Classroom intervention to improve behavioral intention toward regular physical activity among adolescents.

Background: During adolescence, a critical phase in human life, the groundwork for a healthful future is established. Physical inactivity poses a significant risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and related mortality worldwide. To assess adolescents' behavioral intentions regarding regular physical activity, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) examines 'Attitude,' 'Subjective norm,' and 'Perceived behavioral control.

Perception and Acceptance of the Newly Introduced COVID-19 Precaution (THIRD) Vaccination Dose among Health Workers at an Indian Medical College.

Introduction: India has run a nationwide vaccination campaign against COVID-19, which has recently introduced a precaution (third) dose for health workers. This study assessed the perception and attitude of health workers toward the Indian vaccination campaign against COVID-19, with an emphasis on this major change.

Materials And Methods: A printed questionnaire was distributed among health-care workers at the Medical College of West Bengal.

Addiction habits in a rural cohort of injection drug users and effects on serum lipid profile: Analysis of a repeated measures study from an eastern state of India.

Background Injecting drug use (IDU) is associated with several cardiometabolic risks. We aimed to measure the independent effects of IDU behaviour and related factors on serum lipid profile among people who inject drugs (PWIDs). Methods We did a longitudinal study with six follow-up measurements at an interval of 2 months among 104 PWIDs from 11 selected hotspots under two blocks in West Bengal, India.

Home-Isolation Care in Newly COVID-19-Positive Elderly Patients: A Caregiver-Centric Explanatory Framework.

This community-based study aimed to identify the effect of different behavioral factors of family caregivers on the decision for home-isolation-based treatment of a new COVID-19-diagnosed elderly individual. It also explored the facilitators and barriers contributing to the decision-making process. A mixed-methods design was adopted to study the role of behavioral constructs such as risk tolerance, risk aversion, regret aversion, loss aversion, self-efficacy, and risk perception in healthcare-seeking decisions.

Realistic personal exposure assessment of air pollutants and health outcomes - A cross-sectional study among Kolkata slum dwellers.

Background: Rapid, unplanned, and unsustainable patterns of urban development can result in many emerging environmental and health hazards. One of the important public health problems of urban environment is regular exposure to dust and pollutants and consequence of such exposure in the form of changes in the pulmonary function. Being the immediate environment, indoor pollution poses a higher risk to human health than the ambient environment.

Cumulative Noise Exposure and Perceived Effects: A Comparative Study Among Different Occupational Groups in Kolkata.

Background: Adverse short-term and long-term health effects following a high level of noise have been established. The current study aims to find the relationship of these effects with an environment-specific level of noise exposure.

Materials And Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 50 auto-rickshaw drivers and 51 age-matched service-sector employees.

School-based intervention on behavioral intention of adolescents regarding healthy diet in India.

Introduction: Adolescence is a distinctive period of life when intense physical, psychological, and cognitive development occurs. A healthy diet helps prevent various forms of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. The current study aimed to assess the change in behavioral intentions (measured based on the TPB) toward healthy dietary practices through health promotion intervention among adolescents studying in selected schools in an urban area of West Bengal, India.

Changing patterns of household transmission of tuberculosis in an eastern state of India: The impact of COVID19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 Pandemic has affected many components of the Tuberculosis (TB) control program. Due to lockdown and restrictions, people, including TB patients, might have spent more time in the household. There might be an increased TB transmission among the household contacts (HHC).

Perceived behavioral control regarding regular physical activity and healthy diet: An observational study among school-going adolescents in an urban area of West Bengal, India.

Background: Healthy children are the foundation for a healthy and developing nation. Perceived behavioral control (PBC), comprising control belief and perceived power, is a person's perception of the ease or difficulty of performing the behavior of interest. For facilitating regular physical activity and regular healthy dietary practices among the adolescents, PBC is an important construct to develop and implement appropriate interventions.

Evaluation of the rashtriya bal swasthya karyakram (RBSK): A national children healthcare program in a health district of West Bengal, India.

Background: The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) was launched in 2013 to screen and manage birth defects, deficiencies, diseases, and developmental delays including disabilities in Indian children, with the help of designated mobile health teams and grassroot workers across the country.

Objectives: Performance of the RBSK program in three selected blocks of a health district of a large Indian state (West Bengal) was assessed.

Methods: The performance assessment was based on input, process, and output performances, using checklists based on RBSK operational guidelines.

Treatment adherence status of the TB patients notified from private sector and its associated factors: Findings of a secondary data analysis from West Bengal, India.

Introduction: In India, each year, estimated one million TB cases are missing from notification, most of them being diagnosed treated in private sector. The large number of patients in private sector has raised concerns about suboptimal quality of care; lack of systems for treatment adherence thus raising the risk of drug resistance. The current analysis was conducted to find out the status of TB treatment adherence in private sector & to identify the factors associated with poor TB treatment adherence.

Quality of Life, Sexual Health, and Associated Factors Among the Sexually Active Adults in a Metro City of India: An Inquiry During the COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Lockdown.

Background: Sexual dysfunction (SD) and its effect on our life is an important but less studied topic especially during post-COVID era. This study examines the extent of SD and other mental health predictors and their effect on quality of life.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of sexually active adults was conducted in an Indian metro-city.

Contributing factors of willingness and hesitancy regarding acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine in primary care settings: A qualitative study in an eastern state of India.

Background: For any effective vaccination strategy, the willingness of the beneficiaries and its contributing factors are important. This study was conducted among the health-care workers (HCWs) and community members to find the perceptions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and understand the influencers and the barriers of vaccine acceptance.

Materials And Methods: A qualitative study was conducted from October 2020 to December 2020 in two primary care settings in an urban area.

Gender Equity Perceptions Among School-Going Adolescents: A Mixed-Methods Comparison Amongst Tribal and Non-Tribal Rural Areas of an Eastern State in India.

Gender equity is an important social determinant of population health. There are very few studies in the Indian context in this regard, and even less regarding the diversity in tribal-dominated and non-tribal regions. The current study was conducted to assess and compare the perceptions of adolescents going to selected schools of tribal-dominated and non-tribal rural areas in West Bengal, India, regarding gender equity.

Role of Threat and Coping Appraisal in Protection Motivation for Adoption of Preventive Behavior During COVID-19 Pandemic.

With more than 100 million cases and over 2 million deaths globally, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to remain a major threat. Identifying the behavioral factors influencing preventive behaviors for COVID-19 are crucial in devising public health policies to promote essential strategies to combat the pandemic in an efficient manner. The current study was therefore conducted to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 preventive behaviors and measure their association with behavioral constructs like threat perception, response efficacy, and self-efficacy, as per socio-demographic background.

Has loneliness and poor resilient coping influenced the magnitude of psychological distress among apparently healthy Indian adults during the lockdown? Evidence from a rapid online nation-wide cross-sectional survey.

Background: The burden of psychological distress is increasing with the spread of the pandemic and also with the enforcement of its containment measures. The aim of this research was to determine the proportion of self-reported psychological distress, loneliness and degrees of resilient coping, and to also investigate the relationship of loneliness, coping and other variables with psychological distress among apparently healthy Indians during nation-wide lockdown period.

Methods: A cross-sectional, region-stratified survey using pre-designed pre-tested Google form disseminated via different social media platforms was conducted.

Correlates of insomnia among the adults during COVID19 pandemic: evidence from an online survey in India.

Background: Psychosocial distresses are often associated with sleep disorders. This is found as a common population level observation during natural calamities or emergency situations like a pandemic. The current study was conducted to determine the magnitude of self-reported insomnia, and to identify its associated factors among the apparently healthy Indian adult population having access to social media during the lockdown period of COVID 19 pandemic.

Domestic migrant workers in India returning to their homes: emerging socioeconomic and health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Domestic migrant workers were stranded far from home when India declared nationwide lockdown to combat the pandemic of novel coronavirus (COVID-19). A large number of these workers were left with no economic support, no food and in many cases nowhere to live. The pandemic posed a serious health threat to these people, and the socioeconomic insecurity pushed them towards the edge of sustainability.

Elders suffering recurrent injurious falls: causal analysis from a rural tribal community in the eastern part of India.

Introduction: Falls among the elderly are prevalent but preventable. There is a knowledge gap regarding the factors causing recurrent injurious falls among the elderly, especially in tribal areas. The aim of the present study was to find out the incidence of injurious falls among elderly participants and measure the effect of selected predictors on recurrent injurious falls.

Effect of light pollution on self-reported sleep quality and its components: Comparative assessment among healthy adult populations in a rural and an Urban area of West Bengal, India.

Background: Light pollution is inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light. Nighttime sky radiance is an effective measure to study its effects on individual sleep quality.

Objectives: The study is aimed to measure the effect of light pollution on the sleep quality and compare among people residing in selected rural and urban areas of West Bengal, India.

Psychometric validation of geriatric depression scale - Short form among bengali-speaking elderly from a rural area of West Bengal: Application of item response theory.

Background: The geriatric depression scale - short form (GDS-SF) considered an important preliminary screening tool, requires translation in different regional languages and validation, to become of utmost use in Indian context especially in the field level.

Objective: The current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric validity of the GDS-SF translated into Bengali among rural elderly population.

Methods: The 15-item GDS-SF translated to Bengali language was administered to 206 Bengali speaking geriatrics selected maintaining predecided inclusion and exclusion criteria from villages under a rural block in West Bengal.

Effectiveness of preventive measures against COVID-19: A systematic review of modeling studies in indian context.

Background: In the absence of any approved treatment or vaccine against novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus -2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) are the cornerstone to prevent the disease, especially in a populous country like India.

Objectives: To understand the effectiveness of NPIs reported in the contemporary literatures describing prediction models for prevention of the ongoing pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 specifically in Indian population.

Methods: Original research articles in English obtained through keyword search in PubMed, WHO Global Database for COVID19, and pre-print servers were included in the review.

Active Case Finding for Tuberculosis through TOUCH Agents in Selected High TB Burden Wards of Kolkata, India: A Mixed Methods Study on Outcomes and Implementation Challenges.

Active case finding (ACF) for tuberculosis (TB) was implemented in 60 selected high TB burden wards of Kolkata, India. Community volunteers called TOUCH (Targeted Outreach for Upliftment of Community Health) agents (TAs) identified and referred presumptive TB patients (PTBPs) to health facilities for TB diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to describe the "care cascade" of PTBPs that were identified during July to December 2018 and to explore the reasons for attrition as perceived by TAs and PTBPs.

Effect of dietary habit and physical activity on overnutrition of schoolgoing adolescents: A longitudinal assessment in a rural block of West Bengal.

Background: Overweight among adolescents has high prevalence on the eastern part of India, especially West Bengal.

Objectives: The current study was conducted to estimate and compare the effects of different dietary habits and habits related to physical activity in the development of overweight and obesity among rural schoolgoing adolescents.

Methods: A prospective repeated measures study was conducted on 645 schoolgoing adolescents from selected rural government-aided schools from June 2017 to December 2017.

Predictors of Weight Velocity in the First 6 Months of Life in a Rural Block of West Bengal: A Longitudinal Study.

Background: Monthly weight gain (weight velocity) is important in early infancy, with several factors affecting and interacting within the healthy-born children. The current study aims to estimate on the effects of different factors on the trend of weight gain during the first 6 months of life.

Methods: A longitudinal (repeated-measures) study was conducted on the 42 nonlow birth weight healthy children born in selected rural areas during December 2016.