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Context: There are limited data in India, even more so in Manipur when it comes to assessing the willingness to participate in biomedical research despite numerous ongoing research being conducted. This study will throw light on the willingness of the general population who we oftentimes ask to participate in biomedical research. Aim: To assess the willingness to participate in biomedical research among the adult population of Bishnupur district, Manipur. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among adults in Bishnupur district, Manipur during March 2023 Methods and Material: Participants were selected using multistage random sampling with proportional allocation. Data were collected by interviewing the participants using pretested structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis used: Descriptive statistics like mean with standard deviation and percentage were used. Chisquare test, Fisher Exact test and logistic regression were employed. Results: There were 448 participants with mean age 42.71±13.74 years. Ninety-two percent previously participated in any form of biomedical research. Participants willing to participate in any biomedical research was 76.1%. Majority of respondents were willing to undergo physical examinations. Risk issuewas the main reason for those not willing to participate. Those who had previous history of participation were ten times more likely to participate than those who had no previous participation in biomedical research. Conclusions: The study showed that three-fourth of the general adult population in Bishnupur were willing to participate in any biomedical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Life skills aid as a principal catalyst to promote healthy adolescent development by preventing key causes of death. Building critical-thinking and decision-making skills lays the foundation stone for unfolding all other essential life skills. Objectives: To evaluate effectiveness of an educational intervention module on critical-thinking and decisionmaking skills of school-going adolescents in Imphal West district, Manipur. Methods: Quasi-experimental study was conducted in co-educational state board schools of Imphal West district of Manipur among classes IX and XI from December,2020 to October,2022 with 210 students in intervention and 206 in control school. Structured questionnaire was self-administered at three time points. Health education module devised by researchers, comprised of four sessions given at three weeks interval to intervention school. Chi-square test, Independent sample-t-test and ANOVA were applied for analysis. Results: Critical-thinking skills {Wilks's Lambda=0.061,F(2,208)=1602.82,p<0.001, η2=0.94} and decision-making skills {Wilk's Lambda=0.11,F(2,208)=831.84,p<0.001, η2=0.89} of the experimental group improved significantly across the three time points but not for the control group. Between the group comparison indicated that mean change in scores for both the skills was significantly greater for experimental group (p<0.001) when compared to control. Life skills intervention module had a large effect size for both the skills at both the post-tests Conclusion: This study affirmed the effectiveness of the educational intervention with significant improvement in both skills for experimental school immediately after the intervention which was sustained till the third month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Palliative care increases comfort by lessening pain, controlling symptoms and lessening stress for the patient and family.Having adequate knowledge with proper attitude and practice among nurses is crucial to establish a good palliative care service. Aims: Hence the study has been contemplated which aims at identifying the level of knowledge and attitude of nursing students. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire containing a validated instrument ‘Palliative care quiz for nursing (PCQN) was use. A stratified two-stage cluster sampling design with a probability proportionate to size was used. Data was collected from 430 students and entered in IBM SPSS version 21. Results were summarised using descriptive statistics. Chi-square test was used to see the significant difference between proportions. Results: Knowledge was inadequate in 60.2% of the nursing students while 82.1% showed favourable attitude. There was significant association between academic year and knowledge for BSc nursing and FHW/ANM students. Knowledge was significantly associated with training received and attitude Conclusion: Knowledge was inadequate in three-fifth of the nursing students while majority of them more than four-fifth showed favourable attitude. There was significant association between academic year and knowledge for BSc nursing and FHW/ANM students.Knowledge was significantly associated with training received and attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Rabies, a zoonotic disease caused by Lyssavirus genus rabies virus, is 100% fatal yet preventable. Appropriate and timely management of rabies cases will help in reducing and preventing mortality. Health-care personnel, especially the junior doctors who are at the threshold of their public health service, need to be equipped with adequate knowledge to be able to provide effective care. Aims: The aims of the study are to assess the knowledge about rabies and to assess the association between knowledge with sociodemographic characteristics among the junior doctors of a tertiary care hospital, Imphal. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 520 junior doctors of a tertiary care hospital including interns, house officers, and postgraduate trainees from June 2018 to July 2019. Subjects and Methods: Data collection was done by questionnaire method. Statistical Analysis Used: The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS for Windows, Version 21.0. Armonk, NY, USA. Results: Only 17.5% of the junior doctors had adequate knowledge about rabies. Those who had come across and those who had treated rabies were 35.4% and 23.7%, respectively. Only around half of the respondents knew the management of the WHO Category I and III animal bite exposure. Conclusions: In the present study, it was seen that the overall knowledge of the junior doctors was poor. Only 2 out of 10 of the participants had adequate knowledge of rabies. One-fourth of the participants had treated rabies in their clinical practice and those who had treated rabies had better knowledge compared to those respondents who had never treated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & objectives India contributes maximum to world's cervical cancer burden. Prevention through vaccination is one of the pillars of the global strategy adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the elimination of cervical cancer. Uptake of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which is about to be introduced in Universal Immunization Programme can be predicted by assessing its acceptance. Methods A quasi-experimental study was conducted among parents of adolescent girls of Bishnupur from February to May 2023 to evaluate the effect of a one-on-one health educational intervention programme on acceptance of the HPV vaccine. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model from 70 participants selected through convenience sampling. Participants who responded 'definitely yes' to getting their daughters vaccinated with the HPV vaccine were considered as 'vaccine acceptant'. Health education comprised three sessions two wk apart. Descriptive statistics, Cochrane's Q and ANOVA were applied using SPSS 26. Results The median age of the participants was 38 (IQR: 34-44) yr, and 77.1 per cent were females. HPV vaccine acceptance improved significantly over time from 61.4 to 81.4 to 88.6 per cent (P =0.001), respectively. On application of repeated measure ANOVA, perceived benefits of vaccination (P <0.001) and perceived susceptibility to disease (P <0.001) improved significantly across the three time points, whereas perceived severity (P =0.051) and perceived barriers (P =0.367) did not. Interpretation & conclusions Health education intervention was effective at improving vaccine acceptance. Awareness programmes before the rollout of HPV vaccination and continuous re-enforcement would improve parents' perceived benefits and thereby potentially increase vaccine coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]