Health Education and Health Promotion
Volume:2 Issue: 2, Spring 2014

Effective communication has a key role in nursing profession. Furthermore, controlling emotions as a part of communication skills has an important role in initiating and maintaining healthy social communications. The meaning of emotional intelligence is also effected considerably by the importance of this aspect of social communications. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of emotional intelligence training on the communication skills of final-year nursing students of Islamic Azad University, Isfahan branch (Khorasgan) in 2014. This quasi-experimental study was done with semester 7 and 8 undergraduate (nursing) 77 students. Data were collected by Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Test and Queen-Dom Communication Skills Test. Initially, the questionnaires were completed by the students; then the emotional intelligence workshop was held in 6 sessions’ each took 45 minutes. After a month, again both questionnaires were completed by the students. Analysis of results was performed by descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, middle and standard deviation) and analytic statistics (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Wilcoxon and Spearman correlation coefficient) in the SPSS software (version 19). Difference of communication skills’ scores before and after the intervention had a significant level (p=0.001), and the scores increased after the intervention significantly. Emotional intelligence training has a positive impact on communication skills of nursing students. So holding emotional intelligence workshops in one of the university alternatively annually for nursing students is recommended.

Injury from needle is one of the main ways of transmitting blood diseases in the medical staff. Prevention and reduction of such disease's side effects have been emphasized by the Health Ministry. This study aimed to investigate factors influencing the behavior of the Elam city medical staff when working with sharps instruments. In a cross-sectional study, using a census method, all healthcare staff working in the health centers of Abdanan Dehloran city (total n=66) after providing written informed consent were enrolled. Data were gathered by a questionnaire. After verifying the validity and reliability, the data were collected, and analyzed using SPSS19 and descriptive statistics, Chi-square and t-test. 59% of the participants were male; 80% were married; 62% had academic educations, and 47% worked in the nursing and injection sections. The mean scores of knowledge and attitude of the participants were 3.1±1.38 and 1.7±4.1, respectively, and just 13.4% of the subjects had not reported control tests and injury events. Knowledge, attitudes and practices of the medical staff of injuries from sharp objects are not desirable. it seems that empowering the staff through theoretical and practical training is proper solution in this regard.

Nowadays, the Internet is considered as an appropriate means of transferring knowledge in education and research processes. However, overusing the Internet may cause addiction. This problem may increase as the Internet usage increases. This paper attempted to study the Internet addiction among the students of Yazd universities. This research was a cross-sectional study conducted among 238 students of Yazd University Medical Sciences and 245 students of Yazd Payam-e-Noor University. The data were collected using the Internet Addiction Questionnaire introduced by Young. To analyze data, several statistical operations were conducted, including mean, percentage, Chi-square, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, Chi-two, and linear regression. Among the addicted students, 51% were from Payam-e-Noor University and 49% were from the University of Medical Sciences. Descriptive statistics also revealed that 51% of the addicted students were female and 67% of them were unmarried. Getting news and using e-mail services were mostly reported the Internet usages. Comparing with the previous studies, the Internet addiction has increased among the students of Yazd universities. This problem needs more concise investigation, and educational and counseling planning to reduce the Internet abuse.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. This comparative study was designed to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical and non-medical female students concerning breast self-examination (BSE) in two different universities in Shiraz, Iran. It also examined the relationship between the student's knowledge, attitude, practice and type of academic education. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Shiraz, Iran. 394 female students were selected using proportionate stratified random sampling (292 non-medical and 102 medical). A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection, and the obtained data were analyzed descriptively. Medical students were more aware of BSE timing, stages of BSE performance and initiation age of BSE. Medical female students were also more likely to consider BSE as efficient, not difficult and time consuming, and to acknowledge that as a method for decreasing the probability of cancer. Regular BSE performance rate for both groups was very low and unsatisfactory (non-medical 2.1% and medical 2.9%). The results of t-test and Chi-square revealed significant differences across BSE knowledge, attitude and practice with type of academic education (medical or non-medical) (P=001). Based on the findings, the medical students were more knowledgeable and showed a better attitude and responded more positively than the non-medical student, but both groups showed low level of BSE practicing that is of a concern. The supportive role of universities in providing students with necessary information about breast cancer is suggested, and its prevention methods should be highlighted. Additionally, there is a need to a supportive environment which facilitates students’ access to qualified health care services.

Substance abuse is a substantial threat and problem to public health. The goal of drug abuse treatment is to return people to a productive normal situation in the family, workplace, and community. Treatment dropout is one of the major problems, encountered by the treatment programs. The maintenance of treatment is associated with retention in treatment, and many factors are associated with retention. The main purpose of this study is to examine the factors that play important role in retention of addiction treatment. This is a qualitative research with conventional content analysis method. Purposive sampling was applied and continued until data saturation was achieved. The participants were 22 volunteers, including outpatients, physicians and psychotherapists. The method of data collection was semi-structured face to face interview (30- 40 minutes). All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. By content analysis, two categories were obtained, including emotional and informational support. The main common theme of categories was social support, which was the major requirement to retain the treatment among drug abuse outpatients. The findings of this study showed that social support is one of the essential services to stop or reduce substance abuse. Recognizing this factor could improve interaction between the family, clinical staff and patients in addiction treatment retention.