Browsing by Author "Sharma, Bimala"
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Publication Anxiety among Faculty Members of Academic Institutions of a Metropolitan City: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study(Nepal Medical Association, 2023) Sharma, Bimala; Shrestha, Nirmala; Sah, Saurabh KishorAbstract Introduction: Anxiety is one of the common mental disorders frequently occurring in the community. It has been a major contributor to public ill health. Very few studies have been conducted on anxiety among academic professionals working in educational institutions. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of anxiety among faculty members of academic institutions of a metropolitan city. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among university faculties working in academic institutions of a metropolitan city from 22 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 after taking ethical approval from the Ethical Review Board (Reference number: 94). A self-administered structured questionnaire was applied to collect the information. Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to measure anxiety; the anxiety was categorised as normal, mild, moderate, and severe and dichotomized into “present” and “absent”. Convenience sampling method was used. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Out of 416 respondents, the prevalence of anxiety was found to be 111 (26.68%) (22.44-30.92, 95% Confidence Interval). Among them, 85 (76.58%) were mild, 13 (11.71%) of moderate and 13 (11.71%) of severe type. Among those who had anxiety, 87 (78.37%) were males, and 59 (53.15%) were in the age group of 40 year and above; 37 (33.33%) had chronic health problems. Conclusions: The prevalence of anxiety among faculty members of academic institutions was lower as compared to other studies conducted in similar settings.Publication Depression and its Associated Factors among Faculties of Academic Institutions(Nepal Health Research Council, 2023) Sharma, Bimala; Shrestha, Nirmala; Sah, Saurabh KishorAbstract Background: Depression is one of the common mental disorders occurring frequently in the community. The study aimed to find out the prevalence and correlates of depression among faculties of academic institutions in Pokhara Metropolitan, Kaski, Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 416 faculties selected from six academic institutions of Pokhara Metropolitan. A self-administered structured questionnaire method was applied to assess depression and explanatory variables among respondents. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to measure depression. The BDI score was classified into normal, mild, moderate and severe depression using the standard classification; and the depression levels were dichotomized into “absent” and “present”. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were computed. Level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Of the total, 21.6% of respondents had depression including 6.7% moderate and 2.9% severe type depression. The likelihood of reporting depression was significantly higher among those who had physical health problems (AOR, 2.88; 95% CI, 1.16-7.13), consumed vegetables less than 2 times a day (AOR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.07-5.08), had limited access to teaching aids in workplace (AOR, 2.00; 95% CI 1.19-3.33), had higher job stress and higher COVID-19 fear. Depression did not differ by the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and type of institution. Conclusions: Improving physical health conditions, promoting vegetable consumption, ensuring access to basic facilities, and creating an enabling environment at workplace may help to address depression among faculties. Regular screening programs may help for timely identification and management of the cases. Keywords: Academic institutions; depression, faculties; job stressPublication Junk Food Consumption Behavior among Young Children(Nepal Health Research Council, 2024) Banstola, Sanju; Shrestha, Nirmala; Sharma, BimalaBackground: Consumption of junk food degrades the health status of people and is associated with low consumption of nutritious foods, which are essential for physical and mental growth. This study was carried out to find out the junk food consumption and its associated factors among young children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 352 school going children aged 5 to 9 years in Pokhara Metropolitan. Face to face interviews were done with one of the parents of the selected children with the help of a structured questionnaire. The study was done from March to October, 2020. Three or more consumption per week was categorized as high consumption of junk food. A descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis was performed. All inferential analyses were conducted at a 5% level of significance. Ethical approval was taken from the Nepal Health Research Council. Results: Among the study participants, 70.7% consumed junk food three or more times per week; 66.5% energy dense food, 20.7% consumed noodles; and 9.7% sugary drinks. Consumption of junk food was associated with presence of conventional shop near home,ways type of food provision at school and, food at home after school. Consumption of junk food was found higher among those who got money for food at school (AOR, 2.31), and those who took snacks at home after school (AOR, 12.86). Conclusions: Consumption of junk food among young children was remarkably high in the study area; concerned authorities should pay attention to dissociating such foods through policies and programs. Keywords: Children; junk food; Pokhara.Publication Road Traffic Regulation Awareness, Attitude and Practice among Public Health Students: An Observational Study(Institute of Medicine, 2023) Shahi, Shirshak; Singh, Sarswoti; Sharma, Bimala; Shakya, SujataABSTRACT Introduction: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are the leading causes of premature deaths in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Public health students are the special cadre of human resources for addressing public health issues in the community including RTAs. This study aimed to assess the awareness, attitude, and practice of public health students of Kathmandu Valley regarding road traffic regulations. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 395 undergraduate public health students of Kathmandu Valley using structured self-administered questionnaire via google forms. The study participants were selected through student networking and invitation through emails and phone calls. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics: Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskall-Wallis H test, and spearman’s rank correlation were computed at 5% level of significance. Results: Majority of the participants had knowledge on causes of RTAs, rule for seat belt and not using mobile phone while driving. However, few knew about the maximum penalty for driving without a license and correct side for pedestrians to walk. The median knowledge score on road traffic regulations was 11 out of 14, attitude score 7 out of 7, practice score for pedestrians 10 out of 12 and for drivers/riders 16 of 18. No significant association was found between knowledge and any socio-demographic variables. Knowledge was weakly correlated with attitude. Conclusion: Majority of the participants had knowledge scores above average, while the attitude and practice percentages were higher. We found weak correlation of knowledge with attitude, and no correlation with practice. This indicates that there is still gap between knowledge and practice, which needs to be explored further. Keywords: Knowledge; road safety; public health graduate; road traffic accident; traffic regulation