Background: A psychosocial problem is a mental illness caused or influenced by life experiences, as well as maladjusted cognitive and behavioral processes. Psychosocial problems i.e. internalizing dis­orders, externalizing disorders and substance abuse are more prevalent among adolescents because of their rapid physical and physiological changes that occur in their body during this stage. The aim of the study was to identify the magnitude of psychosocial problems among school-going adolescents. Methods: Present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the ward no. 15 of Gho­rahi sub metropolitan city of Dang District, Nepal. A total of 325 adolescents were chosen from multi-staged random sampling. Pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Part I and part II of questionnaire was self-constructed and Part III was adopted from standard tool of Youth Pediatric Symptoms Checklist. Descriptive (percentage, frequency, interquartile range and minimum and maximum values) and inferential analysis (chi-square test) was done through this IBM SPSS soft­ware version 20. Results: The prevalence of psychosocial problems among school going adolescents was 26.8%. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, occupational status of respondent’s father and mother were found to be significantly associated with psychosocial problems. The relation with teach­er and academic grade of respondent were found to be highly associated with psychosocial problems. Conclusions: The study reported an alarming situation of psychosocial problems among adolescent students in Nepal where more than one quarter of participants found having psychosocial problems. The study may suggest the need of proper parenting and maintenance of an appropriate level of teacher-student relationship.

Background: Menstruation is part of the female reproductive cycle starts when girls become sexually mature at the time of puberty.. A visually challenged female faces daily extra challenges for bearing their everyday skills including menstruation hygiene management. Hygienic practices during menstruation are very important as poor menstruation affects the health by increasing vulnerability to infections This study aims to assess the knowledge and practices regarding menstruation among the visually challenged female students. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among 121 visually challenged female students of Western Nepal who have attained the menarche. Census method was used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to interpret the data. Results: The mean age was 17.65 years and their age of menarche was 12.7 years. 66% falls under blindness category and 34.0% had low vision.52.9% knew about menstruation before menarche and mother was main source of information. Overall,48.8% had good knowledge and 52.1% had satisfactory practice. Knowledge and practice were statistically significant among the visually challenged female students at p<0.05. Conclusion:In Western part of Nepal,Majority follow some forms of restriction poses in family in any forms like restriction to involve in holy activities; avoid sleeping in the bed, performing household activities. Hence, in order to break the silence of taboos,school going visually challenged students should be educated about the facts of menstruation and good hygienic practices.

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Background: Birth weight or size at birth is an essential indicator of the child’s vulnerability to the risk of childhood illnesses and diseases. Birth weight also predicts a child’s future health, growth, psychosocial development, and chances of survival. This study aimed to assess birth weight among live births in Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital. Methods: A Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted using face-to-face interviews in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital. A total of 153 women giving live births were considered as a sample. The data was collected from14 August to 13 September. We used the Pearson’s Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis to assess the factors influencing birth weight among women giving live births in Chitwan Medical College Results: Among 153 women giving live births, birth weight of newborn among live births 119(77.8%) had normal birth weight, 31(20.3%)low birth weight, 3(2%) very low birth weight. Result shows that birth weight among live births differ significantly with [ethnicity (OR=1.94;CI(0.7-5.39)], [family income (OR=1.72(0.20-14.81)], [weeks of pregnancy (OR=2.01;(0.99-8.46)], [birth interval(OR=2.45(0.39-15.34)], [planned pregnancy (OR=1.26(0.33-4.73)], [any chronic disease(OR=1.72(0.97-4.58)], [diet in pregnancy (OR=2.11(0.20-15.07)], [ANC check-up(OR=6.75(2.44-18.64)]. Conclusions: Almost one-fourth of live births had low birth weight. Multiple arrays of factors were associated with birth weight, which must be addressed. Adequate antenatal care visits integrated with nutritional supplementation and family planning services should be a focus to reduce low birth weight among live births.

Background: Improper food handling practices are one of the major single causes of unsafe food, which can cause more than 200 diseases. Maintaining food hygiene largely depends on factors such as unhygienic practices, insufficient sanitation, inadequate cooking, improper storage, and cross-contamination which can be controlled by adequate knowledge and proper practice of food handlers. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of an awareness program on safe food handling practices among food handlers. Methods: A pre-post study was conducted in Chitwan district among 38 food handlers to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational intervention. G Power version 3.1.9.7 software is used to calculate sample size. The data collection tool was a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were entered using Epi-data 3.1 software and analysed using SPSS 16. The statistical analysis carried out was descriptive and bivariate (Wilcoxon Rank Test). Results: 68.4% of respondents were handling food without any formal education on food handling practices. 15.8% of café/restaurants were running without a license or registration. 52.6% of food handlers had an unsatisfactory level of knowledge in the pre-test, whereas none of them were included under this category in the post-test. The median (IQR) post-test was higher than the median (IQR) pre-test score, which was statistically significant by applying the Wilcoxon sign rank test (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Food hygiene management education for food handlers is an effective intervention for improving food hygiene knowledge and management. Food handler knowledge can be increased by encouraging food establishments/restaurants in various food safety education or training packages, thereby reducing foodborne outbreaks and food safety threats.

Background: Chhaupadi practice, which is characterized by banishment of women during menstruation from their usual residence due to supposed impurity. The Chhaupadi custom is also known as ‘chhue’or ‘bahirhunu’ in Dadeldhura,Baitadi and Darchula,as Chhaupadi in Acham, and as ‘chaukulla’or ‘chhaukudi’in Bajhang district.The aim of the study was to find out Socio demographic factors associated with Chhaupadi practices among adolescence girls of Mangalsen Municipality, Acham Nepal. Methods: The community based descriptive cross-sectional study using face to face interview was carried out in Mangalsen Municipality, Acham Nepal. 221 adolescence girls (10-19) years were selected by simple random sampling. The total duration of data collection was one month from 2074/01/07 to 2074/02/08. Data were collected using self-designed semi structured questionnaire. Collected data were manually checked then entered into IBM SPSS version 20.0 for Window. We used Pearsons chi-square test is used to investigate the effect of Socio-demographic variable on Chhaupadi practices during last menstruation period of adolescent. Results: Among 221 adolescent girls, there were 84.2 %(186) of the respondents were kept in Chhaupadi or slept at Chhau goth during entire last time menstrual period, Socio-demographic characteristics such as age (χ2=8.997, 0.001), mother educational level(χ2= 6.80, p=0.033), occupational status of respondent’s mother (χ2=4.20, p=0.04) ,type of family(χ2=5.20, p=0.022) were found to be significantly associated with Chhaupadi practice . Conclusions: Majority of the adolescent girls are still practicing Chhaupadi during menstrual period. Chhaupadi practice continues to exits in community because of illetracy,traditional belief system.To abolish Chhaupadi practice awareness and education at community level is required.

Background: Improper food handling practices are one of the major single causes of unsafe food, which can cause more than 200 diseases. Maintaining food hygiene largely depends on factors such as unhygienic practices, insufficient sanitation, inadequate cooking, improper storage, and cross-contamination which can be controlled by adequate knowledge and proper practice of food handlers. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of an awareness program on safe food handling practices among food handlers. Methods: A pre-post study was conducted in Chitwan district among 38 food handlers to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational intervention. G Power version 3.1.9.7 software is used to calculate sample size. The data collection tool was a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were entered using Epi-data 3.1 software and analysed using SPSS 16. The statistical analysis carried out was descriptive and bivariate (Wilcoxon Rank Test). Results: 68.4% of respondents were handling food without any formal education on food handling practices. 15.8% of café/restaurants were running without a license or registration. 52.6% of food handlers had an unsatisfactory level of knowledge in the pre-test, whereas none of them were included under this category in the post-test. The median (IQR) post-test was higher than the median (IQR) pre-test score, which was statistically significant by applying the Wilcoxon sign rank test (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Food hygiene management education for food handlers is an effective intervention for improving food hygiene knowledge and management. Food handler knowledge can be increased by encouraging food establishments/restaurants in various food safety education or training packages, thereby reducing foodborne outbreaks and food safety threats.

Background: Gender Based Violence (GBV) is a public health issue and is recognized as serious violence of human right worldwide. It is an ongoing social injustice to women. The impact of domestic violence on pregnant women is increasingly recognized as an important public health issue that has serious consequences for their physical and mental health. Hence the present study aimed to explore prevalence and predictors of Gender Based violence. Methods: The hospital based cross-sectional study using face to face interview was carried out in All – Healthcare Centers of Madi Municipality of Chitwan District, Nepal. 215pregnant women attending Antenatal clinics (ANC)were selected for study. We used Pearson’s chi-square test to investigate the effect of explanatory variables on domestic violence among pregnant women by using IBM Statistical software version 20. Results: Among 215 pregnant women attending Antenatal clinics there were 68.4% (147) pregnant women who faced any kind of domestic violence (either sexual or physical or emotional). Result shows that the domestic violence among pregnant women differ significantly with age group(χ2=6.46, p = 0.039) , education level of respondent(χ2= 12.45, p = 0.002) , occupation (χ2=11.3, p = .001) , family income(χ2= 13.4 , p=0.014) , presence of own property (χ2= 6.80, p = 0.033) , interest for pregnancy (χ2= 14.03, p < 0.001), husband’s consumption of alcohol (χ2= 25.94 , p<0.001). Conclusions: Prevalence of domestic Violence among pregnant women was found unacceptably high which ultimately foster risk to the mother and fetus health. Factors like age, educational level of the pregnant, family income, husband drinking alcohol habit and interest of the pregnancy among couple had profound relationship with domestic violence.