Group psychological intervention for maternal depression: A nested qualitative study from Karachi, Pakistan

AIM To understand the experience of maternal depression, the factors implicated in accessing health, and the acceptability of the psychosocial intervention. METHODS The participants were recruited from the paediatrics outpatient department of Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan. The study started in December 2009 and completed in December 2010. Women with maternal depression, aged 18-44 years with children aged 0-30 mo who had received nutritional supplements, and participated in the intervention programme [called Learning through Play(LTP) plus] were included in the study. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 8 participants before the intervention and 7 participants after the intervention. A semi structured topic guide was used to conduct the interviews.RESULTS Framework analysis procedures were used to analyse the qualitative data. Four themes emerged:(1) the women's contextual environment: Interpersonal conflicts, lack of social support and financial issues being the major barriers in assessing healthcare;(2) women's isolation and powerlessness within the environment: Sense of loneliness was identified as a restricting factor to access healthcare;(3) the impact of the intervention(LTP-Plus): Women felt "listened to" and seemed empowered; and(4) empowered transformed women within the same contextual environment: The facilitator provided a "gardening role" in nurturing the women resulting in a positive transformation within the same environment. The women's homes seemed to be more happy homes and there was a positive change in their behaviour towards their children.CONCLUSION Findings informed the further development and testing of culturally-appropriate psychosocial intervention(LTP^+) for addressing maternal depression.

Contribution of soil and foliar fertilization of nitrogen and sulfur on physiological and quality assessment of wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>L.)

Nitrogen and sulfur supplies have a strong influence on the physical characteristics of crop as well as on the quality and quantity of wheat storage proteins, which play an important role in bread-making process. In order to evaluate the contribution of soil and foliar fertilization of nitrogen and sulfur on physiological and quality assessment of wheat, a field trail was carried out having randomized complete block design with four replications and eight different treatments of nitrogen and sulfur combinations were allotted to plots at different growth stages. Results indicated that highest protein content (12.82%), maximum moisture content (10.9%), maximum crop growth rate and maximum absolute growth rate were recorded when the wheat crop was fertilized with T8 [Nitrogen @ 60 kg·ha-1 at sowing + 40 kg·ha-1 at tillering + 10 kg·ha-1 at anthesis (spray) + 10 kg·ha-1 after anthesis (spray)] + [Sulfur @ 15 kg·ha-1 at sowing + 10 kg·ha-1 at anthesis (spray) + 5 kg·ha-1 after anthesis (spray)], while control practice resulted low moisture content, low protein, minimum crop growth rate and low absolute growth rate. Among physiological components of wheat cultivars, leaf area index was enhanced when fertilization was done with T5 (Sulfur @ 15 kg·ha-1 at sowing + 10 kg·ha-1 at anthesis + 5 kg·ha-1 after anthesis). In all the recorded observations,concerning experiment wheat cultivar Pirsabaq2005 showed appreciable response as compared with other variety (Khyber-87). Thus it is possible to obtain maximum physiological traits as well as bread-making quality of wheat through soil and foliar application of nitrogen and sulfur.