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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Original article / research
Full Version
Effect of Educational Video on Maternal Nutrition, Hygiene and Sanitation Among Maternal Age Group Women: A Prospective Interventional Study from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address :
Tripti Verma,
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Food, Nutrition and Public Health, Ethelind College of Home Science, Prayagraj-211007, Uttar Pradesh, India.
E-mail: tripti.verma100@gmail.com
Introduction: Interventions that try to alter behaviour in order to promote health and disease management are typically time and resource-consuming. At the moment, boosting maternal and child nutrition is the main focus of nutrition programme in India. This paper discusses the most effective methods to change eating habits, hygiene, and sanitisation particularly the significance of contemporary Information Technology (IT) in health education.
Aim: To determine the pre education knowledge level and create awareness regarding maternal nutrition, hygiene and sanitation through the developed education video on personal hygiene and sanitation among maternal-aged group women.
Materials and Methods: The community-based prospective interventional study was conducted in the Department of Food, Nutrition and Public Health, Ethelind College of Home Science, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, (SHUATS) Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, from October 2019 to April 2021 by using the prospective intervention study design. Based on the Socio-demographic profile, anthropometric measurement, and clinical assessment, specific questions regarding dietary knowledge and personal hygiene were recorded by using the questionnaire. By using the recorded data through a questionnaire, 100 respondents were selected through stratified random sampling and divided into the control group (n=50) and experimental group (n=50) involved in the intervention study. The experimental group which consisted of 50 respondents was grouped into two groups E1 (n=25) and E2 (n=25) and educated separately {due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) restriction on mass gatherings} three times a month at 15 days intervals. The nutrition education intervention was given through an educational video in the hindi language. The effects of the intervention were studied among the participants of the experimental group. The control group did not receive any nutritional awareness sessions. Knowledge level before and after the education intervention was recorded by using the self-structured questionnaire consisting of 15 multiple questions. The data was analysed by using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique.
Results: The mean age of maternal age group women was 22 years. Analysis was done for the complete data collected from 100 participants (15-35 years of age, 50 in each control and experimental group) included in the present study. No significant difference was found between the knowledge of the control and experimental group at baseline (p-value >0.05). However, the post-intervention, there was significant gain in knowledge in the experimental group (p-value <0.001).
Conclusion: It was found that providing the nutrition education through the developed information and communication technology proved effective by increasing knowledge level among the maternal aged group women.
Dietary, Maternal malnutrition, Questionnaire, Sanitation and health practices, Water
The triple burden of malnutrition is a continuing issue in developing nations today (1). The mother’s past nutritional status has a significant impact on both her health during pregnancy and the health of the foetuses it harbours. Maternal, newborn, and child health are directly affected by sanitation situations. Growing research points to a connection between household Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene (WASH) practices and children’s linear growth (2). According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the maternal malnutrition prevalence rate was 17.3% published in 2019 ranging from 16-18.2% so the mean value was taken as 20% maternal women (3). According to National Family Health Survey (2020-21), 45.9% of pregnant women aged (15-49 years) were found anaemic, and 50.6% of non pregnant women aged 15-49 years were anaemic (4). Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey stated that (2016-18), 24% of adolescents aged 10-19 years had vitamin D deficiency (5). There is a high prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in Indian women during pregnancy 40-70% (6).
Numerous variables are closely related to nutrition. While inadequate nutritional intake is directly linked to malnutrition, other variables such as access to clean water and poor sanitation also play a role in the recurrence of infectious disorders such as diarrhoea and intestinal worms. These parasites disrupt the digestive process by vying with the host for nutrition and preventing nutrient absorption, impairing immunity (7),(8). According to the World Bank (2020) report, 15% of people is still practicing open defecation (9). Video learning improves practice by enhancing mastery abilities, which in turn improves knowledge and understanding in the individual (10),(11). An educational program that employs a pre- and post-testing strategy is more likely to be successful. Similarly, an education programme held in Fatehabad for two months at 15 days interval concluded an improvement in post-test scores of the children who received education about correct nutrition (12).
According to the census of India 2011, Uttar Pradesh, Prayagraj district had a population of 5,954,391 out of which 3,131,807 were male and 2,822,584 were female citizens. The overall literacy rate was found 72.32% and the female literacy rate is poor than the male among the population of Prayagraj, UP, India (13). Therefore, the acute need was felt to provide accurate knowledge about food and health policies to tackle malnutrition among them. Additionally, this approach was designed for the maternal age group’s critical thinking, comprehension, and focus. The purpose of the specified study was to determine the pre-awareness level and create awareness regarding hygiene and sanitation through the developed education video on personal hygiene and sanitation among maternal-aged group women.
The community-based prospective interventional study was carried out in the Department of Food, Nutrition and Public Health, Ethelind College of Home Science, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. The research was conducted from October 2019 to April 2021. Stratified random sampling was used to select the study participants. Ethical approval (Letter Registration No.-IEC/SHUATS/2019/E/06) was taken by the Department of Public Health, Shalom Institute of Health and Allied Sciences (SIHAS), SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, before starting the study.
The study was done with the incorporation of a Community Health Officer and Auxiliary nurse midwife of the villages where the educational intervention was given. All information was anonymously collected, and the outcomes were used for research purposes.
Inclusion criteria: Maternal aged group of women (15-49 years) were selected from the Prayagraj district. Pregnant and lactating mothers from a rural area or population from the area that never got any training or educational intervention, those with lack of access to household water treatment products by the populace and lack of knowledge regarding diet, hygiene, and sanitisation were included in the study.
Exclusion criteria: Pregnant and lactating women suffering from any systematic diseases, those women suffering from any hormonal disturbance and earlier abortion, pregnant and lactating women belonging from lower body mass index levels, low socio-economic status, and poor clinical symptoms and health issues were excluded from the study.
Study Procedure
The list of pregnant and lactating women was selected from the gram panchayat with the help of Auxiliary Mid Wives (AMW) and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers of the selected villages of Prayagraj. A total of 100 pregnant and lactating women were randomly selected from the two villages such as Mahewa Purab patti and Mahewa Pashchim patti of Prayagraj district based on their clinical symptoms, anthropometric measurements, and biochemical profile. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools were designed related to nutrition, health, and hygiene to provide and assess the impact of educational intervention.
• Data collection procedure: The instrument for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire which was formulated and validated by the five experts (Assistant Professors and Professors) from the Department of Food Nutrition and Public Health, Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), SHUATS, Prayagraj and found acceptable to gain data. A total of hundred respondents were selected by following COVID-19 pandemic regulations and guidelines. Fifty respondents were taken as the control group (no educational intervention was given) and 50 respondents were taken as the experimental group (educated three times in a month in 15 days intervals). Due to the COVID guidelines, the experimental group was divided into two groups i.e., experimental group E1 (N=25) and experimental Group E2 (N=25), and educational intervention was given through the educational videos, in Hindi.
Educational intervention: Nutrition education was imparted on various aspects of food and personal hygiene to improve maternal health. The sessions were conducted by the researcher in the presence of auxiliary nurse midwives, community health officers, and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers. The educational session was delivered for 15 minutes at Anganwadi Kendra of Mahewa, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. The researcher compiled the educational content with the help of specific books regarding food and personal hygiene. The audio was recorded for the video and developed by the researcher by Department of Extension and Communication, of the study institute for a total timing of 02:05 minutes.
Questionnaire: Prior to providing the education, the participants completed a pre-education questionnaire to assess baseline knowledge regarding malnutrition. A well-framed and standardised questionnaire was formulated consisting of 10 multiple-choice questions based on: i) maternal malnutrition causes, symptoms, and prevention through dietary management; and ii) Hygiene and sanitation. Multiple-choice answers received one point for a correct answer and incorrect answers received zero points. During the first session, before providing the education to the experimental group, the questionnaire was filled up by the control group and experimental group and the responses were recorded for further comparison. After the first, second, and third sessions of educational intervention, the same questionnaire was filled up by the respondents of the control group (n=50) and experimental group E1 (n=25) and E2 (n=25) to assess the extent of awareness level increased of the respondents after each session. Post-exposure knowledge was evaluated and compared to the data before providing the educational intervention among the respondents of experimental groups E1 and E2 to examine the desirable changes in knowledge. The control group filled out the questionnaire just before the educational session they were not involved in the educational intervention. Their responses were only recorded to compare with the data of the experimental group. For the assessment of the total knowledge gain by the exposure of educational video on hygiene and sanitation, 10 questions regarding hygiene and sanitation were asked again and the respondents who scored above 50% were considered as the respondents that gain knowledge successfully.
Statistical Analysis
The data was analysed manually by using ANOVA, critical difference correlation coefficient, p-value, other appropriate statistical analytical methods and t-test to check its significance and interpret the data (14).
Demographic characteristics of the selected respondents: (Table/Fig 1) shows the general information on the pregnant and nursing women participating in the study gathered. The ratio of pregnant women and lactating women was similar. Most of them belong to the Hindu community. The mean age of maternal age group women was 22 years. Most of the maternal age group women have nuclear families with vegetarian habits. The educational status of the respondents was found low as most of the respondents were uneducated and had primary education. All respondents belonged to the income group of Rs.1000 to Rs. 33, 000 (15).
(Table/Fig 2) has shown the data regarding the assessment of knowledge level after educational intervention regarding maternal care and hygiene and sanitation of selected respondents aged 15-49 years. From the recorded data, the results were found those experimental groups gain much knowledge after having educational intervention as compared to the control group (who didn’t have educational intervention). Before the nutrition education program, there was no significant difference control group and the experimental group in terms of the knowledge of the respondents regarding the different aspects of hygiene and sanitation. However, there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the knowledge of viral diseases. Pre-intervention data of the experimental group shows a non significant correlation to each other in different aspects.
On the other hand, the data were also compared among the experimental group after each session of intervention and it was found that there was a significant difference (<0.00001) between the pre and post-intervention data of the respondents among the experimental group while comparing different aspects of hygiene and sanitation. It can conclude that after each intervention, the extent of awareness level increased which significantly reflects the importance of educational video among the targeted group.
The sample distribution of subjects based on gain in knowledge prior and after to the educational intervention through exposure to educational video is summarised in (Table/Fig 3) shows that before providing the nutrition educational intervention, 9 respondents from the control group, 8 respondents from experimental group E1 (n-25) and 10 respondents from E2 (n-25) were found to have adequate knowledge regarding hygiene and sanitation. However, after the final intervention (after the 30 days) results depicted those 21 (42 percent) respondents from experimental Group-1 and 19 (38 percent) respondents from experimental Group-2 showed adequate knowledge from the educational video.
Maternal malnutrition is a condition that is associated with heterogeneous aetiology and factors contributed among the maternal aged group. The rate of maternal malnutrition decreased from 37.6 percent to 17.9 percent in India specified from 2000 to 2019 (15),(16), but the current prevalence of maternal malnutrition also raised the serious question to all the health agencies and Non Government Organisation (NGO) because the funds and schemes applied for economic assistance, pre-natal and anti-natal care did not efficiently prevent the maternal morbidity and mortality cases (17),(18).
In the present study, the majority of maternal age group respondents belonged to 18-25 years. Numerous studies have demonstrated that there is a larger likelihood that a pregnancy occurring at a young age may have unfavorable pregnancy outcomes (19),(20).
In this study, it was hypothesised that implementing a nutrition education program will effectively improve the awareness level among the maternal-aged group women and the hypothesis was supported as there was significant improvement in the awareness level of the particpants in the experimental group, postintervention. Similar results were obtained from a study by Lewa AF et al., where nutritional education using a video-based intervention effectively improved the knowledge about nutritional status among pregnant women (21). Another study by Permatasari TAE et al., from Indonesia concluded that nutrition and reproductive health education can help in effectively increasing the knowledge in pregnant women (11). Another study by Peris RD et al., from Sri Lanka used mobile intervention in the form of messages to educate pregnant and nursing women about nutrition. The authors concluded that the mobile intervention helped in effectively improving the knowledge, attitude and practice of the participating mothers (22).
The results showed that using educational videos directly and favorably impacts mothers’ participation. Video intervention helps in respondents’ active engagement in the educational session by their questions, comments, and discussions on the subject matter (23). Several studies have strongly supported the importance of educational intervention because in providing education for various topics such as nutrition, maternal health, fertility awareness etc., (11),(24),(25),(26). The present study offers important knowledge on the advantages of educational intervention as a workable alternative. Providing education to a mother but educating the whole family which directly contributed to the changes in attitude and practices from one generation to another generation.
Through informative lectures and routine screening, healthcare professionals can play a significant part in addressing these issues at the primary and secondary levels of prevention.
Limitation(s)
First off, because the subjects were selected from a single city. Thus, the study’s conclusions cannot be generalised. Second, it’s possible that self-reported questionnaires contain response biases. Finally, because the intervention was only in place for a short time, the results of the study may not be comprehensive. Therefore, we advise conducting research with large and representative samples for a longer period of time.
Within the limitations, the present study concludes that there was significant increase in the pregnant women’s knowledge by the current intervention. The educational messages given to expectant mothers utilising a comprehensive strategy that targeted all the important factors throughout time greatly increased their understanding of nutrition and hygiene during pregnancy. Governments and development partners should adopt various programmatic solutions. Additional, well-targeted treatments that are nutrition-sensitive are needed, especially in the weeks and months leading up to and during the first 1000 days for India’s most vulnerable mothers and children. In order to survive, grow, and thrive, mothers and children both require fundamental WASH provisions and behaviours.
The authors would like to thank Department of Food Nutrition and Public Health, Ethelind College of Home Science, SHUATS, Prayagraj for using their facilities. Also, the author would like to thank University Grant Commission for the immense help related to funding throughout the research.
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2023/62169.17775
Date of Submission: Dec 09, 2022
Date of Peer Review: Jan 04, 2023
Date of Acceptance: Mar 21, 2023
Date of Publishing: Apr 01, 2023
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. Yes
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