Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Suman Hooda ¹, Promila Batra ², Sarvdeep Kohli ²

Affiliations
1 Clinical Psychologist, Rohtak, Haryana, IN
2 Department of Psychology, M. D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, IN

Abstract

Arthritis is a chronic disease which has a very high incidence in India. The prevalence of RA in India is quite similar to that reported from the developed countries. It is higher than that reported from China, Indonesia, Philippines and rural Africa (Malaviya, Kapoor, Singh, Kumar&Pande,1993).The chronic disease involves a variety of acute pain that has been shown to cripple everyday activities. The consequent perceived loss of control affects the routine psychological and social adjustment. The pain and daily hassles lead to a variety of emotional reactions e.g. anxiety and depression etc. Therefore, it is all the more important to learn about how to cope with this disease. Keeping this in mind it was planned to study the coping strategies amongst the patients of arthritis and compare these with control group. A convenient sample of 120 subjects, 60 suffering from arthritis and 60 healthy controls (30 males and 30 females in each category), in age range of 35-50 years (mean age 42.04 years) was selected from rural/ urban area of Haryana. A two group design was employed with n = 60. Coping Responses Inventory (Adult Form) by Moos (1993) was administered. The analysis was done by employing t-test. The results indicated that the patients of arthritis were significantly high on avoidance coping. In two types of avoidance coping i.e., cognitive avoidance and acceptance or resignation were being more significantly used by arthritis patients in their daily living conditions. However, they did not differ in their approach coping strategies from the control group. Regarding approach coping strategies there was a significant difference in logical analysis whereas no significant difference was observed in other three types of approach coping i.e., positive reappraisal, seeking guidance and support and problem solving between the two groups. The findings have been discussed in terms of implications in preparing the psycho-educative programs for arthritis patients.

Keywords

No keywords

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Asha Rani ¹, Promila Batra ²

Affiliations
1 General Hospital, Rohtak,Haryana, IN
2 Department of Psychology, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, IN

Abstract

Each disease brings with it lot of additionally associated problems that the patient requires to cope with this additional burden and stress. Therefore, every patient has to cope with both the disease and the accompanying stresses in the form of biological, psychological and social problems. HIV/AIDS is also a disorder with high incidence and prevalence. It is a viral disease, which reduces the ability of immune system to defend the body against the introduction of foreign substances (antigens). Its negative impact on the individual and society itself is in alarming stage, as the disease is highly associated with a variety of loss, grief and stress. Each individual suffering from HIV/AIDS adopts a different style and strategy to cope with the disease. However, these patients can be enabled to cope with the disease related stress and worries by training them on appropriate ways of coping. The existing literature indicating about various methods categorized as better ways of coping with specific diseases but it is important to know what type of ways are being adopted by the patients and need to be changed for the success of interventions to teach appropriate ways of coping. Therefore, study aimed at assessing the patterns of emotion focused and problem focused ways of coping among HIV and AIDS patients. The present study was earned out in Haryana on 500 patients with HIV/AIDS having the age from 25 to 50 years (mean age 37.5 years). To assess and compare the coping styles adopted by HIV/AIDS patients, the selected subjects were tested with the ways of coping questionnaire by Folkman and Lazarus (1988). Frequencies of individual high on one type of coping (quartile based)and the mean of coping scores were calculated and analyzed. The Chi-square and 'f values reveal that most of the HIV/AIDS patients were going more with emotion focused coping than with problem focused coping.

Keywords

HIV, AIDS, PLHIV, Coping Strategies, Neurotic Complaints, Psychiatric Symptoms.

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Dipti Arora ¹, Promila Batra ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, GHS Palra, Gurgaon, Haryana, IN
2 Department of Psychology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, IN

Abstract

Processing of different stimuli or attention has widespread psychological consequences in one's life. Without attention, perceiving, thinking, learning, deciding and acting is not possible as it is the gateway to all these processes. But in this era of high workload, stress, competition and technological advances attention capacities are deteriorating a lot. Decline in attention can have far-reaching effects on one's ability to function adequately and efficiently in everyday life at work home and elsewhere. Thus, it is important to enhance attention. Various techniques are available for enhancing other cognitive processes such as memory, learning etc. but, the techniques for enhancing attention are yet not well established in the existing literature. Moreover, the techniques available for enhancing attention are very few and require a lot of training, time, effort and experience for implementing them. Negative air ion therapy could be one such technique that does not require much training, is easy and economical to handle the attention disorder and has been shown to exert a positive effect memory and learning. If this therapy can enhance memory and learning, it is quite possible that it can also affect attention and if it shows same impact on attention, it can have wide implications. Keeping this in mind, present work was designed to study the impact of Negative air ion exposure on Selective and Sustained attention. A two group pre post design was employed. A sample of 30 students (n=15) studying in class 8th and 9th in the age range of 14-16 years, with an average span of attention was selected. Experimental group was given an exposure of 1000-1200 ions/cm3 for 10 days and no exposure was given to control group. Subjects were tested on two simple tasks i.e. Selective and Sustained attention before and after the ionic exposure. The results revealed that negative air ion therapy enhances the Selective and Sustained attention of adolescents.

Keywords

Negative Air Icon Exposure, Attention, Students.

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Suman Hooda ¹, Promila Batra ², Sarvdeep Kohli ²

Affiliations
1 Rohtak, Haryana, IN
2 Department of Psychology, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, IN

Abstract

Arthritis is a chronic disease which has a very high incidence in India. The prevalence of RA in India is quite similar to that reported from the developed countries. It is higher than that reported from China, Indonesia, Philippines and rural Africa (Malaviva, Kapoor, Singh, Kumar & Pande, 1993). The chronic disease involves a variety of acute pain that has been shown to cripple everyday activities. The consequent perceived loss of control affects the routine psychological and social adjustment. The pain and daily hassles lead to a variety of emotional reactions e.g. anxiety and depression etc. Therefore, it is all the more important to learn about how to cope with this disease. Keeping this in mind it was planned to study the coping strategies amongst the patients of arthritis and compare these with control group. A convenient sample of 120 subjects, 60 suffering from arthritis and 60 healthy controls (30 males and 30 females in each category) in the age range of 35-50 years (mean age 42.04 years) was selected from rural/urban areas of Haryana. A two group design was employed with n=60. Coping Response Inventory (Adult Form) by Moos (1993) was administered. The analysis was done by employing t-test. The results indicated that the patients of arthritis were significantly high on avoidance coping. Two types of avoidance coping i.e., cognitive avoidance and acceptance or resignation were being more significantly used by the arthritis patients in their daily living conditions. However, they did not differ in the total approach coping strategies from the control group, although there was a significant difference in logical analysis. No significant difference was observed in other three types of approach coping i.e., positive reappraisal, seeking guidance and support and problem solving between the two groups. The findings have been discussed in terms of implications in preparing the psycho-educative programs for arthritis patients of arthritis.

Keywords

Coping Strategies, Arthritis Male and Female.

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Asha Rani ¹, Promila Batra ²

Affiliations
1 General Hospital, Rohtak,Haryana, IN
2 Department of Psychology, M.D. University, Rohtak,Haryana, IN

Abstract

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) due to Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a viral disease that reduces the ability of a subject to defend the body against foreign substances. Many psychiatric and psychological syndromes accompanying HIV/AIDS may vary from one to another stage and every patient has to cope with both the disease and the accompanying stresses. This makes the patients doubly burdened, necessitating the positive coping and management among the HIV and AIDS patients. There are studies indicating that different coping strategies may influence the patients differently in managing the disease and mental health of the patients. It is important to study the differences in the ways of coping being adopted by these patients before designing interventions to train these patients about positive ways of coping. Gender is one of the important factors affecting how these coping strategies are mobilized. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess gender difference in adopting emotion and problem focused ways of coping by the HIV and AIDS patients. The investigation was carried out in Haryana on 500 patients suffering from this disease in age group of 25-50 years with mean age 37.5 years. An equal number of males and females, i.e., 250 male (HIV positive: 125 & AIDS: 125) and 250 female (HIV positive: 125 & AIDS: 125) patients were selected. The selected subjects were tested using the ways of coping questionnaire suggested by Folkman and Lazarus (1988). Frequency wise and amount/extent wise analysis was done. The Chi-square, means, SD's and 't' values were computed to interpret the data. The use of emotion-focused ways was more prevalent amongst both the male and female patients of HIV and AIDS. Simultaneously, the ways of coping were adopted by both males and females suffering from HIV or AIDS.

Keywords

HIV, AIDS, PLHIV, Problem Focused Coping, Emotion Focused Coping.

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Priyanka ¹, Promila Batra ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, M.A.C.W, Jhajjar, Haryana, IN
2 Department of Psychology, M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana, IN

Abstract

Attention stands at the forefront of cognition. Without attention abilities, there would be no learning, no perception, no intellectual functioning, and no development of language. Attention enables the individual to gain these experiences. But, recent years have seen a sudden surge in an array of cognitive dysfunctions such as decline in memory, distraction in attention and attention related disorders. Stressful lifestyle in this competitive world may be the ischolar_main cause. Allopathic psychoactive drugs have been the main stay of treating attention related problems in India and the world wide. However, experiences with these drugs have always not been satisfying. The administration of these drugs is very expensive and most often accompanied by side effects like insomnia, mood change, dizziness, respiratory depression, irritability, nausea, rash, and clumsiness etc. Therefore, the whole world is looking towards ancient science of Ayurveda to explore safe, alternative, cost effective treatment as well as reliable cure with no or minimal side effects. Ayurveda largely uses plants as raw material for the manufacture of drugs. Shankhpushpi is believed to be the one such herbal plant that is capable of enhancing all the aspects related to the brain power, such as learning memory, and the ability to recall. Earlier work on this plant conducted by many researchers as well as in our own department clear-cut indicates the memory enhancing potential of this plant. It can be inferred from the memory enhancing potential of this plant that if this plant can enhance memory, it is quite possible that attention also must be getting affected by it. Any improvement in attentional processes would have its implications in improving all other cognitive abilities. Keeping this wide implication in mind, this present piece of work was designed to examine the effect of Shankhapushpi, a herbal plant, on attentional processes. A 2 X 2 double blind, pre post, placebo controlled, parallel group design was employed. Sample was selected from college going students, belonging to an age group of 19 25 years, who were ready to sign informed consent. Total 60 subjects were selected and divided into 4 groups, each having 15 Ss. 2 groups were experimental groups, who received Shankhapushpi powder (3.5 gm per day with honey followed by a glass of milk) for 2 different durations i.e. 10 and 20 days. Other 2 groups were control groups, which were treated with ordinary powder (made with coriander, spinach, fenugreek etc.) with the same dose and in the same manner as experimental groups. Two aspects of attentional processes were tested i.e. Selective and Divided attention. The subjects were tested on these tasks before starting the treatment and immediately after the treatment. The paper will discusses the obtained results in details as analyzed by two-way ANOVA.

Keywords

Shankhapushpi, Convolvulus pluricaulis, Attention.

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Vasudha ¹, Promila Batra ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, IN

Abstract

Internet is now a days counted as digital addiction. The youth has a hunger to know about new things and internet is the cheapest and easiest way to satisfy the hunger. Internet surfing is very easy and it soothes the curiosity within seconds. Slowly internet is now become a necessary portion of our lives. People started searching relationships on social networking sites particularly when they are poor or weak in building relationships, poor in communication or expression or are hesitant of social speech. Therefore, it seems that lack of social skill and self-esteem could be one cause of spending longer time on the internet. With this view point, current study was designed to reconnoiter the relationship among web addiction and self-esteem. It was hypothesized that lower the self-esteem higher would be the internet addiction. To fulfill the purpose of this study self-esteem test by Rosenberg and internet addiction test by Kimberly young were applied on a sample of 300 subjects selected from various educational institutions in Haryana on the basis of consent to participate in the study. The subjects were in the age range of 16-25 years, representing a mixed gender, rural-urban and different socio-economic status. On the basis of consent to participate in the study from Haryana were selected. Pearson's Correlation method was used to study the data and the hypothesis predicting that lower the self-esteem higher would be the internet addiction proved. It is recommended that raising self-esteem should help in lowering the addiction.

Keywords

Internet Addiction, Self-eesteem, Poor Communication, Adolescents.

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