مجله پایش
سال بیست و دوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 107، بهمن و اسفند 1401)

The middle-aged are a significant group of the population. The aim of this study was to assess the acceptability of the middle-aged self-care program implementation.

This was a two phase study. At first stage qualitative study was conducted. In this stage recipients and service providers participated in two focus group interviews about key points of the program and convention content analysis was performed.  Then a descriptive study was conducted to assess the acceptability of the program from the perspective of recipients and providers. This study was conducted using two separate questionnaires. The validity and reliability of the questionnaires were evaluated. In all 300 care receivers and the whole target group of providers were surveyed.

The acceptability of program from the perspective of service recipients was examined by dimensions derived from the qualitative study. These dimensions were: responding to health needs, adapting to the conditions of service recipients, program benefits and side effects, participation, service delivery processes, and satisfaction. The study findings showed that acceptability was high for ‘the service delivery processes’ and ‘satisfaction’ and was low for ‘public participation’. However, assessing the perspective of managers and service providers indicated that the acceptability was high for ‘meeting healthcare needs’ and it was low for ‘compliance with the conditions of service recipients’.

Implementing the program requires resources and infrastructure. The pilot implementation of the program and the evaluation of it will play an important role in successful implementation of the program. As such the successful implementation of the middle-aged health self-care program could improve the responsibility of individuals in maintaining and promoting of their health.

Investigating performance indicators is one of the most important components for the evaluation of health care and treatment outcomes in hospitals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance indicators of the teaching and non-teaching hospitals in West Azerbaijan province, Iran and compare these with the standard indicators of the Ministry of Health.

The present study was a cross-sectional descriptive study in 2019. The statistical population included all hospitals of West Azarbaijan province (22 teaching hospitals affiliated with Urmia University of Medical Sciences) and 8 non-teaching hospitals). The standard checklist of the Ministry of Health was used to record information and calculate performance indicators of hospitals. The data were analyzed using Excel 2016 and SPSS22 software.

In terms of the bed occupancy ratio index, 32% of teaching hospitals in the province were in desirable condition, 18% in average condition, and 50% in undesirable condition. However, 100% of teaching hospitals that located in the center of the province were in desirable condition. While this index in non-teaching hospitals was desirable at 25%, average at 25%, and undesirable at 50%. In terms of the patient stay, 77% favorable, 5% average, and 18% undesirable in teaching hospitals, and 87.5% desirable and 12.5% undesirable in non-teaching hospitals. Also, 95% of teaching hospitals and 100% of non-teaching hospitals were in the desirable condition in terms of the patient admission per bed.

The condition of hospitals in West Azarbaijan province in terms of the bed occupancy ratio index of most teaching hospitals and in terms of the index of average patient stay and the index of the ratio of patient admission per bed, and most of thenNon-teaching hospitals were in a desirable condition. To improve the performance indicators further, new planning and policies are recommended.

Objective (s):

 Chronic low back pain is one of the most common chronic diseases that influence people's health and quality of life. The first line of non-medical management of chronic low back pain is psychological interventions. The current scoping review aimed to determine psychological interventions usually are used to treat chronic low back pain.

This scoping review examined studies published in English language with related keywords including ‘chronic low back pain’, ‘cognitive behavior therapy’, ‘behavioural/behavioral therapy’, ‘mindfulness’, ‘mediation’, ‘stress reduction’, ‘biofeedback’, ‘pain education’, ‘counselling’ and ‘acceptance and commitment therapy’ in PubMed. The data were extracted and tabulated to summarize evidence. In addition, information on instruments used to measure pain were addressed.

In all 156 papers was retrieved. Of these, 21 papers fulfilled the inclusion criteria. 19 articles out of 21 articles had a control group. The findings of the study showed that cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral therapy, mindfulness and biofeedback were used more than other types of interventions. The results of cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral therapy and mindfulness interventions confirmed their effectiveness, but using biofeedback intervention did not show certain result in the treatment of chronic back pain. The Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) was the most widely used instrument for pain assessment.

The findings showed that psychological interventions were effective in the treatment of chronic low back pain (especially back pain with psychosomatic causes). In cases where chronic low back pain has a specific cause, psychological intervention alone is not effective and should be used in combination with clinical interventions or other non-medical interventions such as rehabilitation.

Objectiv (s):

 The aim of this study was to determine the effect of pre-service e-learning on health care providers’, knowledge in terms of family health cares.

This was a pre- and post-test design study. The framework for developing the course was based on the stages of the General Educational Design Model (ADDIE). First, the content was designed and uploaded in Learning Management System (LMS). Then, using the census sampling method, all female health care providers who had started working as health care provider in the health care facilities affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences in a period of 6 months in 2021-2022 were included in the study. First, their knowledge of the course contents was measured. They received training upon entering the service electronically. Finally, their knowledge and skills were assessed by an exam. The level of their satisfaction and skills after participating in the course was also assessed. The data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software.

In all 73 trainee included in the study. The results of the study showed that the mean total score of health care providers' knowledge, after participating in the designed e-learning course significantly increased compared to before participating in the course (p = 0.01). The findings showed that the highest satisfaction score of the participants was related to the suitability of the evaluation with the content presented in the course (86% of the participants reported good to very good level). The lowest satisfaction was related to support in technical issues (47% of the participants was reported good to very good level). The most acquired skill was related to the ability to assess a child health status (100% of the participants reported good to very good level) and the least acquired skill was related to the ability to identify the health status of pregnant mother (45% of the participants reported good to very good level).

This study showed that participating in pre-service e-learning training may increase the knowledge of female health care providers in various components of family health care.

Objective (s):

 This study aimed was to determine the oral health literacy of mothers and its relationship to oral health status of their 3–6-year-old children.

This was a cross-sectional. A sample of 194 mothers with children aged 3 to 6 years who referred to two comprehensive health service centers in Kabudarahang, Hamadan Province, Iran in 2019 were studied. The oral health literacy of mothers was assessed by the adult oral health literacy questionnaire. The oral health of children was identified by examining and recording the number of decayed, missed and filled teeth. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 21) and by one-way analysis of variance Pearson correlation coefficient tests.

The mean age of the mothers was 32.38 years (SD=6.095). The mean oral health literacy score of the mothers was 46.66 (SD= 21.895) and the total average number of decayed, missed and filled teeth of their children was 3.840 (SD= 1.424). There was an inverse and significant relationship between mothers' oral health literacy and the total number of decayed, missed and filled teeth in their children's (p=0.007). The average number of missing teeth of the children was equal to 0.54 (SD=1.364), the average number of decayed teeth was 3.11 (SD=3.189), and the average number of filled teeth was 0.19 (SD=0.750). The results showed that mothers' oral health literacy had a direct and significant relationship with their educational levels (p=0.001).

There was a significant relationship between mothers' oral health literacy and their children's oral health status. It seems that planning to increasing oral health literacy of mothers in order to improve children's oral health is essential.

Objective (s):

 Sexual health is one of the most important aspects of health However, few healthcare providers are capable of sexual counseling skill in clinical environments. Considering that in Iran most of the reproductive and sexual health services are provided in comprehensive health centers by midwives, the present study was conducted to explain the factors related to the provision of sexual health services by midwives in these centers.

This qualitative study was conducted in Rafsanjan, Iran in 2018-2019. Participants were 16 midwives, 7 key informants, and 6 women who referred to comprehensive health centers. Data were collected through 3 sessions of focus group discussion and 8 semi-structured interviews and analyzed via the conventional content analysis method. MAXQDA 10 software was used to perform analysis.

In all 87 codes, 27 sub-categories, and 9 categories were extracted. Further examination of the categories led to emergent of three main themes: ‘professional competence of midwives in providing sexual health services’, ‘educational gap in sexual health’, and restrictions to providing sexual health services’.

The results showed that due to the lack of adequate education in sexual health and obstacles such as attitudes of policymakers, limited time and resources, and cultural issues, sexual health services are not provided proficiently. Indeed, considering the professional capacity of midwives, revising the midwifery educational curriculum in sexual health, is recommended.

Organizing the rapid response team is one of the strategic mechanisms that have been used to control the COVID-19 epidemic. This study aimed to compare the COVID-19 epidemic control before and after the implementation of rapid response program in southeast Iran.

This cross-sectional study was carried out in Sistan and Baluchestan province in summer of 2021. The rapid response team has been settled in the region for 3 weeks since 3 July, and rapid response program including mass vaccination with a community-based approach has been implemented in catchment populations of three universities of medical sciences including Zaheadn, Iranshahr and Zabon. Data were collected from June 5, until September 23, 2021 and analyzed using descriptive statistics in Excel software.

During the study period, a total of 2,514,911 people were admitted and 2,125,389 people (84.5%) were discharged. 58,441 (2.3%) of the cases were hospitalized. The total number of tests taken during the study period was 310,741 (111,978 tests per million population). This rate decreased about 15% after the implementation (36% versus 21.7%). The total number of positive death cases was estimated at 0.9 per 1000 population. After the implementation, the mean number of hospitalized cases (59 patients per day), the mean difference of positive laboratory cases (400 cases per day), and the mean difference in the number of deaths (confirmed cases) decreased to eight cases per day.

The findings showed that the implementation of rapid response program with community-based approach in was successful in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic.

Objective (s): 

This study aimed to assess quality of life of elderly living during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The was a descriptive study. A sample of 430 elderly people aged 60 years and above, members of the ‘Neighborhood Club’ in 22 districts of Tehran, Iran participated in the study The data was collected during June 2019 to July 2020. Quality of life was measured by the Persian version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life- Old (WHOQOL-OLD) questionnaire. Higher score indicates a lower quality of life. Descriptive statistics and linear regression were performed to analyze the data.

Based on the results of the research, information about 430 elderly people has been reported, which had a relatively uniform distribution in 22 districts of Tehran. The mean age of elderly was 67.59±6.48 years, 60.5% were women, 68.8% were married, and 35.6% had secondary education, 67.9% had history of covid-19, and 93.3% of their first degree family members had a history of the disease. The total score of quality of life of the elderly was 75.84±12.47 based on the WHOQOL-Old questionnaire. The linear regression model showed that poor health (P=0.023), semi-independent dependence (P=0.003) and exposure to physical (P<0.001) and mental abuse (P<0.001) were among factors that reduced the quality of life. Overall demographic factors explained 42.9% of variance in quality of life score.

The results showed that demographic variables played important role in shaping quality of life among elderly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Higher education institutions today face many challenges, including growing expectations about the quality of education programs. On the other hand, the professional development of faculty members is the key to improving the quality of education. The present study aimed to provide a model of professional self-development for university faculty members.

The was a qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data and information. The study participants consisted of a purposeful sample of academic experts who were faculty members. Data collection was continued until theoretical saturation. In order to analyze the data, open, axial and selective coding methods have been used.

In all 16 interviews were conducted. The following themes emerged from the analysis: professional self-development competencies (professional meaning-making, professional valuation, professional purposefulness, professional knowledge, professional skills, professional communication, professional ethics and professional behavior), self-development action and implementation (self-learning, e-learning, training, Learning in action, learning from colleagues, mentoring, study opportunities, participation in conferences), self-development planning (self-evaluation, self-planning and professional self-change), desire for self-development (desire based on learning and progress, based on internal motivation, based on work relationships and based on external motivation) and factors affecting self-development (individual, technological and virtual, international, organizational and environmental factors).

Based on the findings of the present research, it is concluded that the professional self-development of faculty members is an integrated model consisting of a set of factors that together make self-development possible.

Dear Editor, At the end of 2020, variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus appeared as a great risk to public’s health and therefore, in order to prioritize global monitoring and research, they were placed in the category of variants of interest (VOIs), variants of concern (VOCs) and under monitoring variants (VUMs). As of April 2022, omicron (B.1.1.529) sub-variants of SARS-CoV-2, including BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5, are considered variants of concern with increased virulence and transmissibility. The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is emerging in communities where people have already been infected with earlier variants and are now vaccinated, or people who have received two or three doses of the coronavirus vaccination. More than 130 countries worldwide have implemented booster programs to combat omicron. Despite preliminary findings that suggest booster doses may improve omicron protection, more research is needed to prove this. In the case of the COVID-19, it was recommended that at least 2 injections of the vaccine be given, and after 6 months we saw a decline in immunity. Taken together, the studies suggest that the BQ and XBB subtypes pose serious threats to current vaccines, inactivate all neutralizing antibodies, and may have spread in the population due to their evolution in evading antibodies. Though people still need to take this issue seriously and protect themselves.