Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics
Year:2018 | Volume:5 | Issue:1|Papers Count:6

Background and Objectives: Halal branding covers a wide range of economic activities including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, health, textiles, clothing, leather, financial services, banking and tourism. Among the various forms of tourism, medical tourism has grown rapidly due to its competitive advantages. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate halal branding as a strategy to develop medical tourism. Methods: A qualitative research method and a case study were used. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews and analyzed by using thematic analysis. A total of 20 interviews with patients, accompanying persons and hotel hospital staff were conducted. Results: A total of 110 main themes were drawn. These themes had two general orientations within themselves: The nature of the requirement that was either materialistic or spiritual and were simultaneously applicable to short-term and long-term affairs. Certain codes such as not serving haram foods and drinks, not performing abortion and the availability of prayer room in the facilities were specific to halal hotel hospitals. Conclusion: From the combination of these two orientations, four organizing themes, i. e. spiritual and long-term purposes, short-term requirements, materialistic and long-term requirements and short-term purposes were drawn. The inclusive themes were determined by the nature of the requirement and the time orientation of the requirement.

Background and Objectives: The organizational commitment of the staff that ensures their continuous and effective presence in the organization is one of the determinants of organizational development. Religion and religious orientation can affect organizational commitment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between organizational commitment and religious orientation in midwives working in the hospital. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in Hamedan in 2015-2016 with 100 midwives working in the hospital who had been enrolled by convenience sampling. The data collection instruments were the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and the Religious Orientation Scale with confirmed validity and reliability. Data analysis was conducted by the SPSS. Results: The mean scores on organizational commitment, intrinsic religious orientation and extrinsic religious orientation were 136. 3± 8. 07, 39. 21± 4. 25 and 34. 44± 2. 71, respectively. Participants had a high organizational commitment. There was a direct and statistically significant correlation between intrinsic religious orientation and organizational commitment (p=0. 01, r=0. 15) but not between extrinsic religious orientation and organizational commitment. Conclusion: Given the correlation between organizational commitment and intrinsic religious orientation, it is recommended to use strategies to increase the intrinsic religious orientation of midwives working in the hospital.

Background and Objectives: Spiritual health is the newest dimension of health without which other dimensions of health cannot be optimally efficient. Pleasure is an extended state of mind that people experience as a positive or valuable need. It includes certain psychological states such as happiness, joy, ecstasy, and feeling of satisfaction. Our aim was to investigate the correlation between spiritual health and pleasure in students of Qom University of Medical Sciences (QUMS). Methods: In this study, 250 students of QUMS were randomly selected and then completed Snaith– Hamilton Pleasure Scale and Ellison and Paloutzian Spiritual Well-Being Scale if they provided informed consent to participate in the study. Data analysis was conducted by the SPSS version 16. Results: The scores on total Ellison and Paloutzian Spiritual Well-Being Scale and religious and spiritual well-being subscales were significantly associated with pleasure in students (p<0. 001). Age, sex, marital status, and grade point average were not significantly associated with pleasure (p>0. 05). Conclusion: Spiritual health and its dimensions were significantly associated with pleasure among QUMS students such that pleasure and joy, pivotal factors for prevention of depression, and mental health increased in the students with increasing their spiritual health.

Background and Objectives: Being away from the familiar surroundings and family supports, decline in capabilities and skills, and age-related failures can lead to mental problems in the elderly living in nursing homes. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of spiritual-religious psychotherapy on mental distress in the elderly in nursing homes. Methods: The study population of this semi-experimental study with control group and pretest-posttest, consisted of all elderly living in the nursing home of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran in 2016. Samples (n: 28) were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly divided into two groups, experimental and control. Experimental group received spiritual-religion psychotherapy. Data collection instrument was Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales. Data analysis was conducted by multivariate analysis of variance in the SPSS version 22. Results: Spiritual-religious psychotherapy had significant effect in improving depression (F=138. 47, p<0. 05), anxiety (F=34. 57, p<0. 05), and stress (F=87. 30, p<0. 05). Conclusion: Spiritual-religious psychotherapy can serve as an effective approach to improve mental distress in the elderly.

Background and Objectives: In recent decades, attention paid to quality of life as an important factor to evaluate the therapeutic outcomes and the effectiveness of treatments for illnesses, has increased. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between spiritual health and quality of life in opioid-dependent men in Qom. Methods: The study population of this descriptive-correlational study consisted of 107 opioid-dependent men referring to addiction treatment centers in Qom who were selected by random sampling. Participants completed a 48-item spiritual well-being questionnaire, developed by Amiri et al., and short form 36-item health survey (SF-36). Data analysis was conducted by the SPSS version 21 using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: General spiritual health and behavioral aspect were significantly directly correlated with overall quality of life and its subscales, except for physical function, limitation in playing the role due to physical health problems, and pain. There was also a significant relationship between general spiritual health and overall quality of life. Conclusion: Behavioral aspect, among the aspects of general health, and general spiritual health are more important for the quality of life in opioid-dependent people. Spiritual health, especially spiritual behavior, is an effective supportive mechanism for opioid-dependent people that can be effective to improve their quality of life.

Background and Objectives: The observance of professional ethics is one of the most important expectations from health care team whose application has a tremendous effect on treatment course. The aim of this study was to investigate barriers to observance of the codes of professional ethics in clinical settings from the perspectives of nurses and midwifery in hospitals affiliated with Qom University of Medical Sciences in 2016. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 246 nurses and midwives working in the public hospitals affiliated with Qom University of Medical Sciences. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire (developed by Dehghani et al. ) to investigate the observance of professional ethics in the three domains management, environmental and individual carerelated. Results: In the management domain, the most important barrier to implementing the codes of professional ethics in clinical settings were lack of in-service training and educational programs from midwives’ perspectives (2. 2± 0. 9) and inappropriate head nurse-staff communication and lack of in-service training and educational programs from nurses’ perspectives (2. 53± 1. 19, and 2. 53± 1. 06, respectively), in environmental domain, lack of suitable equipment in ward from midwives’ perspectives (2. 03± 0. 94) and rotational shiftwork from nurses' perspectives (2. 32± 1. 07) and in individual care-related domain, lack of technical skills from both midwives’ and nurses’ perspectives (2. 29± 1. 21 and 2. 65± 1. 23, respectively). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, individual care-related factors were among the most important barriers to observing professional ethics from the perspectives of nurses and midwives working in hospitals.