Jundishapur Journal of Chronic Disease Care
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Jan 2018

Context: The most common side effect reported by Sickle cell disease patients is unforeseen and chronic pain crisis. A combination of pharmacological and non-drug treatments is suggested for managing pain in patients with SCD. One of the non-drug treatments is massage therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the use and effectiveness of massage in reducing pain in patients with SCD.
Evidence Acquisition: This study is a literature review of the period of 1990 to 2016. The search was done in databases and reputable sites including Medline, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, Ovid, Web of Knowledge, SID, Magiran, and Barakat using the keywords including massage therapy, pain, sickle cell, and patient. A total of 14 articles were selected for review.
Among 14 articles, five studies experimentally tested the effect of massage on reducing pain in patients with SCD, while the other nine studies only examined the rate of patients using massage and reported the rate of massage in the range between 5% and 79%. The results of the experimental studies indicated the effectiveness of massage therapy in reducing pain in patients with SCD.
Massage therapy is one of the most common types of alternative medicine used for patients with SCD. Studies showed that massage therapy could have a role in reducing pain in patients with SCD. However, more extensive studies are needed in this field.

Cancer is the second cause of death in the world and the third in Iran. Colorectal cancer is the third fatal cancer in the world.
Blood group and its RH are among the genetic factors that can be associated with colon cancer. This study was performed with the aim of investigating the relationship between blood group and colon cancer.
This study was undertaken in cases of colon cancer that referred to Namazi hospital from 2002 to 2011. The required data were gathered using a checklist, entered into SPSS software, and analyzed with descriptive statistical methods and Chi-square test.
The results showed that the highest frequencies among 223 patients with colon cancer were related to blood group O (48.7 percent), RH (90.4 percent), male patients (60.4 percent), and married people (72.2 percent). The mean age of the patients was 60.09 ± 16.04. Blood group and colon cancer showed a statistically significant relationship (P The findings showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between blood group and colon cancer. Conducting extensive studies to find risk factors of the disease, particularly the role of genetic factors and disease prevention, in susceptible people is recommended.

Thalassemia is one of the diseases that make people worried about their present and future status and is associated with a wide range of serious psychological and clinical challenges. Like any other chronic disease, thalassemia effects a patient’s psychological state and has adverse effects on mental health of the patient and his/her family.
Given the psychological problems that patients with thalassemia encounter, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of positive psychotherapy on perceived competence and quality of life among children with thalassemia in Zabul.
This quasi-experimental study had a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The current study had a statistical population consisting of all children with thalassemia in Zabul, Iran, during year 2017. The sample included 30 children, selected using the convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to 2 groups of experimental and control. Positive psychotherapy was performed for the experimental group during 8 sessions (2 sessions per week) within a month. After completing the psychotherapy sessions, a posttest was carried out and a follow-up was conducted one month later. To collect data, Harter Perceived Competence Scale for Children and KIDSCREEN-Quality of Life Measure for Children and Adolescents were used. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics via the SPSS version 16 software.
Results of the analysis of covariance showed that due to the intervention, as the independent variable (positive psychotherapy), there were significant differences in the scores of perceived competence and quality of life (P Regarding the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy in improving perceived competence and quality of life, specialists working at centers for special diseases are recommended to use positive psychotherapy programs to enhance perceived competence and quality of life among these patients.

Truth disclosure to patients is the cornerstone of medical ethics. However, perspectives are variable regarding telling the truth and disclosure of bad news to patients in different communities and cultures. Also, physicians, nurses, and patients have different perspectives in this respect. All these factors are responsible for the ongoing debate regarding the disclosure of truth to patients with poor prognosis.
This study aimed at assessing the perspectives of patients, physicians, and nurses regarding disclosure of disease status to patients with poor prognosis.
This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, during year 2016. A total of 215 participants, including 105 nurses, 30 physicians, and 80 patients were selected using stratified random sampling. A researcher-designed questionnaire comprised of 3 parts was used to collect the data. It contained 7 questions regarding demographic information, 17 questions regarding the perspective of the participant about telling the truth, and 10 questions on factors affecting the decision of physicians and nurses regarding disclosure of disease information to patients with poor prognosis. The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20 software, with descriptive indexes and Pearson correlation, chi-square, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests; P of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
Generally, 100% of physicians, 94.3% of nurses, and 94.3% of patients agreed with the statement “patients have the right to know the truth about their disease”. All three groups believed that social and cultural factors are the most important parameters affecting the decision of physicians and nurses, which was statistically significant between the groups (P = 0.01).
Most participants believed that it is necessary to tell the truth to the patients. Thus, in treatment of patients with poor prognosis, the truth must be told to patients in an appropriate way while the medical team needs to acquire skills in this regard.

Cancer is the major leading cause of death in children. Diagnosis of cancer can create numerous psychological traumas for children and decrease their quality of life. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotion regulation training with a positive thinking approach in quality of life and its dimensions among children with cancer.
This quasi-experimental study is followed by a pretest, posttest, and follow-up design with a control group. Statistical population of the current study constituted of 40 children with cancer who were hospitalized in Imam Ali hospital in Zahedan from January to April 2017. Among these people, 30 individuals (15 individuals assigned to a control group and 15 individuals assigned to an experimental group) were selected using a convenience sampling method. The experimental group took part in 8 60-minute sessions of emotion regulation training with a positive thinking approach. After completing the sessions, a posttest and a 1-month follow-up were carried out. To collect data, pediatric quality of life questionnaire (PedsQL) was used.
Results of an analysis of covariance demonstrated that emotion regulation training, with a positive thinking approach was effective in promoting all dimensions of quality of life among children with cancer (P Given the effectiveness of emotion regulation training with a positive thinking approach in improving the dimensions of quality of life, authorities are recommended to apply this training to improve the quality of life of children with cancer.

Psychological causes, in addition to some physiological factors, can play roles in the development of non-communicable diseases. Stroke, heart attack, and dialysis patients experience physical and cognitive disorders. This study was carried out to compare personality types, everyday memory, and rumination among stroke, heart attack, and dialysis patients.
In this descriptive study, which followed by a causal-comparative design, 90 stroke (30), heart attack (30), and dialysis (30) patients were selected in Zahedan, in 2017, using a convenience sampling method. Data were collected using NEO Personality Types Inventory (NEO - 60), Sunderland Everyday Memory Scale, as well as the Ghorbani Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire and were analyzed step by step via SPSS23.
Results indicated that there were significant differences among the stroke, heart attack, and dialysis patients with regard to openness. However, no significant differences were found considering other personality types (P As long as a person’s cognitive system is involved with stressful events related to a trauma, his/her memory structure has a low performance, which decreases adherence and response to rehabilitation and affects the person’s quality of life as well as improvement of his/her performance.

The high dependence of hemodialysis patients on home caregivers is a great source of care burden for them; therefore, accountability with appropriate communication as well as appropriate behavior and attention to needs of caregiver by health care team is a serious impact on care burden.
A content analysis approach was used for data collection and analysis. The participants included16 family caregivers selected through purposive sampling from 4 medical education centers affiliated with Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Semi-structured interviews were held to collect data.
Data analysis led to the emergence of 3 themes including “responsive treatment team” “negative influences of the treatment team,” and “collaborative care,” which were all incorporated into the main theme of “an effective treatment team”.
The treatment team can play an effective role in improving the caregivers’ well-being by appropriate treatment, accountability, and responsiveness to the needs of patients and their caregivers; meanwhile, it provides a better position for better care, however, it will reduce the care burden.

Parents are the primary caregivers and their positive knowledge, attitude, and practices play an important role in children’s future vision.
This study aimed to determine knowledge, attitude, and practices of parents of asthmatic children about physical activities in patients referred to teaching hospitals in Ahvaz during 2016.
In this cross-sectional study, 118 parents of children with asthma, admitted to the pediatric wards of teaching hospitals in Ahvaz, were selected by non-randomized consecutive method according to the inclusion criteria (P = 0.5, and d = 0.09). A researcher-made questionnaire (demographic information, knowledge, attitude, and practices of parents) was given to 20 parents after calculating cvr, cvi, and reliability confirmation through test-retest method by 10 professors. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and ANOVA. Management and data analysis was performed using the SPSS statistical software.
The results showed that the knowledge of 61.01% of parents was ideal and 38.13% intermediate, attitude of 51.69% was ideal and 48.30% neutral, and practices of 53.38% was ideal and 46.61% was intermediate towards physical activity in children with asthma. There was a significant association between the level of knowledge and attitude of parents with educational level (P = 0.0001), severity of asthma (P = 0.049), and duration of asthma (P = 0.049).
Overall, knowledge, attitude, and practices of parents on physical activities, such as swimming and gymnastics, was poor and it is suggested that parents be advised towards more allowed sports activities in children with asthma.