INTRODUCTION:

A Urinary tract Infection is bacterial infection that can affect any part of the urinary tract. This includes the kidneys, which make urine, ureters, tubes that carry urine from kidney and the urethra, the tube that carries urine from bladder out of body.¹

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common problems in the female population.⁸They are familiar to many women. Approximately 50 % of all women have at least one such infection in their lifetime. Study by Fakhria J. M showed that girl students sometimes use analgesic to reduce the pain caused due to UTI. ^2,5

According to WHO, Urinary Tract Infections is the one of the leading cause of morbidity. About half female population report UTI during some point in their lives. It has high mortality and morbidity rates as well. Generally, women are 10 to 30 times prone to develop UTI as compared to men. UTI is treatable and preventable. But majority of the adolescent girls do not have adequate knowledge on Causes and preventive measures of urinary tract infection.³

Study proved that females are more common of suffering from Urinary tract infection. But females don’t have knowledge on causes and prevention of urinary tract infection.⁴Therefore appropriate treatment and sanitation is very important for the management of the disease and follow up is necessary to minimize the consequences of UTIs.⁵

Study by Ashish Vyas found that E. coli is one of the most prevalent etiological agent of UTIs. The researcher also revealed that a large number of uropathogens exhibits resistant towards multiple antibiotics. The researcher suggest that it is extremely important to know the sensitivity data for UTIs to initiate an effective empirical therapy.^8,9

The researchers have reported that around 40-50% women experience at least one urinary tract infection during their lifetime. These infections account for significant burden worldwide and are associated with substantial morbidity that may be life-threatening. Thus, it is mandatory to have a holistic understanding of classification, etiology, pathogenesis and diagnostic approach of urinary tract infections to enforce an appropriate therapeutic strategy.⁹

Urinary tract infection are one of the most common acquired and nosocomial infection, associated with an increased morbidity, mortality, length of hospital stay and health care cost.¹⁰

On above mentioned findings of different research study on urinary tract infection showed that majority of the women and adolescent girls do not have adequate knowledge on causes and prevention of urinary tract infection. Therefore the researcher of the present study decided to conduct a study to assess the knowledge on urinary tract infection among the adolescent girls of age group of 13-16 years in Carmel School, Digboi, Ttinsukia, Assam.

Objectives:

1. To assess the knowledge on Urinary tract infection among the adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of Carmel School, Digboi.

2. To find out the association between the knowledge on Urinary tract infection with the selected demographic variables of the adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of Carmel School, Digboi.

Assumption:

1. The adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of Carmel School, Digboi may have knowledge on Urinary tract infection.

2. There may be association between the levels of knowledge on Urinary tract infection with the selected demographic variables of the adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of Carmel School, Digboi.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

The Research Approach:

A quantitative descriptive approach was considered for the study

The Research Design:

Non-experimental descriptive research design was used.

Setting of the study:

The research study is conducted in Carmel School, Digboi. The school consists of Grades from1 to 10. English is the medium of instruction in this school. The total strength of students is 445.

Variables:

1. Demographic variables: age, class, religion, age of attaining menarche, type of family, type of community, father’s education, mother’s education, father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, family income per month and source of information.

2. Research variable: Knowledge regarding Urinary Tract Infection among the adolescent girls of age group of 13-16 years in Carmel school, Digboi.

Population of the study:

Adolescent girls of Carmel School, Digboi.

Sample:

The adolescent girls of age 13-16 years of Carmel school, Digboi.

Sample size:

40 adolescent girls of age group of 13-16 years in Carmel School, Digboi.

Sampling technique:

Non probability purposive sampling technique who were present on the day of data collection and who were willing to participate in the study.

Development of tool:

A self structured questionnaire was prepared based on review of related literature and reviewing existing tool.

Data collection procedure:

After due information about the purpose of the study and informed consent was taken from 40 adolescents girls studying in class VII-X and distributed the structured questionnaire. 30 minutes were given to complete the questionnaire and answer filled questionnaire were collected in the same sitting.

Data analysis:

Both descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS:

Section - I: Assessment of the demographic variables:

Table 1.1: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girl according to their age group

Parameters	Frequency	Percentage (%)
13 – 14	16	40%
14 – 15	14	35%
15 – 16	10	25%

Table 1.1: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years i.e 16(40%) are in between 13-14 years, 14(35%) are in between 14-15 years, 10(25%) are in 15-16 years.

Table 1.2: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls as per their educational status.

Class	Frequency	Percentage
VII	10	25%
VIII	10	25%
IX	10	25%
X	10	25%

Table 1.2: table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by class i.e 10(25%), 10(25%), 10(25%), 10(25%) are in class VII, VIII, IX, X respectively.

Table 1.3: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girl according to their religion.

Religion	Frequency	Percentage
Hinduism	38	95%
Islam	1	2.5%
Christianity	0	0
Others	1	2.5%

Table 1.3 : Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by religion i.e 38(95%), 1(2.5%), 0%, 1(2.5%) are of religion Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and others respectively.

Table 1.4: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to their age of menarche.

Age of menarche	Frequency	Percentage
≤ 10 years	6	15%
11-12 years	30	75%
13-14 years	4	10%
≥15years	0	0

Table 1.4 : Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by age of attaining menarche i.e. 6(15%),30(75%),4(10%),0% are attained menarche at the age of ≤ 10 years, 11-12 years, 13-14 years, ≥15years respectively.

Table 1.5: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to type of family.

Type of family	frequency	Percentage
Nuclear	24	60%
Extended	2	5%
Joint	14	35%
Others	0	0%

Table 1.5: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by type of family i.e 24(60%), 2(5%), 14(35%),0( 0%) are from nuclear, extended, joint and others family respectively.

Table 1.6: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to type of community.

Types of community	Frequency	Percentage
Urban	33	82.5%
Rural	7	17.5%

Table 1.6: showing the frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girl according to type of community i.e.33 (82.5%) are from urban and 7(17.5%) are from rural family.

Table 1.7: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to father’s educational status.

Father’s educational status	Frequency	Percentage
No formal education	4	10%
High school pass	11	27.5%
Graduation pass	17	42.5%
Post graduation and above	8	20%

Table 1.7: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by father’s educational status i.e. 4(10%), 11(27.5%), 17(42.5%), 8(20%) have their educational qualification of no formal, HS pass, Graduate and PG and above respectively.

Table 1.8: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to mother’s educational status..

Mother’s educational status	Frequency	Percentage
No formal education	2	5%
High school pass	15	37.5%
Graduation pass	17	42.5%
Post graduation and above	6	15%

Table 1.8: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by mother’s educational status i.e. 2(5%), 15(37.5%), 17(42.5%), 6(15%) have their educational qualification of no formal, HS pass, Graduate and PG and above respectively.

Table 1.9: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to father’s occupation.

Father’s occupation	Frequency	Percentage
Farmer	0	0%
Business	27	67.5%
Service	13	32.5%
Unemployed	0	0%

Table 1.9: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by father’s occupation i.e. 0(0%), 27(67.5%), 13(32.5%), 0(0%) are having occupation of farmer, Business, service, unemployed respectively.

Table 1.10: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to mother’s occupation.

Mother’s occupation	Frequency	Percentage
Housewife	30	75%
Business	3	7.5%
Service	7	17.5%

Table 1.10: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by mother’s occupation i.e. 30(75%), 3(7.5%), 7(17.5%) are of House wife, having business, Service respectively.

Table 1.11: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girls according to family monthly income.

Family income	Frequency	Percentage
≤20,000	8	20%
20,001 – 30,000	7	17.5%
30,001 – 40,000	17	42.5%
Above 50,000	8	20%

Table 1.11: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by family income i.e. 8(20%), 7(17.5%), 17(42.5%), 8(20%) are having family monthly income of ≤20,000; 20,001 – 30,000; 30,001 – 40,000; Above 50,000 respectively

Table 1.12: Frequency and percentage distribution of the adolescent girl according to source of information

Sources of information	Frequency	Percentage
Newspaper / Magazine	1	2.5%
T.V	3	7.5%
Social media	17	42.5%
Others	19	47.5%

Table 1.12: Table showing frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years by source of information i.e. 1(2.5%), 3(7.5%), 17(42.5%), 19(47.5%) received information from Newspaper / Magazine, T.V, Social media, Others respectively.

Section 2: Description of the first objective i.e. assessment of the knowledge on Urinary tract infection among the adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of Carmel School, Digboi.

Table 2.1: Data on assessment of level of knowledge of adolescent girls of age 13-16 years on UTI.

Level of knowledge	Frequency	Percentage
adequate	5	12.5%
Moderately adequate	32	80%
Inadequate	3	2.5 %

Table 2.1: Table showing distribution of level of knowledge regarding UTI among adolescent girls of age group 13-16 years. Majority of the adolescent girls i.e. out of 40 girls 32(80%) have moderately adequate knowledge, 5(12.5%) have adequate knowledge and 3(7.5%) have inadequate knowledge in Carmel School, Digboi.

Section 3:

Table 2.2: Description of the association between the knowledge on urinary tract infection with the selected demographic variables of the adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of Carmel School, Digboi.

Demographic variables	Subcategories	χ^2-value(calculated value)	df	Tabulated value	Remarks
Age in years	a) 13-14 b) 14-15 c) 15-16	7.39	4	9.49	NS
Educational status	a) class VII b) Class VIII c) Class IX d) class X	11.44	6	12.59	NS
Religion	a) Hinduism b) Islam c) Christianity d) Others	1.09	6	12.59	NS
Age of attaining menarche	a) ≤10 yrs b) 11-12 yrs c) 13-14 yrs d) ≥15 yrs	2.28	6	12.59	NS
Types of family	a) Nuclear family b) Extended family c) Joint family d) Others	7.24	6	12.59	NS
Types of Community	a) Rural community b) Urban community	1.42	2	5.99	NS
Father’s educational status	a) No formal education b) HS pass c) Graduate d) PG and Above	5.56	6	12.59	NS
Mother’s educational status	a) No formal education b) HS pass c) Graduate d) PG and Above	4.11	6	12.59	NS
Father’s occupation	a) Farmer b) Business c) Service d) Others	0.39	6	12.59	NS
Mother’s occupation	a) House wife b) Business c) Service	1.239	4	9.49	NS
Family income per month	a) ≤20000 b) 20001-30000 c) 30001-40000 d) Above 50000	4.45	6	12.59	NS
Sources of information	a) Newspaper/ magazine b) TV c) Social media d) Others	9.94	6	12.59	NS

*note: NS-Non-significant, df-degree of freedom, X²- Chi square.

Table 2.2 shows that there was no significant association between knowledge on urinary tract infection with the selected demographic variables of the adolescent girls i.e. age, educational status, religion, age of attaining menarche, types of family, types of community, father’s educational status, mother’s educational status, father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, family income per month, sources of information.

DISCUSSION:

Section –2: Table 2.1 shows the result of the distribution of level of knowledge regarding UTI among adolescent girls of age group 13-16 years i.e. out of 40 girls 32(80%) have moderately adequate knowledge, 5(12.5%) have adequate knowledge and 3(7.5%) have inadequate knowledge in Carmel School, Digboi.

The findings of this study also supported by the study conducted by Alphonsa Pascal where it was found that adolescent girls don’t have adequate knowledge on prevention of urinary tract infection and adolescent girls gained knowledge on UTI after planned teaching programme on UTI7 and by the study conducted by Sonam Zangmu Sherpaetal, revealed found that majority i.e. 88(88%) had moderate knowledge and 12(12%) had low knowledge and none of them had high knowledge on preventive measures of urinary tract infection.³

Study by Sarbrinder Kaur also found the majority of nursing students that is 83.3% have moderate knowledge, 9.3% of students have inadequate knowledge and 7.7% of students have adequate knowledge on prevalence and risk factors of Urinary tract infection.⁴

Section -3: Table 2.2: describes of the association between the knowledge on urinary tract infection with the selected demographic variables of the adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of Carmel School, Digboi. It was revealed that there was no significant association between the level of Knowledge on urinary tract infection and selected demographic variables i.e. age, educational status, religion, age of attaining menarche, types of family, types of community, father’s educational status, mother’s educational status, father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, family income per month, sources of information of the adolescent girls of age group 13-16 of carmel School, Digboi.

The findings of the present study partially supported by the findings of the study conducted by Sarbrindert Kaur where it was showed that there was no significant association between the level of knowledge score with all demographic variables at p>0.05 except source of information at p<0.05 level.⁴

CONCLUSION:

With the findings of the study the researcher came to the conclusion that though urinary tract infection is very common among the adolescent girls, but adolescent girls do not have adequate knowledge on causes and prevention of Urinary tract infection. Therefore the researcher suggest that planned teaching programme on Urinary tract infection among the girls students will be a best possible way to prevent urinary tract infection among the adolescent girl students.

REFERENCES:

1. Diksha G, Sonal H, Pratiksha G, Jyoti B, Rucha S, Swapnil T., MR. Hanokh C.. A Study to assess the effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on knowledge regarding prevention of Urinary Tract Infection in infants among the mothers in selected area of Nagpur City. Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2019; 7(1): 76-78. doi: 10.5958/2454-2660.2019.00015.2 Available on: https://ijneronline.com/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2019-7-1-15

2. Fakhria J. M, Salma K. J., Haydaite A.. Prevalence and associated factors of Urinary Tract Infection among female students in University of Babylon, Iraq. Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 2017; 10(6): 1976-1982. doi: 10.5958/0974-360X.2017.00346.8 Available on: https://rjptonline.org/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2017-10-6-70

3. Sonam Zangmu Sherpa, Nandana Rai, Suveksha Giri, Kalpana Dhakal, Karma Wangmu Lepcha, Carolyn Hang Subba, Nawang Pema Bhutia, Binita Timisina, Sinolchu Lama, Raksha Thapa, Arpita Dey, Puja Chettri, Meghna Chettri, Priyta Singh, Hissey Palmu Bhutia, Daisy Ongmu Bhutia. Knowledge, Attitude and Hygienic Practice towards preventive measures of urinary tract infection among adolescent girls of selected rural areas Sikkim. International Journal of Advances in Nursing Management. 2022; 10(1): 1-5. doi: 10.52711/2454-2652.2022.00001 Available on: https://ijanm.com/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2022-10-1-1

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5. Yogesh Joshi, Punam Gurung, Siddhi Jain. Evaluation and Assessment of Drug Utilization in Patients of Urinary Tract Infections. Asian J. Pharm. Res. 2018; 8(3): 167-169. doi: 10.5958/2231-5691.2018.00029.1 Available on: https://asianjpr.com/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2018-8-3-9

6. Hepsi Bai J. Knowledge of Parent’s of Adolescents Regarding Adolescence Health. Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2014; 4(2): 232-234. Available on: https://ajner.com/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2014-4-2-17

7. Alphonsa Pascal, Anitta Mariam Mathew, Biffy Ann Philip, Elena Sebastian, Simi Mariyam Sibi, Jasmine P.V. A Study to assess the Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on knowledge regarding prevention of Urinary Tract Infection among Adolescent girls in selected schools at Kollam District. Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2019; 9(3): 391-394. doi: 10.5958/2349-2996.2019.00084.3 Available on: https://ajner.com/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2019-9-3-24

8. Ashish Vyas , Karamjeet Singh, Gaurav Kumar. Prevalence and drug resistance among bacteria of urinary tract infections in females in Punjab, India. Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 2017; 10(2): 575-578. doi: 10.5958/0974-360X.2017.00114.7 Available on: https://rjptonline.org/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2017-10-2-41

9. Ayat Abbood, Zeina Malek, Yasser Al-Homsh, Nasser Thallaj. In vitro Study for Antibiotic resistance of bacteria causing Urinary Tract Infection from Syrian adults. Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology. 2022; 15(10): 4727-2. doi: 10.52711/0974-360X.2022.00794 Available on: https://rjptonline.org/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2022-15-10-67

10. Yazigi et al, Haytham; Khamees, Atiya; Wakil, Houda. Acquired urinary tract infection in the public Hospital.Research journal of Pharmacy and Technology. 2019;12:1255-1258

Received on 22.05.2023 Modified on 03.06.2023

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2023; 13(4):265-270.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2023.00055