Iranian Journal of Health Education and Health Promotion
Year:2014 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

Background and objective: Prevention of health inequalities requires attention towards the social determinants of health (SDH). Today, the efforts of countries to reduce health inequalities is throught paying attention to the social determinants of health. The unequal distribution of health in the developing countries is one of the main challenges of health systems which lead to inequality in social status and living conditions. This study aimed to determine the challenges and solutions of social determinants of health in Iran based on expert views.Methods: This study was a qualitative and phenomenological study. The study population consisted of 24 policy makers and experts from the fields of SDH. Purposive stratified non-random sampling was used in this study. Semi-structure interview was used for data collections. Thematic analysis with Nvivo software was used for data analysis.Results: Most experts believed that the economic problems were the major challenges. Lack of long-term planning about social determinants of health, lack of social responsibility and supervision among organizations in the country, the absence of community-oriented individual and organizational perspective and finally clinical approach in health system were the causes of the failure of implementintion of SDH. The most important solution for solving the problem were setting up the health equity monitoring system for identifying the evidence required to justify the policy makers, review the current structure of the office of SDH and conducting further research on the social determinants of health.Conclusion: Paying attention to the SDH can improve health in the community. Promotion of intersectoral collaboration and emphasis on structural determinants and social determinants of health play an important role in reducing health inequalities. It is essential to take this approach by the policy makers; and health in all policies finds own places.

Background and objective: Hypertension is constantly increasing in different societies. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of educational intervention based on PRECEDE-PROCEED model on the lifestyle changes among hypertension patients in rural health centers of the Jahrom county.Methods: In this experimental study, 40 patients were in the intervention group and 40 patients in the control group. Educational intervention was designed based on PRECEDE-PROCEED model and implemented on the intervention group. The instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire including questions on demographic characteristics and PRECEDE-PROCEED constructs. Data were gathered before and 2 months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test, paired sample t-test and chi-square test using SPSS19 software.Results: After the intervention, the intervention group than the control group scores of predisposing factors (knowledge and attitudes), reinforcing factors and enabling factors increased significantly among intervention group (p<0.05). The significant increase in levels of physical activity with dietary intervention group improved significantly compared to the control group (p<0.05).Conclusion: The training based on PRECEDE-PROCEED model increases predisposing factors (knowledge and attitudes), enabling and reinforcing factors in patients with hypertension and lifestyle changes especially in increasing physical activity and improving diet is effective.

Background and objective: Health as one of the main meta-paradigm of health theories is set next to concepts of human and the environment. Health has objective and subjective dimensions which unfortunately less attention has been paid to the subjective dimension. The aim of this study is to determine the level of subjective well-being and related factors among students of GUMS.Methods: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was done on 314 students from the GUMS, which were selected through stratified random sampling. Research instrument of subjective well-being was: The standard questionnaire of life satisfaction (SWLS) and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). For data analysis SPSS21 was used.Findings: Students' levels of subjective well-being in cognitive dimension was high and in emotional dimension was low. There was significant negative relationship between positive affect and student's courses of education (p<0.05). In addition, there was a significant relationship between gender and negative affect, also between marital status and satisfaction with life (p<0.05).Conclusion: In general, the level of subjective well-being in students of GUMS was low. Meanwhile the suitable cognitive and emotional dimensions of subjective well-being were fundamental necessity for the suitable social role playing. Therefore paying attention to cognitive and emotional dimensions of subjective well-being and factors affecting in this important group have a paramount importance.

Background and objective: Promoting mental health and preventing mental health problems are important tasks for directors, officers and mental health professionals. This objective requires the establishment of information networks and systems enable efficient data collection and determining indicators of mental health. This study was conducted to determine the mental health Indicators in Iran.Methods: This study was performed based on Q methodology in six stages: 1) development of Q sample statements, 2) selection of participants (professionals in health and mental health) for the Q sort, 3) Q-sorting, 4) data entry, 5) statistical analysis (for the extraction of Q sorts, the principal components analysis method was used), and 6. factor interpretation.Results: Twenty-one indicators were offered in three categories: mental health status, mental health service and mental health system.Conclusion: This study was a preliminary study for identification of mental health indices that reflects the status of mental health in Iran. Indicators obtained in this study can also be used in regulatory reforms and policies, providing appropriate mental health services, mental health promotion, updates and measuring mental health information.

Background and objective: Chronic low back pain is a major medical problem in the world which affect the quality of human life seriously. This study aimed to explore the impact of educational programs on quality of life in women with low back up to 6 months after intervention.Methods: This is a semi experimental study that was carried out in Rheumatology Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. There were 27 eligible patients who suffering from chronic low back pain entered in the study. All participants divided into groups of 6 to 8 members and were provided with a four-hour training session of physiotherapy and psychology followed by telephone counseling. Sf-36 questionnaire was completed at initial of the study and 6 months after intervention. Data were analyzed by independent Sample t-test and paired t-test.Findings: Totally 27 participants with mean age of 51.62±9.29 entered into the study. Pain duration and treatment duration of the participants were 148.59±26.37 and 63.44±58.81, respectively. Between sciatic pain and physical function (p=0.02), physical functioning (p=0.01), bodily pain (p=0.01), and psychological functioning (p=0.03) were statistically significant differences. Quality of life scores increased after interventional in all aspects and show significant differences in the areas of physical pain (p=0.004), general health (p= 0.002) and mental health (p=0.002).Conclusion: It seems that the integration of educational program with telephone counseling has an important role in increasing the quality of life of women with low back pain.

Background and objective: Optimism is defined as the tendency to choose the most hopeful view and an emotional and cognitive preparation regarding the superiority of good things over bad ones in life. Social competence is one of the main constructs of mental health and is defined as an individual’s ability to act adaptively relative to one’s age and cognitive ability. Development of social competence has been considered as one of the best predictors of behavior, academic achievement, and social, emotional, and behavioral problems both in present and future. The present study aimed to determine the effect of optimism training via educational movies on the students’ social competence.Methods: This quasi-experimental study aimed to determine the effectiveness of optimism educational movie on the social competence of male high-school students in Shiraz. In this study, 240 samples were divided into an intervention and a control group. The educational content was presented through group discussion and question and answer in two sessions. The data were collected using Flener’s social competence questionnaire and were analyzed by the SPSS19 statistical software.Results: There was a significant increase in all social competence factors, including behavioral skills (189.35±31.09), motivation and expectations (33.06±8.94), cognitive skills (15.65±3.83), and emotional skills (16.58±3.78), in the intervention group compared to the control group after the training (p<0.001).Conclusion: The results showed the effectiveness of optimism educational movie on social competence factors. Considering the high-school students’ problems, optimism training via social competence factors can affect different aspects of their lives and strengthen their interpersonal and social relationships.

Background: Self-medication is a kind of treating without enough knowledge about the symptoms, diseases and the related reactions or behaviors, which individuals try to solve their problem without the aid of physicians. Due to their presence in the critical period such as adolescence, students are of utmost importance. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of education based on Health Belief Model (HBM) on self-medication among high school students of Manoujan County in Kerman Province.Methods: This RCT study conducted in 2010; 250 individuals (boys from high school of Manujan) participated and samples were divided into two groups, case and control. Sampling was conducted randomly in 4 schools and in each school 2 classes were chosen. Children of any two classes was aggregated and randomly divided into cases and controls.The method of data collecting was an organized questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), sensitivity, intensity, perceived benefits/gains and obstacles, guidance and a checklist of students’performance toward the self-medications. The questionnaire and checklist were completed for both groups prior to doing the learning intervention, and after 2 months of learning intervention in both groups.In order to analyze the data chi-square test, t-test and paired t-test were used by SPSS18 software.Results: The mean ages of case and control group were 16.96 and 15.93, respectively. Mean score of knowledge and all of the other parts had a significant difference. Before intervention, the level of perceived sensitivity, obstacles and performance in the field of self was less than its average and the level of knowledge, intensity and perceived gains in the field of using medicines forwardly was more than its average but after the learning intervention, there was a significant difference between these two groups in all mentioned variables and the performance of students in self-medication had decreased.Conclusion: With the increase in knowledge, the sensitivity, intensity and perceived score, and the perceived obstacles of students toward using medicine decreased. This shows the effect and performance of Health Belief Model (HBM) among students in relation to selfmedication.Therefore, it is recommended to emphasize more on the importance of educating and promoting the knowledge level in relation to self-medication. To finally achieve the optimal performance, we also need to study the cultural, family backgrounds and effective factors on attitude and knowledge.