Iranian Journal of Health Sciences
Volume:6 Issue: 4, Autumn 2018

Background and purpose: Considering the high prevalence and the reduction of the age of breast cancer in Iran, the present study was conducted to survey women's knowledge, attitude and practice about breast cancer and its screening tests in Babol city. In a cross-sectional study, 304 women aged 20-65 years (in Hashemi Healthcare Centre affiliated to Babol University of Medical Sciences) who were selected through random sampling were studied over a period of six months in 2017. Data collection was carried out using a standard questionnaire including demographic variables, 12 questions about knowledge, 15 questions about attitude, and 2 questions about practice. The collected data were then analyzed using SPSS (V: 22) by ANOVA, chi-square, and correlation coefficient. The mean age of the participants was 43.3 ± 10.4 years. 22.3% of the participants had a good knowledge, and 61.8% had a positive attitude. Only 17.1% undertook screening examinations. There was also a significant relationship between age and education level with knowledge, attitude, and practice of women (P <0.001). However, there was found no significant relationship between the presence of cancer in relatives with knowledge (P=0.131), attitude (P=0.996), and practice of the women (P= 0.131). Increasing awareness about breast cancer is emphasized, especially in older women or the ones with lower education.

Background and purpose: Scorpionism is a public health problem in Darmian City. This study was conducted to determine the biodiversity and faunistic of scorpions in order to discover the health preventive features of scorpion sting among the residents of these regions. A nightly and daily actively searching on distribution and biodiversity of scorpions was carried during April 2015 to March 2016 in Darmian, Iran. A total of 685 scorpions including five species belonging to buthidae family were identified. The highest abundance was observed in warmer months, and Mesobuthus eupeus (54.5%) was the most abundant species. The researchers found a positive correlation between abundance and temperature and a negative correlation between abundance and humidity. The scorpions were observed with more nocturnal activity and were well-adapted with more abundance to the plain, rural, and outdoors environments. Regarding constancy index, all species except A. crassicauda were classified as constant species (C=100). There was no significant difference in the richness of scorpions in different time collections (day or night), geographical areas (plain or mountainous), regions collected (urban or rural), and places (indoors or outdoors). The Shannon and dominant indices were found to be not significantly different between mentioned sites except in time collection. Species composition of scorpions revealed that scorpions were constantly active throughout the year which can play an important role in sting events. So, familiarity of healthcare experts and indigenous people with existing species and their seasonal activities can largely reduce the risk of scorpion stings.

Background and purpose: Communication skill is a key ability and an integral part of the nursing profession. This study aimed to investigate the effect of communication skills training of nurses on patients’ satisfaction with nursing staff in teaching hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. This Cross-sectional study was carried out in 2017. The research population consisted of the patients visiting 13 SUMS-affiliated hospitals, 581 nurses who participated in communication skills training courses, and 2,207 nurses who did not receive this training. From this population, a total of 400 patients were selected through convenience sampling and 50 trained nurses and 50 untrained nurses were chosen randomly. The data collection instruments were the Nurse Quality of Communication with Patient Questionnaire (NQCPQ) and La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale (LOPSS). Data were analyzed in SPSS using T-test, ANOVA, Tukey test, and Pearson correlation coefficient at α = 5%. A significant correlation was found between nursing-patient commination score and patient satisfaction (LOPSS) score (P=0.021, r = 0.647). Patients under the care of trained nurses were also found to be more satisfied with nursing services than those served by untrained nurses (P=0.011, t=2.56). The results showed that patient satisfaction had a significant relationship with age and marital status (p =0.027). The results of the present study showed that the implementation of communication skills training courses for nurses can lead to improved patient satisfaction. Hospital directors were then recommended to hold regular communication skills training courses for their nursing staff.

Background and purpose: Reliable information about utilization of medical services is key for making appropriate decisions of all healthcare systems. Nonetheless, most policy decisions and planning in the rural areas of developing countries are made with the lack of such crucial information. In this article we attempt to reveal the pattern of curative care utilization of rural population in Amol, a county in Northern Province of Mazandaran. In this study 355 patients living in rural area who in the last three month utilized curative care from different providers were interviewed in their doorsteps. All interviewees were heads of family or people age above 15. SPSS software was used for analyzing the data. About a quarter of patients (24.5%) have referred to their local family physicians. It is noticeable that the proportion of people who referred to GP out of family physicians scheme exceeds the proportion of patients referred to GPs who are working as family physicians in the FMRI scheme. Among the studied variables, only basic insurance, severity of disease, and type of care utilized had significant association with referred or not referred of individuals to their own family physicians. Family medicine and rural insurance in Iran has increased the overall service utilization of population in rural areas but not in the scale that the government has spent its limited healthcare resources. This raises the concern of inappropriate resource allocation for inappropriate people and inappropriate services.

Background and purpose: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders usually entangle back spines, neck and upper limbs. Working as a barber paves the ground for probable high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. This study was designed to evaluate the working postures of sari male barbers by Rapid Entire Body Assessment method and determining the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders using NORDIC questionnaire. In the present research, 108 Sari barbers working conditions were evaluated using Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) tool, and the data on the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was collected using Nordic questionnaire. Microsoft Excel and SPSS were then applied to analyze the data. Quantitative variables were analyzed using the descriptive statistical methods including mean and standard deviation. Chi-square test and ordinal regression have also been applied to analyze the relationship between different variables and musculoskeletal disorders' prevalence. The mean age the participants was 33.11±8.2 and the mean of work experience was 12±3.7 years. According to the results of the Nordic questionnaire, during 12 past months, 78% of the studied subjects have discovered pain and discomfort at least in one of their 9 body regions. Complaints of musculoskeletal pains in the wrist were also most prevalent (72.1%), followed by the neck (49%) and elbow pains (46.2%). Through REBA Method, the highest frequency of corrective measures was at level 2 (73.9%). The results of the present study indicated that the evaluated subjects working postures required correction. Also, it was found essential to train barbers in what way to identify the biomechanical and ergonomic risk factors and correct working postures.

Background and Purpose: Climate change has major impact on water cycle, resulting in effects on water resources, the frequency and severity of droughts, floods due to severe rainfall, natural environments, society, and economics and human health. In this paper, surveys on different models of climate change as well as the effects of climate change on the burden of waterborne diseases and also, the strengths and weaknesses of the study methodology have been reviewed. The key words “climate change”, “water borne disease”, “temperature change”, burden of disease” were used in combination with the Boolean operators “OR” and “AND”. The researchers did electronic search on PubMed, Science Direct, Springer Link, and Google Scholar. The search was conducted with publication year limitation between January 2005 to June 2017. From 152 original articles, 54 papers were about modeling of climate change, 74 papers indicated the effect of climate change on infection disease, and 24 papers surveyed the water quality impact. The reviewed literature showed that, most studies had been conducted in rich countries, and the estimates of the burden of disease due to climate change were uncertain for the following reasons: 1- Uncertainty about the climate changes due to changes in greenhouse gas emissions 2- Uncertainty about the direct and indirect relationship between the climate and human health 3-Uncertainty about the relationship between climate and health as a result of socioeconomic changes in the future. Uncertainty in these estimates has led to little studies in this regard.