Health Education and Health Promotion
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Spring 2013

Many of the oral health problems start in childhood that may affect the way of speaking, eating and even the social manners of the individual. The aim of this study was to test the Trans-theoretical Model to gain an understanding of the inter-dental cleaning behavior change in mothers and their children in the city of Sanandaj. This study was a randomized controlled trial, conducted in 2011 in eight Health Centers in Kurdistan province, Iran. Using a cluster sampling, we conducted a prospective study. The participants were grouped into an intervention group including 25 couples of mother and child, and a control Group including another 25 couples of mother and child. The intervention program was designed based on Trans-theoretical Model. The Gingival index of mothers and their children were recorded before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS-16 software and with paired T-test. Most of the mothers in the intervention group (64% vs. 96% in control group) did not use any of the tools (dental floss and tooth picks). After intervention, most of the mothers and their children were in action and preparation stages and the direction of change improved after the intervention. Significant statistical differences were found in self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and also Gingival index before and after the intervention between two groups (p= 0.03-0.001). There was a positive relationship between stages of behavior of inter-dental cleaning in mothers and their children. Qualitative research can be used to reveal underlying inter-dental cleaning perception and behaviors of mothers and children.

The oral health is one of the most of public health problems and women with pregnancy have high risk for dental caries and need more attention. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a health education intervention based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) on oral health behavior in pregnant women. This is a quasi-experimental study carried out on 130 pregnant women selected with random sampling method from health centers in Arak in 2011 (case and control groups each of 65 women). Data collection with questionnaire was based on construct HBM, as well as their knowledge and performance about oral health. The women of the case group participated during the two month of intervention and again two month after، with 2 session meeting classes as the follow up after intervention. The data were collected 3 months after intervention and analyzed. Our findings indicated that mean scores of HBM Model variables, i. e susceptibility, severity, benefit and barriers perceived, were significantly increased in the case group compared to the controls after intervention. Also, oral health care (before intervention 45 ±9. 2, after three months 77±9. 7) improved significantly among the case group, compared to the controls (p<0/001). Applying the HBM Model is very effective for developing an educational program for oral health in pregnant women. Besides such programs, follow up education on controlling and monitoring is highly recommended.

Patient's satisfaction (PS) is a dominant concept in medical care, due to the gap in the literature on Persian version of PS instruments, this study has conducted with aim to analyze the validity and reliability of self-designed Najmiyeh Inpatient Satisfaction Questionnaire (NISQ). This study was carried out on 247 inpatients that came in Najmiyeh subspecialty hospital in Tehran (the capital city of Iran) during year 2011 who were selected by proportional stratified sampling method. Statistical analysis used: In this study, after checking content validity we used confirmatory and explanatory factor analysis and Cronbach's Alpha in order to examine construct validity and reliability, respectively. SPSS (version18) and AMOS (version 20) programmer were used to analyze data. Samples consisted of 247 subjects (222 women (90%) and 25 men (10%)). The explanatory factor analysis showed 5 factors with 64% total variance and 0.91 Kaser-Meyer-Olkin Index, the result also confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis (PNFI=0.71, RMR=0.03, PCFI=0.76). Extracted factors consisted of: “satisfaction from nursing services and their behaviour”, “satisfaction from one’s doctor”, “satisfaction from inpatient department”, “companions’ satisfaction”, “satisfaction from one’s room”. Also the questionnaire’s reliability was 0.96 using the Cronbach's Alpha method. Because validity and reliability indexes of NISQ were reported in suitable range, we can confirm that this questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for measuring inpatient satisfaction.

Tobacco use is one of the major causes of death worldwide and the most preventable risk factor of the coronary heart disease. The purpose of this study was to determine attitudes, risk perception and perceived vulnerability toward to water pipe (WP) smoking among male students in Zarandieh city of Iran. This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 400 male adolescents in 2011-2012. A multiple-stage sampling protocol was used. The participants completed a self-report questionnaire about demographics, knowledge, attitude and beliefs about WP smoking and their tobacco use background. Data were analyzed by SPSS16. The prevalence of WP smoking was 72 (18%). Also 50% of participants believed water pipe smoking is less harmful compared to cigarettes. The mean score of knowledge, attitude, and risk perception for non smokers was higher from smokers (knowledge 4.9±2.1, attitude 19.5±4.3 and risk perception 18.6±3.3 versus 3.4±1.5, 15.6±5.5 and 15.4±4.3 respectively), whereas smokers reported a fairly high level of perceived stress and depression (perceived vulnerability). Noticing the side effects of tobacco use and the high prevalence of incorrect perceived WP smoking beliefs among students, provision of educational programs for the correction of the beliefs of students regarding WP smoking is recommended.

Fatalistic employees take serious risks because they have limited knowledge of risks and accidents, leading them to under estimate the possibility of their occurrence. This research examined the effectiveness of safety training on changing employees’ fatalism with attention to the mediating role of attitude toward safety issues. 204 employees was selected according to the stratified random sampling method in Isfahan Steel Company, divided randomly into control group (n=103) and experimental group (n=101) and the questionnaires of safety attitude and fatalism were applied as data collection instruments. The data was collected before intervention, and educational intervention was then executed in four 90-minute sessions over four days. One month after intervention, post-test was performed and the collected data was analyzed using descriptive indexes, t- and F-tests. Results show that there was a significant statistical difference in average numbers of attitude toward safety issues and fatalism before and after training intervention (p<0.01). Also, mediation analysis indicated attitude toward safety issues mediated the effect of safety trainings on fatalism (p>0.05). Therefore, safety training only by promoting workers’ safety attitudes can change the fatalistic beliefs among employees. By understanding relationship between fatalism and safety attitude, it should be possible to improve the training of employees, such that are less likely to attribute accidents to chance or fate.

Benefits of Skin-to-Skin Contact (SSC) between mother and her newborn, specifically when it is conducted immediately after birth, have been recognized for more than 40 years. To determine why SSC is not conducted, the present study considers the opinions of the labor working midwifes about the reinforcing factors in SSC immediately after birth in Tehran's hospitals in 2012-2013. In this descriptive study, we have employed the reinforcing factors of the phase 3 of PRECEDE-PROCEED model. The samples consisted of 292 midwifes who were responsible for delivery or for newborns immediately after birth in 18 hospitals of Tehran. The sampling was firstly performed using stratified and then simple random manner. They were classified into educational, social security, and private hospitals. Data collection instrument was a self-developed questionnaire consisting of demographic characteristics, social support and midwife's motivation to conduct the reinforcing factors in the SCC at birth. It was derived from a qualitative study. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data analysis was conducted through applying the SPSS version 18. The results show that 93.8% of midwifes had a good idea about social support of the midwifes with Cronbach's alpha 0.744 and 96.6% of them believed in the Midwifes ' motivation in skin contact effects with Cronbach's 0.773. The midwives believed in the key role of reinforcing factors such as social support and their own motivation in successful and standard SSC. Therefore, further studies are suggested on exploring the opinions of pediatric, obstetrics and anesthesia specialists, midwives, mothers and their husbands concerning the SSC.