Jundishapur Journal of Chronic Disease Care
Year:2012 | Volume:1 | Issue:1 (1)|Papers Count:8

Introduction & Objective: Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy in the word. This disease and its treatments such as chemotherapy decrease QOL in the patients. Side effects of chemotherapy can affect physical, emotional and social function aspects of life. Complementary medicine can be effective mean on QOL. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effect of Benson relaxation on QOL in breast cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy.Materials & Methods: This was a quasi-experiment study that 25 patientswho had non metastatic breast cancer and received chemotherapy with (Ciclofosfamid, Taxotere, Adriamycin) were selected. Subjects completed demographic data, C-30 and BR23 QOL questioners in first and 3th week after. Then patients were educated to do Benson relaxation technique daily 15-20 minute at home for 3 weeks. They received audiotape of relaxation. Then they completed questioners again. Data was analyzed by SPSS software.Results: There was statistically significant improvement in QOL including fatigue, vomiting, pain, dyspnea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhea, systemic therapy side effects, breast symptoms, arm symptoms and their concerns about hair loss. There was not any significant improvement in financial difficulties after Benson relaxation therapy.Conclusion: According to the result of study, the Benson relaxation therapy can be used as an effective approach for improving QOL in breast cancer patients.

Introduction & Objective: Brain stroke is one of the important factors causing long-term disability which creates various social and individual problems for a person and a society. This problem is the third cause of death after cancer and heart diseases in many parts of the world. The purpose of this research was to determine the quality of life and mental health in patients with brain stroke in Tehran Shariati Hospital.Materials & Methods: The present research was a cross sectional descriptive study which performed on 146 patients with brain stroke referred to neurologic ward of Tehran Shariati Hospital. Patients recruited using simple randomization method from January until March 2009. For data collection we used a GHQ and SF-36 questionnaires. Data was analyzed by SPSS and statistics tests (Stepwise regression, t-test, one-way ANOVA and Coefficient correlation).Results: According to the results, quality of life of patients was not equal and most patients (73%) had an average quality of life. Also, life quality of patients was not related to gender, age, occupation, income and education but was associated with marital status and depression. Mental health just had a direct relationship with the education and depression.Conclusion: Regarding the findings of this research it is proposed that patients with higher level of depression should receive more support from the family and society.

Introduction & Objective: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and teenagers in developed and developing countries is increasing rapidly. Few studies have been carried out on relationship between obesity and amount of physical activity of children in Iran. The aim of this study was to recognize the prevalence of overweight and at risk for overweight and its relation with the amount of physical activity among male students of public schools in Ahvaz, Iran.Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study 628 students aged 10-14 from ahvaz using the two-stages cluster sampling method were selected. Height and weight of students were measured and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. Those who their BMI was 85 to 95 (85th £BMI£95th percentile) considered to be at risk of overweight and those with BMI over 95 (BMI³95th percentile) considered overweight. data were analyzed by spss software.Results:The prevalence of at risk for overweight and overweight was 18.8 and 12.3 respectively. The age group of 11-13 year had the most overweight percentages and only students with age of 10 were not at risk of overweight.Conclusion: In comparison to other studies, overweight and at risk for overweight students in Ahvaz, Iran are on warning aspect. According to these findings, the policy makers and educational organizations should consider regular physical activity in schools programs to prevent and reduce the obesity in the society.

Introduction & Objective: Nursing burnout is main characteristic of job stress that is a delayed reaction to chronic stressful causes in working place. Affected nurses have not enough emotional energy to contact and communicate with patients. They also think that they don’t have required capabilities for their jobs. The goal of this study was to evaluate nursing burnout among nurses working in Shahrekord Medical and Educational centers.Material & Method: This descriptive study was performed on 340 nurses working in Shahrekord Medical and Educational Centers in 2009. Samples were selected using proportional sampling (QUATA). Demographic information and Maslach questionnaire were filled for all samples. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: Our results demonstrated that 53.5% of nurses had emotional exhaustion, 49.7% had high depersonalization and 99.6% had high reduced personal accomplishment.Conclusion: Nursing burnout degree among Nurses in Shahrekord Medical and Educational Centers was moderate to high, that need to be intentioned. Inappropriateness between number of nurses and patients, workload and income are the most effective nursing burnout factors that need to best attention as nurses are healthy facilitators and have important role in healthy team. Because of the importance of nursing in society health, policy makers should take some strategies for increasing the capability of satisfaction of nurses.

Introduction & Objective: Nowadays, one of the vital and essential concepts in the world is the health concept. From the psychology point of view, mental health is including the individual abilities to enjoy of life and find a balance between life activities and effort to achieve of the psychological flexibility. The purpose of this study was the comparison between mental health of smokers and non-smokers university student in Islamic Azad University of Gachsaran-2010.Materials & Methods: This study was a comparative descriptive study. In this study, 360 male students (225 smoker student and 135 non-smokers student) of Gachsaran Azad University between September and November 2010 with a stratified random sampling were selected and examined. A data collection tool was a General Health Questionnaire of Goldberg. P values less than (0.05) were considered statistically significant.Results: The results showed that the mean of anxiety, depression, physical symptoms and social perversity of smoking was significantly more than the non-smoking students. This means that non-smokers had better mental health than smokers.Conclusion: To promote motivation of the students and increase their awareness, holding of seminars and workshops, as well as educate the students to give up smoking, and entering the smokers students in the field of research about the smoking are recommended.

Introduction & Objective: In addition to control of the disease, improvement of quality of life is important for treatment of the patients suffering from chronic diseases such as thalassemia. The aim of this study was to compare the children with thalassemia and their parents' point of view about the quality of life (QOL).Materials & Methods: In this descriptive study, A 90 thalassemia patients with mean age of 17.29 years (SD=6.28) were selected. During the comprehensive visits the SF36 questionnaire were completed. Patients rated SF36 from excellent (100) to poor (0) on nine and eight dimensions of health status. These results were accomplished by a brief medical history and chart review. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, independent t-test and descriptive tests.Results: The mean quality rated by patients and their parents were 70.25±17.17 and 67.44±16.59 respectively. Only in social activity (p=0.012) aspect there was significant difference between the two points of view.Conclusion: This study suggests that all patients with thalassemia should undergo QOL assessment so that interventions focused on affected domains can be implemented to improved QOL.

Introduction & Objective: Cervicovaginal infections are the most common causes of reffereing to clinics and health centers. The primary aim of present study was to determine the prevalence of genital infections in Pap smear specimens and its relationship with varriables such as age and contraceptive methods.Materials & Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that carried out in 2010 in Ahvaz, Iran. The number of 1353 Pap smear reports were selected from Ahvaz pathology laboratories using cluster sampling. Data were analyzed using chi square and ANOVA tests in SPSS. Results: The results of study showed that the prevalence of cervicovaginal infections was 10.4 on which, 8.2% of them were candida, 1.4% was trichomonas and 0.8% was gardnerella. In 87.3% of cases various degrees of inflammation of 1+ to 4+ grades were reported. There was no relationship between age and cervical infection or inflammation. There was no significan relationship between infection' type and inflammation rate and age. There was significant correlation between contraceptive methods and reports of cervicovaginal infections and inflammation.Conclusion: The cervicovaginal infections have association with use of contraceptins. For prevention of recurrent infections and precancerous cervical changes, women with risk factors for cervical cancer are recommended to make informed choices about contraceptive methods.

Introduction & Objective: Breast cancer is the most disturbing factor in women's health. Chemotherapy is one of the main treatments for cancer. Nausea and vomiting are distressing and frightening side effects of chemotherapy. Since anxiety can aggravate symptoms of nausea and vomiting, any factor that could increase relaxation, it can have a beneficial effect on these factors. Massage is a method of relaxation. This study investigated determination of effect of massage therapy on nausea in patient with breast cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy.Materials & Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental research. Thirty four patients with breast cancer who received chemotherapy regimen TAC (Taxoter, Aderiamycin, Cychlophosfamid) were selected. All patients complained nausea during previous period of chemotherapy and they randomly divided into two groups. Data gathered via a questionnaire. Control group only received usual care and intervention group in addition received three sessions back massage Stroke and Kneading addition to usual care. Twenty four hours after each massage Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were completed.Results: The results showed that the mean scores of nausea in the control group was increased from 2.97 on the first day to 3.26 and in the intervention group was decreased from 3.44 to 1.52 at the end of trial. However there was not any significant difference in the first, second, third and fourth days between two groups.Conclusion: Massage can reduce nausea. However further studies with larger sample size and sever nausia will recommended.