Knowledge on Ill Effects of Alcoholism and the Attitude Towards Alcoholic Husbands as Perceived by Wives

A quantitative survey research approach with non-experiment descriptive design was used to achieve the objectives of the study. The conceptual framework of the study was developed on the basis of Roy's Adaptation model. The study variable was wives of alcoholic and hypotheses were formulated The study was conducted with a sample size of 100 wives of alcoholic husbands were selected through non-probability convenient sampling technique. The investigator used a demographic variable proforma, structured questionnaire on ill effects of alcoholism, attitude scale on ill effects of alcoholism, to collect the data. The data collection tools were validated and the reliability was established. After the pilot study, the data was collected for main study. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The demographic characteristics revealed that most of the participants were in the age group of 21-35 years, (81%) 81 belonged to Hindu religion, (38%) 38 educated up to primary level, 39 (39%) durational of married life less than 5 yrs, 41 (41) of them had two children, (57%) 57 were employed, 60 (60%) had family income less than Rs.5,000, 32 (32%) had 2-3 years of alcoholic drinking behavior. It was also noted that overall knowledge mean score was 58.17 with standard deviation 11.8, (65%) 65 had moderately adequate knowledge, (26%) 26 had inadequate knowledge. It was also noted that overall mean score of attitude was 76.27 with standard deviation 12.16 and (54%) 54 of them had good attitude, (44%) 44 had fair attitude. It was also noted that there was positive Correlation existed between knowledge and attitude on ill-effects of alcoholisms among wives of alcoholic. Hence the level of knowledge increases and the level of attitude were increases. It was also noted that there was significant association between level of knowledge with age and educational status, duration of alcoholism on ill-effects of alcoholism at p 0.05. H1. Hence the research hypothesis rejected between knowledge and demographic variables religion, duration of married life, number of children, occupational status, and family income. It was also noted that there was significant association between attitude with age, number of children, duration of alcoholism at p < 0.05, p < 0.01 level.