National Child Rights Research Fellowship 2015-16 (NCRRF Year 9)

National Child Rights Research Fellowship 2015-16 (NCRRF Year 9)

Child Rights and You (CRY) announced the Awardees for the National Child Rights Research Fellowship 2015-16 (NCRRF Year 9). They selected five researchers for the award of an individual research fellowship at the national level. I was selected to conduct the research on "Determinants of health and vulnerabilities among children in suburban areas in Chennai”.

Other research fellows were;

1. Taruna Jain who will be studying “Deconstruction and construction of Self and Identity amongst Adolescents in Mohallas”.
2. Hemlata Kansotia who will be looking for keen insights into “Is the `Best Interest Principle’, a value, a constitutional right, an interpretative advocacy instrument or a rule of law?”
3. Tanya Anne Pinto to undertake research on “The Onus of Orphanhood: A Qualitative Study to assess discrimination and vulnerability of orphan students in Public schools”.
4. Baba Mayaram, who will do a study on “The Nutrition, Health And Education Status Of Children Of The Rajjhar Community Of Madhya Pradesh”.

Best Scientific Paper Award 2019

Best Scientific Paper Award

I have presented a scientific paper on "The flawed Indian laws which paralyze the lives of elder women since five decades: A case study approach" in a National Conference on Gender and aging: An interprofessional framework for action conducted by Chettinad College of Nursing, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Kelambakkam,  Tamilnadu, India on 12.07.2019. I have received the "Best Paper Award" for my presentation. Thank you very much for your help and support.

Editorial: Choosing the Right Qualitative Approach: Is Phenomenographya Design for my Study?

Editorial: Choosing the Right Qualitative Approach: Is Phenomenographya Design for my Study?

Published in: Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research [Internet]. 16Sep.2019 [cited 21Oct.2019];23(4):314-9. Available from: https://www.tcithaijo.org/index.php/PRIJNR/article/view/216447

Introduction

The Pacific Rim Journal of International NursingResearch has published a wide range of studies utilizing different research approaches, as well as introducing to readers’ descriptions of research approaches they may not have considered before. In this short methodology paper, our aim is two-fold.  We begin by encouraging you as the researcher or the would-be researcher to think carefully about the qualitative approach that you choose for your study.  Then we outline phenomenography so that you can decide whether this would be a useful approach for you to explore and use in the future.  Phenomenography is not well known or utilized much in the Asia-Pacific region in nursing research, apart from in Australia. It has been used in the west, particularly in Scandinavia, but also in the  USA, and UK and a few other countries to study different experiences of the people and their perceptions towards certain phenomena. 

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The nutritional intake, dietary pattern, and health outcomes among the adolescent girls in suburban areas of Chennai

The nutritional intake, dietary pattern, and health outcomes among the adolescent girls in suburban areas of Chennai

Published in: International Journal of Nursing and Education and Research, 2019;7(2):01-05.

Abstract:

The adolescent girls in Suburban areas are getting confused between the tradition of the village and modernization of the city due to the transition effect. They will be in a hurry to run fastly with the modern trends and thus, result in nutritional deficiencies, which don’t produce any signs or symptoms during the adolescence period, but the symptoms may worsen later in the pregnancy period. Based on the assumption, the researcher decided to design a project on the nutritional status of the adolescent girls as part of the National Child Rights Research Fellowship (NCRRF). The researcher conducted a study to assess the nutritional intake, dietary pattern, and health outcomes among adolescent girls in suburban areas of Chennai. The researcher used the cross-sectional descriptive design to assess the nutritional outcomes among the adolescent girls, who were in the age group of 10-18 years from the four suburban areas. The total sample size for the study was 200 and the duration of the study was one year. The data collection instrument has two sections: Socio-demographic data and 24 hours recall method. The majority of the adolescent girls take deficit amount of protein 96 (48.0%), iron 198 (99.0%), calcium 195 (97.5%) and vitamin A 152 (76.0%). The subjects who belong to 16-18 years of age demonstrate excess in calorie 42(50.0%) and fat intake 76 (90.48%), and deficit in protein 40(47.62%), iron (84(100%), calcium 82(97.62%) and vitamin A 65(77.38%). The author concludes the paper by suggesting the recommendations from the individual level to the national level to promote adolescent health.

Keywords: Adolescent girls, nutritional intake, dietary pattern, health outcomes, adolescence, adolescent health

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Flawed Indian laws which paralyze the lives of women since five decades-A Nurse Researcher's perspective

Flawed Indian laws which paralyze the lives of women since five decades-A Nurse Researcher's perspective

Published in: Asian Journal of Nursing Education and Research, Year: 2019, Volume: 9, Issue: 1

Abstract:

As nursing is a female-dominated profession, it is also important to take care of the nurse's health physically, psychologically and socially to make them productive in their career. It is seen that one of the social evils like dowry system of India cripples their personal and career lives, and making them weep silently behind the doors. Whilst considering the dowry system as a major issue among them, the researcher studied the origin of the dowry system and Indian dowry laws in detail. Here, the researcher has taken the two Indian laws; The Hindu Succession Act and The Dowry Prohibition Act, to throw light on the various aspects of defaults in the implementation of the amendment to achieve the aim of ‘gender equality and/or women empowerment’ in India. The researcher points out the drawbacks of the Indian laws and gives the recommended solutions to uproot the word ‘dowry’ from the people's mind.

Keywords: Dowry system, Indian laws, women empowerment, gender equality, the nursing profession, flawed laws, social evils.

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Test and development of Fixed-Unfixed Cost Accounting Model (FUCAM) in a Hospital Setting

Test and development of Fixed-Unfixed Cost Accounting Model (FUCAM) in a Hospital Setting

Published in: Int. J. of Advances in Nur. Management. 2019; 7(1): 31-34.

Abstract:

The upward escalation of the morbidity rate in India has led to an increased demand for hospital services. At the same time, the hospital management rises the health care cost substantially in India to harvest at the right time. Similarly, the hospitals doubled the patient care charges, as the admission in the hospitals become a nightmare for the people. Here, the paper attempts to understand the difference between the actual cost spent by the hospital and a bill produced to a patient for a normal vaginal delivery through cost accounting model. With a combined prospective and retrospective approach, the author has done cost accounting for a normal vaginal delivery using a fixed-unfixed cost accounting framework. Using the convenience sampling technique, 30 records were audited and 8 normal deliveries were observed. The tool was developed by the investigator, which consists of the demographic data and observation checklist of consumables including drugs, equipment, furniture, and fittings. The maternal records were audited retrospectively to find out the average number of drugs and related consumables used per patient. The concept of this cost accounting is to estimate the cost of services to patients directly and indirectly, which helps in making decisions regarding financial statements and estimate the profit/ loss of the organization. Hopefully, a study of the existing system process in the hospital can lead to the effective logical planning process for the management in the future.

Keywords: Costing, cost accounting, normal delivery, activity-based costing and costing hospital procedure.

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Social determinants of adolescent girls’ dietary pattern in suburban areas in Chennai: A qualitative approach

Social determinants of adolescent girls’ dietary pattern in suburban areas in Chennai: A qualitative approach

Published in: Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences, 5(1), 5-11

Abstract

Background: The idea of adolescent well-being is getting importance all around the world and thus there is a lack of national investigations to survey the factors on the dietary pattern of young girls in suburban regions. 

Aim: The objective of the study is to explore the social determinants of adolescent girls’ dietary patterns in suburban areas of Chennai. 

Design: The phenomenological design was used to explore the social determinants of adolescent girl’s nutritional intake. The study population consisted of adolescent girls, who were in the age group of 15-18 years in suburban areas of Chennai. The tool had two sections: Areas of exploration and indicative questions. The total sample size was 19 with three focus group discussions (FGDs). Thematic analysis was used to explore social determinants. 

Results: The four main categories were identified from the adolescent girl’s point of view in terms of social determinants. It consisted of father and mother (as individual determinants), family (merged determinants of father and mother) and related society. The major themes were knowledge and interest in cooking, tiredness, and lack of time of mother, alcoholism, ill health of a family member, the purchasing power of the family, friends circle, agriculture, seasonal variation, and urbanization.

Conclusion: Closing the gaps, both in research and inaction, would profit the society in general, resulting in enhanced wellbeing and health of adolescent girls and help in harnessing their full physical and mental potential for the overall improvement of the population.

Keywords: Adolescent girls, dietary pattern, phenomenology, qualitative approach, social determinants, suburban areas 

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Why have I been touched badly? A 22 years follow-up research study on factors influencing child sex abuse and solutions to stop it.

Why have I been touched badly? A 22 years follow-up research study on factors influencing child sex abuse and solutions to stop it.

Published in: Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2019; 9(1):09-16

Abstract

The technology and democracy have helped us to forward the world fastly, without giving an ultimate solution to many social problems which makes the lives nightmare. Among these, the incidence of child sex abuse has become an unresolved issue and is increasing dramatically nowadays. The author has conducted a 22-years prospective and inquisitive search to explore the factors influencing the sex abuse from offender’s and victim/target’s point of view and to find a solution to eradicate this crime towards children. The researcher has selected a personalized cum case study qualitative approach to explore the factors and solution, introduced the paper with a title of ‘Why have I been touched badly’? and masked the title of the study, statement of the problem, research questions, inclusion and exclusion criteria purposefully to ensure confidentiality, anonymity and trust of the participants at cent percent as it is a highly sensitive issue in the society. The researcher has used triangulation method to evolve results bias-free. The researcher has used diary notes, discussions, observations and case studies. It is seen that there are 11 factors contributing to infant sex abuse, 9 & 6 factors for preschooler and schooler sex abuse respectively. The current research identified 6 phases of child sex abuse; observation phase, introduction phase, Samaritan phase, isolation phase, execution phase and termination phase. The existing body of literature regarding this issue is very limited. The researcher decided to discuss the evolved facts with reported cases of child sex abuse and studied on ‘how could it have been prevented?’ The researcher randomly picked five recent reported cases by media with the detailed explanation of the situational factors except the case study VI, which the researcher has purposefully selected this incident to justify the suggested solution to eradicate the child sex abuse in the society. The researcher concludes the paper with a request for revising POCSO act based on the results of the study, thus hopefully be able to stop the child sex abuse forever.

Keywords: Child sex abuse, Pocso act, bad touch, sex offenders, sex abuse victims, a solution to sex abuse

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Lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods 2015: To develop a Concatenated Disaster Crisis model using phenomenographical framework analysis

Lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods 2015: To develop a Concatenated Disaster Crisis model using phenomenographical  framework analysis

Published in: Indian Journal of continuing nursing education, 2018, 19(2), 44-53.

Abstract:

The 2015 South Indian floods resulted from heavy rain fall in November-December 2015. The South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, particularly Chennai and Andhra Pradesh were badly affected. The aim of the study was to investigate the lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods; developing a Concatenated Disaster Crisis model using phenomenographical framework analysis. A qualitative design with phenomenographic approach was used. This study focuses on investigating ‘how do people experience towards the natural phenomenon?’. The results are emerged from three phases of data collection after flooding: within 4 days, 4 months and 3 months subsequently with a total number of 22 samples. The steps followed are familiarization, compilation, condensation, preliminary grouping, preliminary comparison of categories, naming the categories and final outcome space. The results of the study are presented as categories of description and outcome space. Categories of description are typically expressed in the form of 10 categories named as ‘phases’ and description as ‘views’. Ten categories emerged: Disaster ‘expected, but not expected’, pseudo relief ‘save only life’, indolent ‘disaster victims’, reluctant ‘not willing to go back to reality’, empty nest ‘lost everything’, horn bill ‘look at help’, saturation ‘saturated with donated materials’, life initiation ‘start a life from zero point’, recovery ‘disaster becomes a nightmare’ and normal life phase ‘disaster becomes an anecdote’. The Concatenated Disaster Crisis model facilitates the nurses to identify the chain of experiences of victims with variations therein, plan the allocation of resources carefully and provide what the victims are in need. 

Read full article:Lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods 2015