Nursing and Midwifery Studies
Year:2016 | Volume:5 | Issue:1|Papers Count:10

Background: Domestic violence against women is regarded as an important health problem among women and a serious concern in issues related to human rights. To date, a few screening tools for domestic violence exist for Iranian married women, but they assess only some of the domestic violence components.Objectives: The present study aimed to design and determine the validity and reliability of a screening instrument for domestic violence in a sample of Iranian women.Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional psychometric evaluation conducted on 350 married women in Ilam, Iran, in 2014. The samples were selected through multistage sampling and the main method was cluster sampling. A 20-item, self-administered questionnaire was validated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). An Eigen value>1 and a loading factor>0.3 for each component were considered as indices for extracting domestic violence components. Reliability was calculated by test-retest and Cronbach’s alpha. Also, the content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR) were used to measure content validity. The data were analyzed using SPSS-13 and LISREL 8.8 software programs.Results: The self-administered instrument was completed by 334 women. The CFA and EFA methods confirmed embedding items and the three-factor structure of the instrument including psychological, physical, and sexual violence, which explained 66% of the total variance of the domestic violence. The ICC and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were>0.7 for the components of the questionnaire. The test-retest also revealed strong correlations for each of the domestic violence components (r>0.6).Conclusions: The used instrument for measuring domestic violence had desirable validity and reliability and can be used as a suitable instrument in health and social researches in the local population.

Background: Depression is not only common after menopause, but also affects postmenopausal women more than other women. Some studies show the positive effects of spiritual intervention on postmenopausal women and depressed patients. However, there is inadequate experimental data for supporting the effectiveness of such interventions.Objectives: This study investigated the effect of a spiritual intervention on postmenopausal depression in women referred to urban healthcare centers in Isfahan, Iran.Patients and Methods: A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on postmenopausal women referred to the healthcare centers of Isfahan. Sixty-four women with postmenopausal depression were assigned randomly into an experimental group (n=32) and a control group (n=32). The experimental group received eight sessions of spiritual intervention while the control group received two sessions of training on healthy diet for postmenopausal women. All subjects in the experimental group and the control group responded to the Beck’s depression inventory at the start of the study, at the end of the fourth week, and a month after the last educational session. In addition to descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, independent samples t-test and repeated measures analysis of variance were used to analyze the data.Results: Before the intervention, the study groups did not differ significantly in terms of mean depression scores (20.76±4.61 vs.19.58±5.27, P=0.33). However, immediately after intervention and after one month, the mean depression scores of 11.01±7.85 and 11.21±9.23 in the experimental group were significantly lower than the control group (19.22±4.94 and 19.34±4.92, respectively) (P=0.001). In repeated measures analysis of variance, Mauchly’s test of sphericity was not significant (P=0.672), and in the test of within-subjects effects, a significant interaction was found between the spiritual intervention and time.Conclusions: Spiritual intervention effectively could reduce the severity of postmenopausal depression. Considering the high prevalence of depression in postmenopausal women and the effectiveness, simplicity, and affordability of spiritual intervention, using such interventions in postmenopausal women is recommended.

Background: Although support is one of the most substantial needs of nursing students during clinical education, it is not clearly defined in the literature.Objectives: The current study aimed to explore the concept of support in clinical settings as perceived by nursing students.Materials and Methods: A qualitative content analysis was used to explore the meaning of student support in clinical settings. A purposive sampling with maximum variation was used to select the participants among bachelor nursing students in the nursing school of Babol University of Medical Sciences in the north of Iran. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather the perceptions and experiences of seventeen nursing students. Conventional content analysis was applied to analyze the data.Results: In the current study, the main theme, nurturance, was emerged with seven subthemes of humanistic behavior with the student, respectful communication with students, accepting the student in the clinical setting, sustaining confidence, need based supervision, accepting the profession in the society and empowerment.Conclusions: Nursing students support in the clinical education requires a nurturing care; a care that leads to the sense of worthiness and respectability in students and contributes to the improvement of their clinical abilities.

Background: Diabetes is a chronic and threatening condition. However, there are controversies on the factors affecting the health related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with diabetes.Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate HRQOL and its determinants among females with type II diabetes referred to Diabetes Clinic of Khoy city, Northwest of Iran.Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 352 eligible females with diabetes referring to Diabetes Clinic of Khoy. The study data were collected using a three-part instrument including a socio-demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire to assess patients’ knowledge on diabetes and the world health organization’s quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Based on descriptive and inferential statistics, analyses were conducted using frequency, independent samples t–test, correlation coefficient and regression analysis.Results: The total mean score of QOL was 58.02±17.63. The lowest and the highest mean scores were observed in physical health and social relationship domains (53.84±17.09) and (65.08±14.87), respectively. The regression models revealed that age, education, duration of disease, and family income were significantly associated with all areas of quality of life (P<0.05). The results also revealed that co-morbidity was significantly correlated with the overall quality of life and the physical health domain (P<0.01).Conclusions: The mean score of quality of life (QOL) in females with diabetes was far from desirable condition. These findings can help physicians and healthcare providers to design suitable interventions to improve the patients QOL.

Background: Older adults face several physical and psychological problems such as hearing loss, vision loss, and memory loss, which diminish the quality of their communication. Poor communication in turn affects their psychological wellbeing and induces substantial depression, anxiety, and stress. The family has an important role in the mental health of older adults.Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a family-oriented communication skills training program on depression, anxiety, and stress in older adults.Patients and Methods: For this randomized controlled clinical trial, we enrolled 64 older adults from two healthcare centers affiliated to the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The subjects were randomly allocated to an experimental group (n=32) and a control group (n=32). In the experimental group, older adults along with their primary caregiver participated in six sessions of communication skill education. The control group participated in two training sessions on nutrition and exercise. All participants answered the DASS21 questionnaire three times-at the start of the study, at the end of the sixth week, and a month after the last educational session of the experimental group. Data were analyzed using chi-square, Fisher’s exact and t tests and by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: In the experimental group, the mean depression score significantly reduced from 10.56±3.34 before intervention to 7.46±2.80 and 6.30±2.75 after intervention and at follow-up, respectively; the mean anxiety score significantly reduced from 8.46±1.88 before intervention to 5.83±1.93 and 5.80±2.12 after intervention and at follow-up, respectively; and the mean stress score significantly decreased from 11.40±4.53 before intervention to 8.90±3.81 and 8.43±3.31 after intervention and at follow-up, respectively (P<0.05 for all three domains). In contrast, the control group did not show any significant change in the mean depression, anxiety, and stress scores.Conclusions: Family-oriented education on communication skills could reduce depression, anxiety, and stress in the elderly. Therefore, such programs should be adopted as a non-pharmacological and cost-effective method for reducing depression, anxiety, and stress in older adults.

Context: Family, especially the mother, has the most important role in the education, transformation of information, and health behaviors of girls in order for them to have a healthy transition from the critical stage of puberty, but there are different views in this regard.Objectives: Considering the various findings about the source of information about puberty, a meta-analysis study was conducted to investigate the extent of the mother’s role in informing girls about puberty.Data Sources: This meta-analysis study was based on English articles published from 2000 to February 2015 in the Scopus, PubMed, and Science direct databases and on Persian articles in the SID, Magiran, and Iran Medex databases with determined key words and their MeSH equivalent.Study Selection: Quantitative cross-sectional articles were extracted by two independent researchers and finally 46 articles were selected based on inclusion criteria. STROBE list were used for evaluation of studies.Data Extraction: The percent of mothers as the current and preferred source of gaining information about the process of puberty, menarche, and menstruation from the perspective of adolescent girls was extracted from the articles. The results of studies were analyzed using meta-analysis (random effects model) and the studies’ heterogeneity was analyzed using the I2 calculation index. Variance between studies was analyzed using tau squared (Tau2) and review manager 5 software.Results: The results showed that, from the perspective of teenage girls in Iran and other countries, in 56% of cases, the mother was the current source of information about the process of puberty, menarche, and menstruation. The preferred source of information about the process of puberty, menarche, and menstruation was the mother in all studies at 60% (Iran 57%, and other countries 66%).Conclusions: According to the findings of this study, it is essential that health professionals and officials of the ministry of health train mothers about the time, trends, and factors affecting the start of puberty using a multi-dimensional approach that involves religious organizations, community groups, and peer groups.

Background: Pharmacological knowledge and medication management skills of student nurses greatly depend on the clinical nurse educators’ performance in this critical issue. However, the Iranian nurse educators’ performance in teaching pharmacology and medication management are not adequately studied.Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the nursing students’ perceptions on the status of clinical pharmaceutical and medication management education.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on all 152 nursing students registered in the seventh and eighth semesters at the Qom and Naragh branches of Islamic Azad University, and Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2013 - 2014 academic year. The students’ perceptions on the performance of clinical nurse educators in teaching pharmacology and medication management were assessed using a researcher made questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 31 items regarding clinical educators’ performance in teaching pharmacology and medication management and two questions about students’ satisfaction with their level of knowledge and skills in pharmacology and medication management. Descriptive statistics was employed and analysis of variance was performed to compare the mean of scores of teaching pharmacology and medication management in the three universities.Results: Among a total of 152 subjects, 82.9% were female and their mean age was 22.57±1.55 years. According to the students, instructors had the weakest performance in the three items of teaching pharmacology and medication management based on the students’ learning needs, teaching medication management through a patient-centered method and teaching pharmacology and medication management based on the course plan. The students’ satisfaction regarding their own knowledge and skill of pharmacology and medication management was at medium level.Conclusions: Nursing students gave a relatively low score in several aspects of their instructors’ performance regarding teaching pharmacology and medication management. It seems that many clinical nurse educators in the studied settings were incompetent especially in teaching pharmacology and medication management, while these are critical areas and need special attention.

Dear Editor: Increasing population has remained a concern for human societies and is thus frequently discussed by experts and politicians. In the past three decades, Iran’s government policy has promoted a decrease in its population. To this end, the country’s parliament passed a bill on population control in 1989 and, thereafter, the ministry of health and medical education launched healthcare centers to provide contraceptive devices and encouraged family planning. As a result, the rate of population growth decreased from 4.1% in 1983 to 1.3% in 2013. This trend however sparked serious concerns among policymakers about the possible outcomes, and led to a strategic conclusion that rolling out a policy promoting an increase in population growth should be considered.

Today, all over the world, university nursing programs are based on professional academic training. In many pioneering countries in nursing, to enter a nursing program, an applicant must have a two-year accreditation in other fields such as psychology or must be educated and trained in nursing for 4 years to qualify as a registered nurse. In Iran, individuals enter nursing school after passing the national university entrance exam. Nursing programs offer specific theoretical and practical courses that are based on the tasks that the nurses must be able to perform in hospitals or other nursing care facilities. A crucial area in nursing education is pharmacology, which is the teaching of theoretical and practical approaches by pharmacology experts. Knowing the mechanisms of action and providing appropriate nursing care before and after administering medicines are among the nurses’ main duties.

Dear Editor: In the clinical setting of nursing, nurses play a specific role. Most nurses are female and as a part of their duty, perform hard work and face stressful situations, problems, and risks. An important problem worth mentioning is the harassment of nurses, an expected problem as most nurses are female. However, unfortunately, this has become a forgotten issue. In developing countries such as Thailand, newspapers often report cases of nurse harassment. Many of these are cases of serious harassment and even murder (for example, the famous Nuanchawee case of nurse harassment and murder in Thailand, which is documented at Mahidol University, medical museum in Bangkok, Thailand). Nevertheless, there are only a few scientific reports on this issue. Fute et al. recently reported a prevalence of as high as 13.02% of sexual harassment of nurses in Ethiopia.