, age group, educational qualification, years of teaching, teaching levels and the class size in relation to inclusive education in the local context of Nepal. Following descriptive survey design, ninety-five general education teachers from Kirtipur Municipality, Nepal responded. For this study all schools located in that municipality were selected, and the teachers by using a census approach. The "Scale of Teachers’ Attitude Toward Inclusive Classroom (STATIC)" created by Cochran (1999) in Missouri, United States was adapted into Nepali language and used as a data collection tool that has four themes in a 5-point Likert-type scale. The midpoint or point 'three' of the replies was regarded as neutral, while less than that was labeled negative and more than that was considered a positive attitude. The major findings of the study indicate that the overall attitudes of the teacher participants are positive toward inclusive education, however it seems only at a minimal level or slightly positive. There was no significant difference in overall attitudes by teachers’ gender, age group, educational qualification, teaching levels, teaching experience and students class size. The study concludes that more effort is required to enhance the teachers' understanding of inclusive education by various means including in-service training, seminars and exposure as well as promoting a collaborative culture. The internal consistency among items was indicated acceptable level and inter-themes correlation were positive.

The Role of E-learning in Studying English Language: Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives

The substantial increase in technological innovation over the past few decades has had a significant impact in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). Governments throughout the world are investing a lot of resources to keep up with this technological innovation as a result. Considering this, many local levels of Nepal recently committed to implement e-learning to teach English and other subjects in schools and colleges. Keeping this in mind, the present descriptive phenomenological study tries to explore English Language (EL) teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding the role of E-learning in studying English. A total of 24 participants including eight EL teachers and 16 students studying English Education at master’s level participated in the study. I employed convenience technique to collect the study area and purposive sampling technique to select the sample. Similarly, I employed the Single Focused Group Disunion (SFGD) technique to collect the data. As per the choice of the participants, the discussions were conducted in the Nepali language in face-to-face mode. FGDs were audio recorded, transcribed and thematized. The findings of the study were presented and discussed in terms of themes using descriptive methods for analyzing qualitative data. The findings are presented and explored in four themes. They are promoting fundamental learning skills, independence, adaptability, and interaction.

Disaster Preparedness among Nepalese Residing in Japan: a Mini-Review

The rate of natural disasters has shown prolific increment in last few years with Asia being one of the regions with highest occurrence of disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides and so on. Nepalese immigrants are highly increasing in Japan hence the objective of this study was to identify the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of disaster preparedness among them. A structured questionnaire was used and bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the determinants of knowledge, attitude and practice. Total of 404 Nepalese participated in this study and we identified that Nepalese immigrants has lower practice of natural disaster preparedness. We also identified that Japanese language is the biggest barrier for Nepalese to seek correct information on disaster preparedness. Thus, Japan government in light of growing immigrant population should think about policies to include information related to natural disasters in Nepali language into their official websites in order to increase their KAP on disaster preparedness.

Dalit students’ critical awareness of their linguistic identity for pedagogical scaffolding: a geolinguistic perspective from Nepal

This study explores the critical awareness of Dalit students in Nepal (belonging to the subaltern group of the untouchables in the Hindu caste system) regarding their linguistic identity and pedagogical scaffolding. Language as the medium of instruction plays a crucial role in having access to quality education. Children from marginalized communities, who do not have their own language, have a compulsion to use the language of oppressors. More specifically, Dalit students’ perception, awareness, and ideology with regard to their linguistic identity, language learning, and medium of instruction at the plus-two level, despite their marginalization in the society, enhance broader understanding of the role of the linguistic factor for their pedagogical support. This qualitative study adopts interview and focus group discussion as major tools for generating data from purposively sampled Dalit students studying in the Kathmandu Valley. To generate the data, 22 semi-structured interviews of the key informants and two focus group discussions were conducted. Descriptive, exploratory and interpretive methods were employed to analyze the data from a geolinguistic perspective. The findings show that Dalit students studying at the plus-two level were aware of their sense of loss for not having their own mother tongue, i.e. a separate linguistic identity. They prefer the Nepali language as the medium of instruction for their pedagogical scaffolding as they understand clearly in this language. At the same time, the respondents preferred the English language for professional opportunities, foreign employment, and uplift of the socio-economic status of Dalits and as a tool for combating their power negotiation in society. This conclusion supports the need to deal with Dalit students in regard to their pedagogical scaffolding by addressing the issues of their linguistic identity at the plus-two level.

Intimate Partner Violence and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an abuse or harm that occurs in a close relationship. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that, globally, 35% of women living in industrialized and developed countries have experienced exposure to intimate partner violence and during pregnancy it is associated with low birth weight, preterm birth, and even death of the baby.&#x0D; Objective To find out proportion of intimate partner violence and adverse pregnancy outcome among postnatal mothers who recently delivered their baby.&#x0D; Method A cross-sectional study was conducted among 220 postnatal mothers using a structured questionnaire based on 13-item WHO Violence against women instrument in Nepali language. Face-to-face interview technique was used to collect data using consecutive sampling technique at Kathmandu Medical College teaching Hospital. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.&#x0D; Result In recent pregnancy, 32.7% of women had experienced intimate partner violence at least once, which has been categorized as physical 28.6%, psychological 30.9%, and 22.7% sexual violence. Among them, 36% had low birth weight babies, 24% had preterm, 2.8% had dead baby, and 35% reported abortion in previous pregnancy. In the binary logistic regression, intimate partner violence was significantly associated with preterm baby (OR-1.143, 95% CI- 0.386-3.384, p=0.002), low-birth weight (OR- 0.237, 95% CI- 0.093-0.602, p ≤ 0.001), and abortion (OR-0.021, 95% CI- 0.003-0.175, p ≤ 0.001).&#x0D; Conclusion One in three women experienced intimate partner violence during their recent pregnancy and is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Programs targeting screening of intimate partner violence against women should therefore be emphasized during reproductive health services such that adverse pregnancy outcomes can be prevented.

Generation and Splitting of the Compound Words in Nepali Text

In Nepali language, compound word formation is mostly associated with inflection, derivation, and postposition attachment. Inflection occurs due to suffixation, whereas derivation is driven by both prefixation and suffixation. The compound word generated by the rules may produce lots of out-of-vocabulary words due to limited lexical resources and numerous exceptions. Hence, the machine learning approach can help to generate valid compounds and split them into valid morphemes that can be further used as a resource for spelling suggestions, information retrieval, and machine translation. In this research, a method to generate valid compounds from the corresponding compound splits (head word and prefix/suffix/ postpositions) is suggested. A BiLSTM based deep learning approach was used to generate and split the valid compound words. Publicly available Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh data from Nepal Academy and scraped news data were used for the experimentation. The obtained results were found to be outstanding compared to the rule-based approach applied to a similar job.

English Medium Instruction in Multilingual Context: Exploring Teacher’s Ideology and Practices

The present study explores the ideological perspectives of basic level teachers who teach through English medium in EMI classroom. Teachers’ ideology has profound influence on their classroom application. The ideology of a teacher determines the path of teaching-learning pedagogy in the classroom. I have explored the experiences of teachers as an ideological phenomenon. Experiences help to develop one’s ideology. In context of Nepal, teachers are found to use several strategies such as: Paraphrasing, translation, code switching to deliver the classes in EMI classroom. The study is of course qualitative in nature. The sample population consisted of four basic level teachers who have been teaching content subjects like Science, Social, Mathematics and Moral science in English medium. I used purposive non random sampling technique to select the sample population of the study. I employed interview and classroom observation techniques to elicit my data. The interviews were audio recorded with some notes. I analyzed the data qualitatively using the thematic analysis approach. Different codes were formulated to develop themes. The findings gained from the data interpretation showed that teachers used more mother tongue, especially Nepali language to make the text clear to the students in the classroom. Translation, code switching and sometimes paraphrasing were used as teaching pedagogies in a single class. Notably, there were inconsistencies between what the teachers said and what they practiced in their classrooms. It was found that Job market, internationalization and neo-liberalism have fostered in the growth of EMI. Another striking finding was students were found as passive listeners in the classroom. The interaction was rare between the students and teachers. Students were assisted by writing answers of the comprehensive questions. Professional training, sufficient teaching materials and trained teachers need to be focused to make EMI meaningful.

Validation of mental agility test and personal qualities assessment tools for selecting medical students in Nepal

Introduction: Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) decided to test mental agility and personal qualities to select undergraduate medical students, which was different than the conventional approach used in other health science universities in Nepal. PAHS emphasized testing cognitive and non-cognitive abilities than physic, chemistry and biology contents and this study shows how it was done for selecting medical students in Nepal.&#x0D; Method: Personal Qualities Assessment (PQA) test batteries used to select medical students in twelve different countries were pilot tested with 10+2 non-science, 10+2 science and 10+3 health science students. PQA tools were forward translated in Nepali and back translated in English by bilingual experts independently. Face and content validity of these tools in Nepali language were established through discussions and consensus with the PAHS Admission team and PQA team in Australia.&#x0D; Result: PQA tools assessing non-cognitive qualities in Nepali language were found to be internally consistent in the first pre-test with science and non-science students. PQA tool assessing mental agility in English language showed acceptable internal consistency in the second pre-test with science and health science students.&#x0D; Conclusion: Mental agility test in English language is found to be suitable cognitive test for selecting medical students. Non-cognitive tests in Nepali language are found to be reliable and valid to identify applicants with unusual personal traits thereby leading to deselection. These tests can be considered for selecting undergraduate medical students at institute/university level or national level common entrance test in Nepal and beyond.

Translation, adaptation and validation of Nepali version of Rosenberg Self esteem scale in adult Nepali population

BackgroundRosenberg Self-esteem scale has been used in Nepal without adequate psychometric properties. AimThis study aimed to translate and adapt the 10 items Rosenberg Self-esteem scale into the Nepali language and to examine the validity of the Nepali version through exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability in an adult population. MethodWorld Health Organization guideline was followed to translate and adapt the Nepali version of the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale. 330 accompanying adults of patients visiting psychiatry outpatient of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Nepal completed the Nepali version of the questionnaire. Psychometric properties of the scale were determined by measuring construct validity through exploratory factor analysis, estimating internal consistency, and assessing test-retest reliability. ResultPolychoric correlation matrix demonstrated that 37% of item pairs had a correlation coefficient of >0.3. Communalities of most items were >0.200. Factor loading of all items was >0.30 except for item 8. Principal axis factoring and parallel analysis established the two-factor structure of the scale. Cronbach's alpha after deletion of item 8 was 0.711. Item level test-retest reliability showed that 70% of items had moderate reliability. ConclusionNepali Rosenberg self-esteem scale without item 8 is a psychometrically sound tool to assess self-esteem in the adult Nepali population.