Journal of Research and Health
Volume:12 Issue: 5, Sep-Oct 2022

Self-medication is the most important health issue in developing countries like India. Even though there is abundant healthcare access, self-medication is still chosen by the patients. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of self-medication and the factors associated with self-medication practices among the urban fisherman population in Puducherry.

This cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2021 to December 2021 (6 months) among 18-60 years fisherman population residing in the urban practice areas. The sample was selected by simple random sampling technique using a semi-structured questionnaire after obtaining informed consent from the participants. Data analysis was carried out by chi-square test and proportions.

The majority of participants about 77.8% belonged to the 30-60 years age group; and, 57% were male and 43% were female. The prevalence of self-medication was 67%. Socioeconomic status had a statistically significant relationship with self-medication among other sociodemographic factors including age, gender, education, and occupation. It was found that 82.05% of participants practiced self-medication for their previous similar complaints. The source of information regarding self-medication obtained from the pharmacists is 55.8%. Among the various types of self-medication, allopathy drugs were among the most important reasons because of their easy access. Most self-medication was taken for the symptoms such as cough, cold, flu, headache, and myalgia, and the side effects were found to be 12.1% for self-medication.

The majority of the participants used self-medication for cough, cold, flu, headache, myalgia, etc. in case of emergency to hospitals. Awareness about health hazards, drug resistance in prolonged self-medication practice, and regulation of pharmacies limit self-medication.

Learning disorders (LDs) are diagnosed in children impaired in the academic skills of reading, writing, and/or mathematics. Children with LDs usually exhibit a slower resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG), corresponding to a neurodevelopmental lag. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of neurofeedback treatment on working memory and processing speed among girl students with learning disabilities. 

The design used in the current study was a quasi-experimental design, including pretest, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. Using the convenience sampling method, 40 girl students with LDs were selected from among all students referred to the psychological clinics in Tehran City, Iran, in the 2020-2021 academic year. Therefore, samples were assigned to two control and experimental groups (n=17). Samples were assessed for structured clinical interviews for DSM-IV (SCID), n-back task, and Stroop and reverse-Stroop tests. The experimental group received 20 sessions of neurofeedback and standard psychological intervention treatment, while the control group received only standard interventions. Mixed repeated analysis of variance, independent t tests, and chi-square were used for data analysis.

The findings showed that neurofeedback treatment improved all the components of working memory (correct answer and correct response time) and processing speed in girl students with LDs during a two-month follow-up (P<0.0001).

It is recommended that the principles and concepts of neurofeedback treatment, confirmed in the current study, be considered an educational mission and executive task for school counselors for girls with learning disabilities.

Working in a hospital involves a lot of long-term stress, which affects people who work in helping professions and are immersed in others’ problems. The present study aimed to determine the relationships between psychological capital, mental health, and health anxiety with psychological vulnerability through the mediating role of emotional processing and perceived social support in nurses working in COVID-19 wards in Shiraz City, Iran, in 2021.

This research is a correlational study using structural equation modeling (SEM). The sample size included 200 nurses from the COVID-19 unit of hospitals in Shiraz. The samples were selected through multistage random sampling. Accordingly, five hospitals in Shiraz were selected randomly, and then, 200 nurses were selected from their COVID-19 unit. The research instruments included the psychological vulnerability scale, the general health questionnaire-28, the psychological capital questionnaire, the health anxiety questionnaire, the emotional processing scale, and the multidimensional scale of perceived social support. The data were analyzed in AMOS-25 using SEM and Pearson correlation coefficient.

The SEM showed that the proposed model fitted the data well. The direct paths from perceived social support, psychological capital, emotional processing, and mental health to psychological vulnerability were negative and significant (P<0.01). The relationships of health anxiety with psychological vulnerability and perceived social support, emotional processing with mental health, and psychological capital with perceived social support were all positive and significant (P<0.01). There was no significant direct relationship between health anxiety and perceived social support and between psychological capital and emotional processing.

Psychological capital and emotional processing played effective roles in reducing nurses’ psychological vulnerability and could thus be used to mitigate psychological damages caused by working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The celebration of university students’ marriage ceremonies in Iran nearly dates back three decades, but its positive and negative aspects require further reconsideration. This study is intended to explore those aspects in the words of university students who married during their studies at the university.

In this qualitative study, a qualitative content analysis method was used to evaluate the experiences and perceptions of students. Sixteen university students (8 couples) were selected through purposive sampling and interviewed at Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2016. The participants, who were newly-wed couples with an age range of 18 to 28 years, attended a semi-structured in-depth interview.

The analyzed data emerged as four major categories (and eleven subcategories), including (a) inspirational and prompting factors (membership in the student unions, enhanced opportunity to know peers, attitude change towards marriage on the campus, and peers sharing experiences of marriage on the campus), (b) existence of supportive resources (existence of social support, and existence of economic support for marriage on the campus), (c) barriers and failing marriages (barriers against marriage on the campus and causes of failure), and (d) achievements in marital life (social maturation, enhancing life goals, and maturational development in the married life).

University students’ marriage on campus offers couples a successful married life in the future. Social maturation and development in married life are the fruit of such marriages; however, economic problems and low social and family support are still among the concerns for university students wishing to marry at the university.

Psychological well-being is one of the issues of positive psychology that requires life and includes good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning and purpose, and the ability to manage stress. Given that we live in the 21st Century and since the disease affected people’s health, optimism and gratitude can play an important role in promoting psychological well-being, and investing in this issue can lead to good results.

The present research design is correlational. All male and female students in the fields of psychology, educational sciences, and counseling at Payame Noor University in Khuzestan province include the statistical population. Due to the prevalence of coronavirus and lack of face-to-face access to students and by designing a WhatsApp link, 393 people (301 girls and 92 boys) were selected voluntarily. To collect data, the questionnaires on optimism (2019); gratitude (2022), and psychological well-being (2022) were used. Questionnaires were distributed and collected through the WhatsApp link. Pearson correlation and regression were used for data analysis in SPSS software, version 27.

The results showed that the mean of optimism and gratitude of girls is higher than boys, while the psychological well-being of boys is higher than girls. The results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between optimism and psychological well-being (r=0.61, P=0.002) and between gratitude and psychological well-being (r=0.55, P<0.012). Step-by-step regression showed that 42% of psychological well-being can be explained and predicted by optimism and gratitude.

Given that optimism and gratitude are effective in the amount of psychological well-being, it is possible to provide psychological interventions based on optimism and gratitude.

Fear of falling (FoF) is a permanent concern and may limit daily activities and diminish confidence in balance abilities leading to muscular deterioration, a sedentary lifestyle, and reduced quality of life. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between multiple sclerosis severity and FoF with mediating roles of disability, cognitive factors, and physical factors among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

This research was a correlational study based on path analysis. The statistical population consisted of all patients with MS who visited the neurology centers of hospitals in Sari, Iran. A total of 200 MS patients were selected as the sample using multistage random sampling. Two hospitals were selected from the hospitals of Sari city and the research sample was selected from the neurology centers of these hospitals. The research instruments included the falls efficacy scale-international, the MS severity scale, the expanded disability status scale, the cognitive factors questionnaire, and the MOS 36-item short-form health survey. The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling in AMOS and SPSS software, version 25. 

The results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that the proposed model fitted the data. FoF had positive significant relationships with MS severity and disability. MS severity and FoF had negative significant relationships with physical factors (P<0.01). The direct relationship between MS severity and cognitive factors was insignificant and excluded from the model. The study findings confirmed the relationship between MS severity and FoF mediated by disability and physical factors in patients with MS (P<0.01).

The frequency of FoF was much higher among patients with higher MS severity. Considering the consequences of the FoF among patients with MS, it is recommended that consultation services be provided to patients with MS at healthcare centers to improve their health and activity and reduce their FoF.

Physicians’ and nurses’ experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its physical and psychological consequences can be associated with changes in biological and hormonal levels experienced as fatigue, restlessness, disruptions in one’s mood, and sleep quality. This study examined the role of depression and death anxiety in contracting COVID-19 among healthcare staff.

The statistical population of this descriptive correlational research comprised nurses and nurse assistants working in Tehran (Iran) hospitals from the summer to winter of 2021. A sample of 156 was selected to fill out a demographic information form, Templer’s death anxiety scale, and Beck’s depression inventory. The data were analyzed in SPSS software, version 25.0 using logistic regression analysis.

The model based on three predictors of depression (cognitive, affective, and physical components) led to a significantly better prediction compared to the fixed-effects model (P<0.001). The affective component of depression was a more powerful predictor of the risk of COVID-19 than the other two components. The model based on three predictors of death anxiety (absolute death anxiety, fear of pain and surgery, and the general factor) also led to a significantly better prediction compared to the fixed-effects model (P<0.001). All three components of death anxiety were statistically significant predictors of COVID-19 risk

Consequently, depression and death anxiety seem to predict and explain the risk of COVID-19 in healthcare staff by altering cognitive, affective, and physical conditions.

Substance abuse of a family member can be effective as an observational model regarding the tendency to substance abuse in other family members. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention in distress tolerance and sensation-seeking in adolescents with an addicted parent in Ahvaz.

This was a pre-test-post-test clinical trial study with a control group. The statistical population of the research comprised all adolescents with an addicted parent in Ahvaz City, Iran, in the school year 2019-2020. In this research, 30 adolescents with an addicted parent were selected through convenience sampling and equally divided into experimental and control groups (n=15). The distress tolerance scale and the sensation-seeking questionnaire were used to collect data. The experimental group underwent MBSR intervention for eight 60-minute sessions. The control group received no intervention. The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance through SPSS software, version 23.

The results suggested that MBSR was effective in increasing distress tolerance and reducing sensation seeking of adolescents with an addicted parent in Ahvaz (P<0.001).

Accordingly, this treatment can be used to reduce distress and sensation seeking in adolescents with an addicted parent and decrease their stress.