Journal of Community Health Research
Year:2020 | Volume:9 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Dear Editor in Chief, Recently, using statistical tests as useful and ubiquitous tools in medical data analysis is increasing (1). However, some researchers are using statistical methods without sufficient knowledge. The purpose of this letter is to provide applied information on some of the most commonly used statistical tests...

Introduction: Human health is affected by heredity and environment. The issue of inheritance is of paramount importance, but the impacts of environmental factors and nutritional conditions sometimes go beyond the hereditary factors. Investigation of the status of child development is the most important criterion for identifying the health status. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of underweight children in Lordegan City during 2015-2016. Methods: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was carried out on 900 children under 6 years of age in Lordegan in 2015-2016. Sampling was performed using two-stage cluster sampling method. Data were collected using observation and interview by filling out a questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS. V 22 software, independent T-test, and Chi-Square tests at a significant level of 0. 05. Results: In this study, 900 children were studied; 49% (441 persons) were female and 51% (459) were male. Of this number, 700 (77. 7%) were of normal weight, 155 (17. 3%) were moderately underweight, and 45 (5%) were severely underweight. The highest prevalence of malnutrition in boys and girls was at the age of 2 and 3 years, respectively. Moreover, 91. 1% of the population lived in the village, 8. 4% lived in the city, and 0. 5% were living in the suburbs and tribes. In this study, a significant relationship was found between illiteracy of parents, breakfast in the week, place of living, main meal per day, age of the child, number of children in the family, hospitalization of the child due to illness, maternal number of pregnancies, and low weight prevalence (p≤ 0. 05). Conclusion: Regarding the results and their comparison with the standard weight, environmental factors can be effective in delaying weight gain. Therefore, educating health care and parental care for proper nutrition can lead to children's health at this stage of growth.

Introduction: Failure to thrive (FTT) is a global problem and one of the most common health problems in childhood that involves many other social, economic, and cultural factors. Considering the adverse effects of FTT in the future of children, we studied FTT and its related factor in children under the age of 2 years in Bojnurd (the capital city of North Khorasan province, Iran). Methods: This study was a Retrospective cohort study on 1000 health records, born in 2008-2013. Stratified sampling method was applied and the data were collected using a checklist in the health centers. Finally, data were analyzed using Chi-square, Multiple logistic regression, and independent t-test in SPSS19 software. Significant level was set at 5%. Results: Incidence of FTT was calculated as 443 children (44. 3%) in the children's first two years of life. A significant relationship was observed between FTT in children and head circumference disorders at birth (p=0. 001), maternal age at delivery (p=0. 01), mother's education level (OR=0. 4 CI95% [0. 2-0. 8] p=0. 012), type of delivery (OR=0. 5 CI95% [0. 4-0. 7] p<0. 001), unspecified gestational age (OR=3. 6 CI95% [1. 3-10. 08 p=0. 015]), and pregnancy under the age of 18 (OR=2. 4 CI95% [1. 1-5. 3] p=0. 02). Conclusion: Considering the high incidence of FTT in children, increasing awareness about timely feeding, promoting households' health, preventing and controlling infectious diseases should be improved.

Introduction: Nurses experience more stress than other health's staff. Job stress has significant effects on the performance of nurses and health care organizations; it also endangers the health care quality and patients' safety. The purpose of this study was to identify the sources of occupational stress and their relationship with personal and occupational factors among nurses. Methods: This cross-sectional and analytical study was conducted among nurses in the teaching hospitals in Rasht City in 2016. The sample size was estimated based on the Cochran formula (n=250). The sample was selected via stratified randomly from the clinical wards in seven hospitals. Data were collected by demographic questionnaire and Toft-Anderson nurses' stress scale including 34 questions in seven domains of nurses' stressors. Data were analysed with independent t, One way ANOVA, Friedman and Pearson correlation coefficient tests using SPSS V21. 0 software (Significance level <0. 05). Results: The mean score of job stress (72. 46 ± 12. 47) and 77. 8% of the nurses reported that their stress was at the high level. The most frequently mentioned sources of stress were related to "uncertainty in treatment", "suffering and death of patients", and "high workload". However, the least source of stress was related to "lack of support resources". There are significant differences between scores of the seven domains of occupational stress (p = 0. 001). In addition, the score of job stress had no significant relationship with gender, marital status, unit type, shift type, education level, and employment type (p> 0. 05). Job stress had no significant correlation with personal and occupational characteristics (p> 0. 05). Conclusion: Given the high levels of nurses' job stress, continuous interventions are needed to decrease the nurses' stress at the individual and organizational levels, especially in the highest sources of stress including "uncertainty about treatment" and "workload". In this regard, we recommend the following interventions at primary (related to reducing stressors), secondary (aimed at reducing nurses' response to stressors), and tertiary (focusing on specific assistance to nurses with high levels of stress) levels.

Introduction: Oral health affects not only the oral cavity but also the physical, mental and physical condition of children. Untreated dental caries in children gives us a rational view of how a child's growth, and quality of life are. Given the high prevalence of oral problems in children, this study aimed to evaluate the quality of life associated with oral health in 8-10-year-old children in Shiraz. Methods: The present study is a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional one. For this study, 315 students from 8 to 10 years old in the city of Shiraz in the year 2017 from the 4 regions were selected using stratified and cluster sampling-. After obtaining written consent from parents, children were interviewed about demographic characteristics and the impact of oral problems on daily activities (child-OIDP = Oral impact on daily performance). Then PUFA/pufa (pulp-ulcer-fistula-abscess) index was determined. Data were analyzed using SPSS v. 22 and Pearson correlation test, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and linear regression at a significant level of 0. 05. Results: 315 students were studied, including 154 boys (48. 9%) and 161 girls (51. 1%). 69. 8% of children had experienced at least one oral problem in their daily activities during the past three months. The biggest problem for children was eating (30. 7%). Most of the problems were due to pain and bleeding from the gums (34. 8%). The child-OIDP quality of life index had no significant relationship with the age of the children studied (p = 0. 43). There was a significant relationship between mean child-OIDP index and untreated caries index (pufa) (p = 0. 001) and the total untreated caries index (PUFA + pufa) (p = 0. 001). Conclusion: The present study showed the significant impact of oral diseases on reducing the quality of life in children. To improve the quality of life associated with oral health in children, measures should be taken to prevent oral diseases and to improve their access to health care.

Introduction: Anxiety disorders are common psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. It seems that the parent-child interaction affects or exacerbates the creation of anxiety disorders in children. The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness and happiness training in promoting parent-child interaction in mothers of anxious preschool children. Methods: The research method was experimental with a pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population included all mothers of pre-school anxious children in Shahrekord in 2018. Using the multistage sampling method, 45 people were selected and put randomly in the control and two experimental groups (n=15 per group). The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and Pianta's Child-Parent Interaction Questionnaire (PACHIQ) were used for data collection. Experimental groups were put under mindfulness (eight 90-minute sessions) and happiness (ten 90-minute sessions) training, but the control group did not receive any intervention. Analysis of the data involved both inferential and descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation. Data analysis was conducted using one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). SPSS version 24 was further used for analyzing the data. The significance level of research was considered to be α =0. 05. Results: The results indicated that both mindfulness (p=0. 0001) and happiness (p=0. 0001) training increased parent-child interaction in mothers of anxious preschool children. The mean ± SD of the post-test score of parent-child interaction in the control group was 96. 73± 7. 89 which was significantly different from the experimental groups (p=0. 0001). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of mindfulness (117. 80± 4. 47) and happiness training (115. 46± 4. 65) in promoting parent-child interaction in mothers of anxious children (p=0. 599). Conclusion: Mindfulness and happiness training were effective in improving parent-child interaction in mothers of preschoolers with anxiety and could similarly change the parent-child interaction in mothers of anxious children.

Introduction: Iranian students of health need to bone up on their academic English to be able to read the English sources of health as a factor contributing to community health promotion. In the Iranian academia, students are placed in Basic and General English courses not on the basis of proficiency levels, but on the basis of their academic majors with the same protocol, teaching materials, and methodology used for these heterogeneous classrooms leading to failure and dissatisfaction in the use of academic English as a vehicle for increasing their knowledge of community health. This study investigated the effect of English proficiency homogenization on linguistic proficiency of Iranian students of health as a means of health enhancement via reading English sources. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study conducted in 2018, the Cambridge Placement Test was given to 71 students of three health majors at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences selected with convenient sampling method. The students were divided into three language ability groups using placement test percentiles and taught with two different protocols which were used till the midterm exam. The midterm exam was given and the data were collected and analyzed with SPSS20 using descriptive statistics, i. e., frequency, percentiles, mean, and standard deviation and also inferential statistics, i. e., one-way ANOVA, Levene statistic, Tukey HSD, and independent T-test. Results: A significant difference was found between the three groups on the placement test (p=0. 015); there was no significant difference among the three different academic majors with regard to Criterion-referenced Test (CRT) scores (p=0. 05); there was no significant difference among the three Norm-referenced Test (NRT) forms (Forms A, B, & C) (p=0. 05); also, there was a significant difference among the two CRT forms (Forms A, B) (p=0. 05). Regarding the placement test, the significance indices demonstrated a significant difference between group A, on the one hand, and groups B and C, on the other with no significant difference between groups B and C (p=0. 05). The findings of the second part of the post hoc test showed a significant difference for the midterm exam between Group A, on the one hand, and Group B and Group C (p=0. 05), on the other, with no significant difference between groups B and C (p=0. 05), indicating the success of the present study. Conclusion: The students of health should be grouped in Basic English and EGP courses, not based on their academic majors, but based on their English proficiency levels for a successful English pedagogy leading to successful use of English texts of health as a means of promoting health community.

Introduction: The main benefits of green buildings for energy and water conservation have been investigated and well recognized in previous studies. However, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and human health benefits of green buildings have not been examined comprehensively. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review over the current status of green and non-green buildings on their occupants’ health and satisfaction. Methods: A systematic search was conducted throughout the following databases: Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Springer. We reviewed 690 articles that examined the relationship between buildings and health. In total, after excluding the irrelevant titles and non-English articles, 40 papers were included in the final analysis. Articles that evaluated IEQ factors and occupants’ health through surveys from 2005 to 2018 years were selected for investigation. Results: The most important result of this study was identification of important factors in IEQ, including building design, aesthetics, and ergonomics, which have been less evaluated in previous research. Contrary to our assumption, the results of several studies indicated a further decline in IEQ parameters in buildings with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED, USA) and Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM, Europe) certification. However, performance improvements were reported in green buildings located in Asia (especially Singapore and Taiwan). Conclusion: According to this systematic review, we cannot claim that occupants of the green buildings enjoy higher IEQ, satisfaction, or health, compared with the occupants of non-green buildings.