Modern Care Journal
Volume:12 Issue: 4, Oct 2015

Shortage of rehabilitation services as well as personal and financial problems prevents patients from participating in cardiac rehabilitation programs. Participation in these programs alleviates patients’ perceived inadequacy, improves their quality of life, and prolongs their survival. Thus, there is a clear need to educate cardiac patients and guide them toward patient-centered and home-based rehabilitation programs.
The present study was undertaken to examine the effect of phase III cardiac rehabilitation on the quality of life of patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft
This quasi-experimental study was done on forty 35 to 75 year-old patients, who were in phase III cardiac rehabilitation after bypass surgery. Patients were selected purposively and were allocated to a control and an experimental group randomly, 20 patients in each group. The groups did not differ significantly regarding patients’ age, body mass index, and the duration of cardiac problems. A demographic questionnaire and the short form 36 quality of life questionnaire were used for gathering data both before and one month after the study intervention. A cardiac rehabilitation educational program was implemented for the patients in the experimental group with six 1.5-hour sessions in three subsequent weeks. Patients in the control group also received the same education in four sessions, which were held after the posttest. The data were entered in the SPSS (v. 15.0) software and were analyzed by running repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), the paired- and the independent-sample t, the one-way ANOVA, and the Tukey’s post-hoc statistical tests. The level of significance was set at 0.05.
The pretest mean score of quality of life in the experimental group was 43.6 ± 13.2, which increased to 56.1 ± 9.4 after the intervention (P The findings of this study showed that phase III (home-based) cardiac rehabilitation has significant effects on the quality of life of patients, who had undergo coronary artery bypass graft. Given the limited implementation of phase II rehabilitation programs in Iranian hospitals, implementing phase III rehabilitation programs can significantly affect patients’ quality of life after bypass graft surgery.

Given the growing population of elderly individuals, developing strategies for improving their quality of life seems crucial. Quality of life improvement is the essence of all healthcare activities. Quality of life has a negative relationship with age. Elderly people lose their abilities and become vulnerable and thus, need special attention and support.
The present study was designed and undertaken to examine the effects of a self-care educational program based on Orem’s self-care theory on the quality of life of nursing home residents.
This quasi-experimental study was performed on 50 elderly individuals, who resided in nursing homes located in Urmia, Iran. The participants were conveniently selected and randomly allocated to the control and the experimental group, 25 to each group. For the elderly people in the experimental group, a self-care educational program was implemented with four to six, 30- to 45-minute sessions. Educational contents were developed based on the participants’ educational needs. Quality of life assessment was performed before and one month after the intervention using the world health organization quality of life questionnaire. The data were analyzed by employing the SPSS (v. 16.0) software and independent-sample t, Chi-square, Wilcoxon, and Mann-Whitney U tests
The Mann-Whitney U test showed a significant difference between the groups regarding the posttest values of quality of life total score and the scores of the physical and the psychological health domains of quality of life (P = 0.001). In other words, the implemented self-care educational program significantly improved the participants’ quality of life.
Implementing the self-care educational program was effective for improving elderly people’s quality of life. Such programs can be used as effective strategies to improve nursing home residents’ quality of life. Given the progressive nature of age-related problems, using self-care models is of grave importance.

Job satisfaction is among the most important factors for nurses’ productivity and professional interest. Previous studies showed a significant correlation between job satisfaction and emotional intelligence.
The current study aimed to examine the effects of training emotional intelligence skills on different aspects of nurses’ job satisfaction.
This pretest-posttest controlled quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2013. A random sample of 32 nurses was collected from Valiasr and Imam Reza teaching hospitals, Birjand, Iran. All the nurses recruited from each of these two hospitals were allocated to experimental and control groups. Study data were gathered by a researcher-made questionnaire consisted of items on nurses’ demographic characteristics and job satisfaction. The job satisfaction part included 62 items scored on a six-point Likert-type scale from 5 to 1 (very satisfied, satisfied, mildly satisfied, dissatisfied, very dissatisfied, and I have no idea). Therefore, the possible total score of this part of the questionnaire ranged from 62 to 372. A training program was developed based on the Bradberry and Greaves program including training four emotional intelligence skills in ten sessions. The skills include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. The nurses’ job satisfaction was evaluated both before and after the study intervention. The gathered data were transferred into the SPSS software ver. 18.0 and analyzed through conducting the paired- and the independent-samples T tests at significance level of 0.05.
Most of the nurses in the experimental and the control groups were female (14 and 10 nurses, respectively). The means of nurses’ age in these groups were respectively 35.6 ± 3.7 and 33.1 ± 3.8 years. There was a significant difference between the pretest and the posttest values of job satisfaction among nurses in the experimental group (P Emotional intelligence training can indirectly enhance nurses’ job satisfaction through promoting their psychological health, decision making ability, social, communication and sympathy skills (which are the components of psychosocial, organizational culture and relationship domains of job satisfaction), as well as optimism, flexibility, self-esteem and self-respect (i e, the facility domain of job satisfaction). Implementing in-service training programs is recommended to improve nurses’ emotional intelligence skills and job satisfaction.

Cancer can change patients’ physical appearance and thereby, threaten their psychological well-being. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the dysfunctional beliefs and the social appraisal of the patients with cancer and changes in physical appearance.
It was a pretest-posttest controlled quasi-experimental study. A convenience sample of 40 patients with skin, breast, head and neck cancers was recruited from Shahid Ghazi Hospital, Tabriz, Iran. The patients had cancer-induced changes in physical appearance such as severe hair and eyebrow loss, mastectomy and skin lesions. They were randomly allocated to the experimental (20 patients) and the control groups (20 patients). Patients in the experimental group received mindfulness-based educations in eight 1.5-hour sessions held twice a week in four consecutive weeks while patients in the control group received no education. Before and one week after the study intervention, patients in both study groups completed the Jone irrational belief test and the social appraisal subscale of the self-talk scale. The data were analyzed by the SPSS ver. 16.0 and through conducting the independent- and the paired-sample T-tests and the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) at the significance level of 0.05.
Study findings revealed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy significantly improved the participating patients’ demand for approval, high self-expectation, blame proneness, frustration reactive, emotional irresponsibility, anxious over-concern, problem avoidance, perfectionism, social appraisal (P Mindfulness education is recommended to correct dysfunctional beliefs and improve social appraisal of patients with cancer and changes in physical appearance.

Adolescence is associated with rapid changes in behavioral patterns, which predispose adolescents to high-risk behaviors, such as immobility and unhealthy eating habits. This study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention based on the Theory of Planned Behavior on high-school female students’ obesity-related behaviors.
This was a randomized controlled field trial. A sample of 112 first-year high-school female students was selected through cluster random sampling from high schools located in Nehbandan, Iran. A researcher-made instrument was used for data collection, the validity of which was investigated by assessing its content validity, and its reliability was evaluated by using test-retest methods. The test-retest correlation coefficient of the instrument was 0.7. An educational intervention was developed and implemented based on the theory of planned behaviors. The data were collected at three measurement time points including before, immediately after, and three months after the study intervention. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS software (v. 16.0) through conducting independent-sample t test, repeated-measures analysis of variance, and least significant difference post hoc test at a significance level of 0.05.
There was no significant difference between the groups regarding the students’ demographic characteristics (P > 0.05). The results of the statistical tests revealed that in the experimental group, there was a significant difference among the three measurement time points concerning all constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior. In the control group, the difference among the three measurement time points was statistically significant only for the scores of subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and behavior (P The findings of the current study indicated that educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior has significant effects on adolescent students’ obesity-related attitude and behavioral intention.

Different strategies are developed to improve elderly people’s quality of life. One of the potentially beneficial strategies is the employment of nursing theories and models, particularly the Roy adaptation model.
The current study aimed to investigate the effect of a care program based on the Roy adaptation model on nursing home residents’ quality of life.
This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 60 residents of the nursing homes located in Urmia, Iran. The residents were conveniently selected and randomly allocated to an experimental and a control group. A demographic questionnaire and the short-form 36-item quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) were employed for data collection. The SF-36 was completed for the participants in both groups before and one month after the study intervention. A care program was developed based on the Roy adaptation model and implemented to manipulate the participants’ maladaptive behaviors. The length of the study intervention was 1.5 months with a one-month follow-up period. The study data were transferred into the SPSS software. The Chi-square and the paired- and the independent-sample T-tests were employed for data analysis. Moreover, the descriptive statistics was used to present the data. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant.
After the study, the groups differed significantly from each other in terms of the mean score of the participants’ quality of life (P Care programs developed based on the Roy adaptation model can positively affect elderly people’s quality of life. Therefore, nurses are recommended to use this model to promote the level of adaptation in the elderly people and improve their quality of life.

Hypertension is a bio-psychological disorder and a major health problem in the developing countries. It is affected by people’s lifestyle.
The current study aimed to examine general health status and its relationship with health-promoting lifestyle among patients with hypertension.
This analytic-descriptive study was conducted on 302 patients with hypertension aged 40 - 70 years who lived in Birjand, Iran. Convenient sampling method was employed and individuals with a systolic blood pressure above 140 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure above 90 mmHg as well as people with a history of taking antihypertensive agents were recruited. The 28-item general health questionnaire and the health-promoting lifestyle profile were completed for the participants by the interview method. The data were analyzed by the SPSS software ver. 16.0 and through running Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, the Spearman correlation coefficient analysis and the logistic regression analysis.
The mean age of the participants was 54.81 ± 9.83 years. The hypertension of 28 participants (9.3%) was effectively controlled while 152 ones (50.3%) and 122 ones (40.4%) had moderate and severe hypertension, respectively. More than half of the participants (53.3%) had some forms of impaired general health. The highest and the lowest lifestyle subscale scores belonged to the nutrition and the physical activity subscales, respectively. The Spearman correlation coefficient analysis revealed that except for the score of health responsibility, the scores of other subscales of lifestyle as well as the total score of lifestyle questionnaire were negatively correlated with those of the general health questionnaire and all its subscales (P Given the significant correlation of lifestyle components such as stress management and spiritual growth with general health, general health of patients with hypertension can be improved through developing and implementing stress management and spiritual growth stimulation programs and techniques.

Staff’s level of empowerment plays a significant role in the success of hospitals as complex systems. Therefore, using effective leadership styles by head-nurses is necessary to create an ideal clinical environment to make the most from nurses’ abilities and potential capabilities.
The current study aimed to evaluate the relationship of nurses and head-nurses’ psychological empowerment with head-nurses’ leadership style.
This correlational study was conducted on nurses and head-nurses working in Valiasr (PBUH) hospital, Birjand, Iran, recruited through the census method. All participants held bachelor’s degree with a minimum work experience of two years. The data were collected by a demographic questionnaire, the leader behavior description questionnaire and the Spreitzer psychological empowerment questionnaire. The questionnaires were given to the participants in different working shifts. Finally, thirteen head-nurses and 170 nurses completely filled their questionnaires. The SPSS software ver. 16.0 was employed to analyze data through conducting the Fisher exact, the Spearman and the Mann-Whitney U test, in addition to the independent-samples T-test, at a significance level of 0.05.
All head-nurses were married and above 35 years old and 84.6% of them were female. Moreover, most of the nurses were female (75.9%) and married (82.4%) and aged 26 - 30 years. Most of head-nurses (69.2%) believed that they used the selling leadership style while most of the nurses (76.9%) noted that their head-nurses’ used the telling style. All these nurses and head-nurses had higher levels of empowerment compared with other nurses.
The study findings revealed that the nurses who were empowered had perceived their managers’ leadership style to be the telling style. This finding showed that managers’ leadership style was not congruent with staff’s level of empowerment, denoting managers’ poor familiarity with leadership styles. Therefore, educating managers about leadership styles seems crucial to enhance staff’s empowerment, working motivation and efficiency and promoting organizational dynamism.