Knowledge on Ill Effects of Alcoholism and the Attitude towards Alcoholic Husbands as Perceived by Wives

M. Sasi

Assistant Professor, RITEE College of Nursing, Raipur

*Corresponding Author Email: sasimohandas@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

A quantitative survey research approach with non-experiment descriptive design was used to achieve the objectives of the study. The conceptual framework of the study was developed on the basis of Roy’s Adaptation model. The study variable was wives of alcoholic and hypotheses were formulated The study was conducted with a sample size of 100 wives of alcoholic husbands were selected through non-probability convenient sampling technique. The investigator used a demographic variable proforma, structured questionnaire on ill effects of alcoholism, attitude scale on ill effects of alcoholism, to collect the data. The data collection tools were validated and the reliability was established. After the pilot study, the data was collected for main study. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The demographic characteristics revealed that most of the participants were in the age group of 21-35 years, (81%) 81 belonged to Hindu religion, (38%) 38 educated up to primary level, 39 (39%) durational of married life less than 5 yrs, 41 (41) of them had two children, (57%) 57 were employed, 60 (60%) had family income less than Rs.5,000, 32 (32%) had 2-3 years of alcoholic drinking behavior. It was also noted that overall knowledge mean score was 58.17 with standard deviation 11.8, (65%) 65 had moderately adequate knowledge, (26%) 26 had inadequate knowledge. It was also noted that overall mean score of attitude was 76.27 with standard deviation 12.16 and (54%) 54 of them had good attitude, (44%) 44 had fair attitude. It was also noted that there was positive Correlation existed between knowledge and attitude on ill-effects of alcoholisms among wives of alcoholic. Hence the level of knowledge increases and the level of attitude were increases. It was also noted that there was significant association between level of knowledge with age and educational status, duration of alcoholism on ill-effects of alcoholism at p<0.05, p<0.01. H1. Hence the Research hypothesis was accepted between knowledge and demographic variables such as age, educational status, and duration of alcoholism. There was no significant association between level of knowledge with religion, duration of married life, number of children, occupational status, and family income on ill-effects of alcoholism at p> 0.05. H1. Hence the research hypothesis rejected between knowledge and demographic variables religion, duration of married life, number of children, occupational status, and family income. It was also noted that there was significant association between attitude with age, number of children, duration of alcoholism at p < 0.05, p < 0.01 level.

KEYWARD: Knowledge , Attitude, Ill effects, Alcoholism.

INTRODUCTION:

“First man takes a drink, then drink takes a drink, then drinks take the man”

Alcoholism is considered as one of the psychiatric emergency it is an urgent, serious disturbance of behavior, affect (or) through that makes the person unable to cope with life situations, an alcoholic client is at risk of injury to self (or) others. Alcohol misuse as alcohol use that places people at risk for problems, including “at risk use”, “Clinical alcohol abuse,” and “dependence.” At Risk alcohol use is the consumption of alcohol in a way that is not consistent with legal or medical guidelines, and it is likely to present risks of acute or chronic health or social problems for the user or others. 3% to 5% average workforce people are alcoholic dependent and about 25% worker drink heavily and come under risk of death. A publication of holistic nursing and health society article says alcohol intoxication shows disturbed and noisy behavior and poor families have the high risk of malnutrition and infection with alcohol consumption and they developed the liver disease, unintentional accidents, and other psychiatric emergencies and the mortality rate is also relatively high that effects an the survival rate gap between the rich and poor families. Alcoholism is a family problem and also a universal problem. When the abuse is a parent it affects the family members. Families of alcoholics are more disturbed in all aspects such as socially, emotionally, physically than the non alcoholic families, It will automatically shift the responsibility to the wives and she will take up the family responsibility and younger generations are mostly affected. The drinker was a husband the effect of alcoholism and marriage can be dramatic and damaging not only the mental and physical well being of the drinker at risk because it decreases the drinking spouse’s ability to participate everyday household tasks and responsibilities. This inability relationship and family unit can be significantly affected. The psychological and other health related ramification to each affected family member can be traumatic and long- lasting. Alcoholic spouse may neglect or abuse his family, deplete financial resources, and create legal problems for the family. Alcoholic can be make excuses blame others for their drinking and continue to use alcohol regardless of consequences. Alcohol abuse decreases marital satisfaction leads to greater stress on the non-drinking spouse and decreases satisfaction in the marriage.

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Alcohol is a worldwide social and medical problem over the past 30 to 40 years. Alcohol as a drug which may be classified as a sedative, tranquilizer, hypnotic or anesthetic depending upon the quantity consumed. Globally about two billion people consume alcoholic beverages and 763 million people have alcoholic (diagnosable life disorders) disorders. Alcohol causes 1.8 million deaths and 58.3 million (4% total) of disability disorders. Alcoholism is a family problem and also a universal problem, many women across the globe have been coping with husbands who come home drunk, trouble their wife and children and make every one’s life miserable. Between 15 and 20 percent of Indian people consume alcohol and, over the past twenty years, the number of drinkers has increased from one in 300 to one in 20. A study conducted one de-addition center, the study showed that every 5^th teenager between 15-19 age group in the capital takes alcohol regularly, around 300000 are addicted and another lakh need medical attention for alcohol related disorders.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A Study to Assess the Knowledge on ill effects of Alcoholism and the Attitude towards Alcoholic husbands as perceived by wives at Madhanandapuram Village.

OBJECTIVES:

· To assess the knowledge on ill effects of alcoholism among wives of alcoholics.

· To assess the attitude on alcoholic husbands among wives of alcoholics.

· To find out the relationship between knowledge on ill effects of alcoholism and attitude towards alcoholic husbands among wives of alcoholic.

· To associate the knowledge on ill effects of alcoholism with selected demographic variables among wives of alcoholic.

· To associate the attitude on alcoholic husbands with selected demographic variables among wives of alcoholics.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION:

Knowledge:

It refers to the ability of the women to understand about alcoholism regarding definition, cause, ill effects and management by answering the questions elicited using structured questionnaire devised by investigator.

Attitude:

It refers to the ability of the women’s thinking and feeling towards alcoholic husbands as elicited by five point likert scale designed by the investigator.

Alcoholism:

Alcoholism is a chronic progressive disease characterized by a dependence on alcohol which the user may display a sense of physiological and psychological signs and symptoms.

Ill-effects:

It refers to the physical, psychological, social and emotional problem existing in alcoholics

Research Hypothesis:

H₁ There is significant relationship between knowledge on ill effects of alcoholism among wives of alcoholic with selected demographic variables. H₂ There is significant relationship between attitude on alcoholic husband among wives of alcoholic with selected demographic variables.

METHODOLOGY:

Research Approach:

Quantitative survey Approach is selected for this study

Research Design:

A Descriptive research design was chosen for this study.

Setting of the Study:

The study was conducted at Madhananthapuram Village, belongs to Thiruvallur District, Ambattur taluk, it is a rural area which consists of 2500 population, among them 620 were women.

Population:

The wives those who are all residing in Madhananthapuram.

Sample:

The wives of alcoholic husbands.

Sample Size:

100 wives of alcoholic husbands.

Sampling Techniques:

The convenient sampling techniques were used for this study.

Data Collection Tool:

The data collection instruments were developed through extensive review of literature in consultation with the experts and with opinion of faculty members. The instruments used in the study were demographic variables proforma, knowledge questionnaire on ill effects of alcoholism, attitude scale towards alcoholic husband among wives of alcoholic.

Description of the Tool Part – I:

It deals with socio demographic variable of the women such as age, education, religion, occupation, income of the family, No. of children, duration of alcoholism, duration of married life.

Part – II:

Questionnaire to assess the wives of alcoholic husbands. Knowledge questionnaire which comprises of thirty questions with the score of 0, 1 and maximum score of 30. Attitude scale which comprises of fifteen questions with the score of 0,1,2,3 and maximum score is 4.

Scoring Key: The structured interview schedule consisted of 30 questions totally. Each question had only one correct response which carried I mark and incorrect response no score. The total scoring for overall knowledge was 30. The interpret the level of alcoholism the scores were converted to percentage and were classified as follows. > 75% - adequate knowledge 51 and 75% - Moderately adequate knowledge < 50 Inadequate knowledge. The respect of attitude scale the scoring was designed as follows. Each item has five responses for positive items four marks awarded for strongly agree, three marks for agree, two marks for disagree, one mark for strongly disagree, zero marks for uncertain. For negative items, one mark is awarded for strongly agree, two marks for agree, three marks for disagree, four marks for strongly disagree. Answer this totaling to a maximum of 60 marks. Interpret the level of attitude the score was Classified as >75% - Good attitude 51% – 75% Fairattitude ≤50% Poorattitude Validity and Reliability and validity. In order to obtain the content validity the tool was submitted to the experts in the nursing. They have validated the content and gave opinion and suggestion, then the Validity of the tool has been obtained from the experts. During pilot study the reliability of the tool was tested by using test retest and split half method. The Reliability of the structured knowledge questionnaire in ill effects of alcoholism was found 0.94, attitude was found 0.96, which indicates the tool is reliable.

Data Collection Procedure:

The study was conducted for six weeks. The researcher obtained a formal permission from counselor, Madhanandhapuram village. The investigator selected hundred wives of alcoholics by non probability convenient sampling techniques. On oral consent was obtained from the wives of alcoholic. A brief introduction about self and the study was given by the investigator and confidentiality of the responses was assured. The data was collected by interview method. The investigator collected four to five samples per day to assess the knowledge and attitude by using structured knowledge questionnaire and modified five point likert scale. The interview was conducted in Tamil. Ethical aspects were considered throughout the study.

Human Rights Protection:

The Pilot and main study were conducted only after approval of the Research proposal by the college of Nursing and the institutional ethical committee. Permission was obtained from the counselor of the village and oral consent was obtained from the participants prior to the commencement of the study.

Major Findings of the Study:

The demographic characteristics revealed that most of the participants were in the age group of 21-35 years, (81%) 81 Belonged to Hindu religion, (38%) 38 educated up to primary level, 39 (39%) durational married life less than 5 yrs, 41 (41) of them had two children (57%) 57 were employed 60 (60%) had family income less than Rs.5,000, 32 (32%) had 2-3 years of alcoholic drinking behavior. It was also noted that overall knowledge mean score was 58.17 with standard deviation 11.8. (65%) 65 had moderately adequate knowledge, (26%) 26 had inadequate knowledge. It was also noted that there was significant association between level of knowledge with age and educational status, duration of alcoholism on ill-effects of alcoholism at p < 0.05, p <0.01.H1. Hence the research hypothesis was accepted between knowledge and demographic variables such as age, educational status, duration of alcoholism. There was no signification association between level of knowledge with religion, duration of married life, number of children, occupational status, family income on ill-effects of alcoholism at p > 0.05.H1. Hence the research hypothesis rejected between knowledge and demographic variables religion, duration of married life, number of children, occupational status, family income. It was also noted that there was significant association between attitude with age, number of children, duration of alcoholism at p < 0.05, p < 0.01 level.H₂. Hence the research hypothesis was accepted between attitude and demographic variables such as age, number of children, duration of alcoholism. There was no significant association on level of attitude with religion, educational status, occupational status, family income at p > 0.05.H₂. Hence the research hypotheses were rejected between attitude and demographic variables such as religion, educational status, occupational status, family income.

Knowledge Aspects	Inadequate Knowledge		Moderately Adequate Knowledge		Adequate Knowledge
Knowledge Aspects	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Definition	39	39.0	0	0.0	61	61.0
Cause	39	39.0	0	0.0	61	61.0
Sings and Symptoms	19	19.0	28	28.0	53	53.0
Physical Effect	32	32.0	56	56.0	12	12.0
Psychological Effect	30	30.0	43	43.0	27	27.0
Social Effect	29	29.0	0	0.0	71	71.0
Management	58	58.0	0	0.0	42	42.0
General Aspects	70	70.0	22	22.0	8	8.0
Overall Knowledge	26	26.0	65	65.0	9	9.0

Figure 1: Distribution of Level of Attitude on Alcoholic husbands among Wives of Alcoholics

It was also noted that overall mean score of attitude was 76.27 with standard deviation 12.16 and 2 (2%)of them had poor attitude (54%) 54 of them had good attitude (44%) 44 had fair attitude

Table 2: Correlation Coefficient between Knowledge and Attitude on ill-effects of Alcoholism among Wives of Alcoholics

Knowledge Score	Attitude Score
r – value	r = 0.017
P – value	P = 0.866 (Not Significant)

It was also noted that there was positive Correlation existed between knowledge and attitude on ill-effects of alcoholisms among wives of alcoholic. Hence the level of knowledge increases and the level of attitude was increases.

CONCLUSION:

The findings of the study stated that level knowledge increases attitude also increases, community health nurse should be aware of the need for educating wives of alcoholic regarding ill effects, how to overcome with this problem and make them to go for counseling in order to taper the level of intake of alcohol, thus the individual to brings healthy life.

RECOMMENDATION:

A similar study can be replicated with a large sample size. A comparative study can be conducted between urban and rural population. A qualitative study can be done to assess awareness about effect of alcoholism among wives of alcoholic and wives of non alcoholic .Further study can be done to assess the coping behavior among the wives of alcoholic.

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