Modern Care Journal
Year:2018 | Volume:15 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Context: Labor is among the most painful events in females’ lives. Labor pain (LP) is alleviated using both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods. The current study aimed at reviewing clinical trials in Iran as well as other countries on the effects of acupressure, aromatherapy, and massage therapy on LP. Evidence Acquisition: In the current review study, online databases such as SID, Iranmedex, Magiran, IranDoc, Cochrane library, PubMed, and Google Scholar were searched to retrieve studies published before 2017 in Persian or English language. Search keywords were labor pain, acupressure, aromatherapy, and massage as well as their Persian equivalents. Retrieved clinical trials were appraised using the Jadad checklist. Data were analyzed qualitatively. Results: In total, 46 clinical trials were enrolled. Most studies reported the positive effects of acupressure, aromatherapy, and massage therapy on labor pain. The most frequently used therapies were aromatherapy with lavender essential oil and acupressure on the LI4 and SP6 points. Conclusions: Acupressure, aromatherapy, and massage therapy were effective in alleviating labor pain. These techniques are mostly safe without serious side effects for parturient females and their babies. Therefore, they can be used to alleviate labor pain.

Background and Objectives: Social development and emotional intelligence prepare children for school and life. Group games can promote social development and emotional intelligence. The current study aimed at assessing the effects of traditional games on preschool children’ s social development and emotional intelligence. Methods: As a 2-group, pretest-posttest, randomized, controlled trial, the current study was conducted in 2016 on 50 preschool children. Children were selected through cluster sampling from kindergartens in Birjand, Iran, and randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. In the intervention group, children attended sixteen 30-45-minute traditional game sessions held twice weekly in 8 successive weeks, while children in the control group played routine games in the same period. To collect data, the Vineland social maturity scale and the Bradberry-Greaves emotional intelligence test were completed for all participants both before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed with SPSS version 16. 0 by running the Chi-square, the paired-samples t, and the independent-samples t tests as well as the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at a significance level of < 0. 05. Results: Before the intervention, there were no significant differences between the groups respecting the mean scores of social development and emotional intelligence (P > 0. 05). However, after the intervention, the mean scores of social development and emotional intelligence were significantly higher in the intervention group than the control group (P < 0. 05). Conclusions: Traditional games are effective in improving preschool children’ s social development and emotional intelligence. Parents need to be informed about the positive effects of traditional games and should be encouraged to provide their children with the opportunity to play such games.

Background: Health and security are among primary rights of each society, whose securement falls upon the government. The family physician is responsible for providing comprehensiveandhigh-quality services according to the necessities of the population in order to maintain and promote physical and mental health. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the satisfaction of the recipients of the family physician services provided throughout the cities of Birjand and Khusf, Iran. Methods: For the purpose of this cross-sectional study, 218 service recipients were randomly selected from 12 health centers of Birjand and Khusf using an appropriate allocation method, and standard questionnaires were distributed amongst the individuals. The data were analyzed using multiple analysis of variance (multiple ANOVA), t-tests (or Mann-Whitney tests), and ANOVA (Kruskal-Wallis) with an error coeffection of 5% through the application of the SPSS (v. 18) software. Results: Males made up 38. 2% of the study samples, and 77. 2% were residents of rural regions with health centers. The overall consent score with the family physician services providedwas3. 58 0. 66 (out of 5). The results of multipleANOVAindicated that gender, age, and residency in rural areas with health centers had significant effects on the overall satisfaction of the service recipients. Conclusions: The recipients of the family physician services were, in general, satisfied with the offered services of the program. However, the program requires further quality improvements with regards to the facilities and the effectiveness of services.

Background and Objectives: Rabies is among the oldest known zoonoses. It has a high mortality rate, particularly in developing countries and in rural areas. Rabies prevention and management necessitates adequate information about public rabies-related knowledge and behavior. The present study was done to assess rabies-related knowledge, attitudes, and practice among nomads in South Khorasan province, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2015 on 318 nomads. Sampling was done through multi-stage sampling. A researcher-made 36-item instrument was used for data collection. The data were entered in the SPSS software (v. 16) and analyzed through the Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman correlation analysis, at a significance level of less than 0. 05. Results: Alargenumberof participantshadlimitedknowledge(139 cases; 43. 4%), negative attitudes (139 cases; 42. 9%), andmoderatelevel practice (183 cases; 57. 5%) regarding rabies. There were significant positive correlations between knowledge and attitudes (r = 0. 58; P< 0. 001), knowledge and practice (r = 0. 58; P< 0. 001), and attitudes and practice (r = 0. 56; P< 0. 001). Moreover, rabies-related knowledge, attitudes, and practice had a significant relationship with age and educational status (P < 0. 05). Conclusions: This study showed that most nomads in South Khorasan had poor rabies-related knowledge, attitudes, and practice. Therefore, educational strategies are needed to improve their rabies-related knowledge, attitude, and practice, in order to prevent rabies.

Background and Objectives: Hospitalization in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) causes mothers high levels of stress and endangers maternal and infantile health. The current study aimed at examining the effects of preterm infant care education on stress among the mothers of such infants hospitalized in NICU. Methods: The current randomized, controlled trial was conducted in 2017 on a convenience sample of mothers whose preterm infants were hospitalized in the NICU of Vali-e-Asr teaching Hospital, Birjand, Iran. Mothers were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group through the drawing method. Mothers in the experimental group received preterm infant care education plus routine care services, while their counterparts in the control group only received the routine care services. All of them completed the parental stressor scale: NICU both before and 10 days after the intervention. For data analysis, the paired-samples t, the independent-samples t, the Mann-Whitney U, and the Wilcoxon tests were used with SPSS version 19. 0. Results: Ten days after the intervention, no significant intragroup differences were observed regarding the mean scores of the two domains of maternal stress; i e, infants’ appearance and behaviors and maternal relationships with infant (P > 0. 05). However, the mean scores of maternal stress and its environmental domain in the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < 0. 05). In addition, the pretest-posttest mean differences of maternal stress and all its domains in the experimental group were significantly greater than those of the control group (P < 0. 05). Conclusions: Preterm infant care education to mothers significantly alleviated their stress. Educational hospital managers can improve maternal and infantile outcomes through facilitating maternal education about preterm infant care.

Background: Obesity is a major risk factor of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), therefore, we aimed to determine which indicators of obesity can be used as predictors of GDM and also to study the association of maternal serum levels of triglycerides (TG) in early pregnancy to expression of GDM. Methods: A total of 436 primigravida women, who attended public health centers in 6-10 weeks of gestation, were prospectively followed until 24-28 weeks of gestation to control the expression of GDM. The indicators of abdominal obesity and the serum concentration of TG were measured at 6-10 weeks of gestation. All participants underwent a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) as a routine test at 24-28 weeks. Results: The incidence of GDM among our participants was 9. 6%. The serum concentration of TG in 16. 5% of them was more than 199 mg\dL. The majority of participants (62. 8%) had a body mass index (BMI) more than its normal range. Waist circumference (WC) in the majority (84. 4%) was 80-95. 9 cm. The mean (SD) waist to height ratio (WHtR) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) were 0. 58 (0. 05) and 0. 84 (0. 06), respectively. WC, WHtR, WHR, BMI, and the serum levels of TG in early pregnancy are associated with the expression of GDM. Conclusions: Abdominal obesity and serum levels of TG can be used as early predictors of GDM. Strategies consisted of monitoring of TG levels inwomenplanning for pregnancy as well as training obese and overweightwomento modify their lifestyle in the means of decreasing the body fat mass can help to partially prevent GDM.

Background and Objectives: Following a doctor’ s orders in regards to diet and activity is very important for patients withmyocardial infarction. Self-efficacy is an important tool for active participation in treatment and change in behavior. Thus, this study aims to compare the effects of nursing education and peer education on cardiac self-efficacy in patients with acutemyocardial infarction. Methods: The present study is a randomized clinical trial (RCT) performed on 60 patients with acute myocardial infarction. These patients were randomly divided into 2 groups of control (nurse education)andinteraction (peer education). The cardiac self-efficacy rate in the two groups was investigated by filling out the cardiac self-efficacy questionnaire after the intervention (3 days after a heart attack) as well as 5 days and 4 weeks after the heart attack. Data was analyzed using independent t-test, chi-square, Fisher’ s exact test, and RM-ANOVA. Results: A significant difference was found in self-efficacy between the nursing routine education and peer education after the intervention (P 0. 004). The results of this study showed that patients who have received peer education had higher self-efficacy compared to patients who received nursing education. Conclusions: Considering the shortage of nurses in hospitals, it isrecommendedthat it is better to use this trainingmethodinstead of the training of nurses.

Background and Objectives: Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) experience different levels of anxiety during their hospital stay. Untreated anxiety among these patients can increase the risk of further cardiac events. The current study aimed at comparing the effects of lavender, valerian, and oxazepam on anxiety among hospitalized patients with CAD. Methods: As a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial, the current study was conducted in 2016 on 120 patients with CAD hospitalized in the cardiac care unit (CCU) of Valiasr (PBUH) Hospital, Birjand, Iran. Patients were conveniently recruited and randomly allocated to 30-patient lavender, valerian, oxazepam, and placebo groups using the permuted-block randomization method. Patients in these groups orally received 80mgof lavender essential oil, 400mgof valerian essential oil, a 10-mg oxazepam tablet, and 5 mL of distilled water, respectively, 1 hour before bedtime in 3 consecutive nights. Data were collected before and after the intervention via a demographic questionnaire and the Spielberger state-trait anxiety inventory. The data were analyzed with SPSS version 21. 0 based on descriptive statistics measures (such as mean, standard deviation, and frequency distributions) using inferential statistics (such as the Chi-square test, the paired-samples t test, the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey range test). The level of significance was set to < 0. 05. Results: There were no significant differences among the groups in terms of the pretest mean scores of total, state, and trait anxiety (P > 0. 05). However, the mean score of total anxiety significantly decreased in all groups, with the greatest decrease in the lavender group, followed by the valerian, oxazepam, and placebo groups (P < 0. 05). The pretest-posttest mean differences of state anxiety were significantly greater in the valerian and the lavender groups than the oxazepam and the placebo groups. Moreover, the pretestposttest mean difference of trait anxiety was significantly greater in the lavender group than the other groups. In addition, the pretest-posttest mean difference of total anxiety was significantly greater in the lavender group than the other groups and in the valerian group it was significantly greater than the oxazepam and the placebo groups (P < 0. 05). Conclusions: Oral intake of lavender and valerian essential oils was as effective as oxazepam in alleviating anxiety among patients with coronary artery disease. Of course, the anxiolytic effects of lavender were stronger than those of valerian. These medicinal plants can be good substitutes for chemical anxiolytic medications. Of course, further studies are needed to produce more reliable evidence in this realm.