Background: Ensuring better quality of life to an increasing number of elderly people is emerging as a stiff public health challenge in India. There is paucity of data on impact of functional health on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in India. Objectives: The aim of this study is to explore the functional status and its association with different dimensions of HRQOL among elderly individuals in an urban setting of Assam, India. Materials and Methods: A total of 300 elderly were recruited in a cross-sectional study from the city of Dibrugarh, Assam, India. Eight domains of HRQOL of participants were assessed using short form 36 (SF-36). Functional status was assessed by using Barthel activity of daily living (ADL) tool. ANOVA test and binary logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between ADL status and HRQOL. Results: In all, 34.7% ( n = 104) of participants had limitations in one or more ADL items. We also observed a strong graded relationship between ADL and HRQOL scores. Those who scored perfect 100 ADL score also scored highest in all eight HRQOL scales, whereas those with least ADL score scored lowest in all the HRQOL scales. In age- and sex-adjusted logistic regression analysis, the probability of poor health increased with decreasing level of ADL scores. Conclusion: Findings of the study suggest that decline in ADL can negatively impact different dimensions of HRQOL among elderly individuals. The findings indicate that there is need to pay proper attention for restoring functional health at later life in order to improve quality of life among elderly in India.

No abstract

Background Functional disability in older adults is common and adversely impacts the quality of life. Given the paucity of population-based data, the present analysis attempted to determine the prevalence and factors associated with functional disability in basic activities of daily living (ADLs) among the elderly population in a rural setting of Northeastern state of India Methods A total of 430 elderly were recruited in a population-based cross-sectional study among elderly individuals (≥60 years) during the period 2013-2016 in rural areas of the Dibrugarh district of Northeastern India. The Barthel index was used to measure ADL. Anyone with a Barthel index score <100 (or having limitations in one or more ADL items) were considered as having a functional disability. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and the binary logistic regression analysis were used to examine the factors associated with functional disability. Results Overall, 43.7% % (Male 42.9%, Female 44.5%) of the participants had a functional disability. Increasing age, being widowed, having no formal education, being underweight (body mass index (BMI)<18.5 kg/m 2), and increasing numbers of morbidities were significantly associated with functional disability among the elderly in this study in age and gender-adjusted logistic regression analysis. Being ≥80 years was associated with a threefold greater risk (OR=31.72, 95% CI=1.3-6.91) of functional disability than the youngest age group (60-69 years). On the other hand, the presence of more than five morbidities was associated with a nearly 20 times increased risk (OR=19.61, 95% CI=9.01-42.68) than those with zero to two morbidities. Conclusion A high proportion of the rural elderly residents of Dibrugarh had a functional disability. The study provides epidemiological evidence of the risk factors of functional disability in this setting. This epidemiological information may be useful for developing prevention strategies to reduce the burden of functional disability.

Background:Globally, 2.3 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 280 000 diarrhoeal deaths annually. Tea garden population belonging mostly to lower socio economic class, often lacks access to basic safe drinking water and sanitation. This study aims to assess the availability and utilization of sanitation facilities amongst the tea garden population. Methods:A Community based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among the people residing in the lines of tea gardens of Jorhat district. Using multistage cluster sampling a total of 540 eligible subjects were selected for our study and they were interviewed using a pre-designed pre-tested schedule. Results:In our study, sanitation facilities were available in 58.9% households of which 83.1% were sanitary type and 69.7% latrines were functional. Out of the 318 respondents who have latrine, 61.1% reported that they use latrine regularly while 64.1% study respondents had the practice of open air defecation. Conclusions:The availability of sanitation facility and latrine utilization rate of the households were not satisfactory. This reflects that various schemes related to sanitation that are planned and implemented by Government have not been reached to the majority of tea tribe population. So an urgent call has to be made to all stakeholders to work in close collaboration to ensure access and utilization of sanitation facilities among the vulnerable tea plantation community.

INTRODUCTION: Feedback is an important part of the assessment process. However, one-to-one structured and constructive feedback to the students is not practiced mostly due to lack of practice and feasibility issues. The present study was conducted to understand the perception of students and faculty toward one-to-one structured feedback. METHODOLOGY: All the 3 rd MBBS professional students were included in the study. An orientation was given to the faculty regarding the importance of feedback and how to give structured feedback. A standardized format was provided to the faculty for providing the feedback to the students. After completion of the assessments, a one-to-one structured verbal feedback was given to all the students. Thereafter, faculty and student's perception on the feedback process was obtained through questionnaires. A focused group discussion was also conducted among the students. RESULTS: A total of 42 students participated in the study out of 50. A positive response was received from all the students regarding the feedback. Nearly84.34% of the students acknowledged that feedback is important for understanding their mistakes, 92.84% of the students responded positively that feedback helps to build a good rapport with the teacher, and 92.85% of the students reported that they were satisfied with the overall experience of receiving feedback. Most of the faculty (80%) perceived that giving feedback after the assessment was a good idea. The faculty felt motivated to give feedback to the students after the hands-on experience. However, only 20% of the faculty agreed that the process of feedback was easy to carry out (mean score: 2.2 ± 1.09). CONCLUSION: The positive responses received from both the students and the faculty highlight that the students are receptive toward feedback provided it is structured, constructive, and helps them to achieve their learning goals.