مجله دانشکده بهداشت و انستیتو تحقیقات بهداشتی
سال سیزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 50، تابستان 1394)

Empowering women means enabling them to decide independently on the basic issues of life. The great challenge of fertility and reproductive health of women is indicative of their inability to make decisions. The third objective of the Millennium Development Goals is empowerment of women and the effect of social determinants of health in this regard has been recognized. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between structural social determinants of health and women''s empowerment in reproductive health.

This was a descriptive-correlation study including 400 women consulting the Shahid-Beheshti University of Medical Sciences health centers in Tehran، Iran. In the first stage، the health centers were selected by the simple random method، followed by quota sampling; the f inal sampling was done by the convenience sampling method. The tools for data collection were demographic and socio-economic questionnaires، as well as a questionnaire to obtain data on women''s empowerment in reproductive health. Data were analyzed using SPSS-17.

That data showed that the women’s empowerment in reproductive health was at an intermediate level. Structural social determinants of health were correlated with women’s empowerment in reproductive health; the highest correlation was found to be with women’s education level (r= 0. 44، P< 0. 001).

Women''s general empowerment، as well as their empowerment and in family planning needs special attention. Structural social determinants of health are correlated with women''s empowerment in reproductive health. Thus، policies should be adopted and plans executed aiming at strengthening the role of women in the family and the society.

Milk and dairy products provide more than 50% of the calcium requirement in the daily diet of Iranians. In order to promote adolescents’ health and prevent the devastating effects of osteoporosis in adulthood، appropriate action should be taken to increase milk consumption among adolescents. The objective of this study was to increase milk and dairy products consumption among eighth-grade girl-pupils in Kamyaran City، Iran through designing and implementing an educational program based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in 2014، including a total of 168 eighth-grade girl-pupils from two (out of six) schools، one as the intervention and the other as the control group، selected randomly by cluster sampling. The intervention group received education in 4 sessions، the educational tools being a pamphlet and a poster. Data were collected on the TPB constructs، food intake (by 24-hour dietary recall)، and frequency of milk and dairy product intakes during the previous 3 days. All the participants completed the questionnaires at the beginning and 3 months after the intervention. The data were analyzed using the SPSS-18 software، the statistical tests being chi-square، independent-t and paired t-tests.

The intervention brought about statistically significant increases in the mean scores of behavior intention، attitude، subjective norms، and perceived behavioral control (p<0/001). In addition، an increase was observed in the frequency of milk and dairy product intake، which was 0. 36 units per day initially (p<0/001).

Considering the effectiveness and low cost of this intervention، expanding this program can potentially lead to a rise in milk and dairy products consumption among the pupils.

Nutritional knowledge acquired by young girls as would-be mothers will play an important role in children’s and family health protection and promotion in the future. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an educational program based on the BASNEF model on the nutritional behavior among guidance school first-grade female-students.

This was an interventional study carried out in the form of a clinical trial including 160 female-pupils divided into two groups ─ a case and a control group ─ randomly selected by two-stage sampling، namely، classification and cluster sampling. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire. Education about healthy nutrition was imparted to the case group in 4 60-minute sessions in the form of lectures، group discussions، and question-answer; in addition، pamphlets were distributed among the subjects. Data were collected and analyzed using the SPSS-18 software، the statistical tests being Chi-square، fisher، independent and paired t-tests.

The data showed that the mean scores of knowledge and BASNEF model components as regards nutritional behavior increased after the intervention in the case، they being higher significantly in the case group as compared to the controls. The most important subjective norms after the intervention were the pupils’ parents.

The findings indicate that a 3-month educational intervention based on the BASNEF model can bring about desirable changes in some of the undesirable nutritional behaviors in guidance school pupils، and that designing and implementing interventions of this kind، with the support of health and school authorities، is quite feasible.