مجله آموزش و سلامت جامعه
سال دهم شماره 1 (Mar 2023)

Nowadays, college students are more accessible and susceptible to being exposed to mixed information than ever, which results in a growing concern about their health problems and medication behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between medication literacy, health literacy, and medication behavior among medical school students.

A cluster random sampling method was used to select 1324 undergraduate students from a medical school in China as participants for the questionnaire survey in 2020. After quality control, 1183 valid questionnaires were collected (an effective rate of 89.4%). Descriptive statistics analysis, chi-square test, binary logistic regression analysis, and path analysis were conducted using SPSS 25.0.

Of the 1183 respondents whose mean age was 19.06, 164 (13.9%) were considered to have good medication literacy, 150 (12.7%) had good health literacy, and 497(42.0%) exhibited good medication behaviors. Lower grades, higher health literacy levels, and higher medication literacy levels were effective in better performance on medication use behavior (P < 0.001). Poor self-assessment of health status was correlated with worse medication behavior (P < 0.05). it was concluded that medication literacy may be an intermediate variable linking health literacy and medication use behavior.

Students in the medical college showed much higher rates of rational medication use when they have medication and health literacy. There was an indirect positive relationship between health literacy and medication behavior through medication literacy (P < 0.001). Therefore, health literacy and medication literacy can be an essential part of medication safety education for college students as well as an ideal indicator for educational outcome evaluation.

Promoting awareness and correcting health beliefs about preventive behaviors in adolescents and young people are the most effective ways to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS. This study was conducted to assess the influence of the educational intervention on the promotion of perceived selfefficacy to inhibit HIV/AIDS among high school students.

This quasi-experimental investigation included 230 high school students in Asadabad and was conducted in 2021. Following the selection of students by the multi-stage cluster sampling method, they were allotted into two equal (intervention and control) groups of 115 individuals. The educational program for the intervention group included five one-hour sessions of the students’ social network (Shad), which was implemented by a participatory method based on questions and answers and group discussion, as well as practical performance. A reliable and valid questionnaire comprising three parts (personal attributes, awareness, and health belief model [HBM] constructs) was employed for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using different tests, including Fisher’s exact test, the chi-square test, ANCOVA, and independent and paired sample t tests in SPSS software, version 16.

Educational intervention based on HBM not only affected the promotion of awareness (P < 0.05), self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility, severity, and benefits but also reduced students’ perceived barriers to preventive behaviors (P < 0.05).

Our findings revealed that the educational intervention based on HBM affected health belief constructs concerning HIV/AIDS. Thus, the results of this study can be beneficial for school health education and health educators who design disease education programs.

Spiritual well-being and social support are important factors in reducing loneliness and depression, improving the quality of life, and successful aging in elderly people. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between spiritual well-being, social support, and happiness among elderly people.

This cross-sectional research was performed on 434 elderly people recruited from the health centers of Saveh University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Eligible participants who matched the selection criteria were selected through a multi-stage random sampling method. Socio-demographic information, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, social support, and the Oxford Happiness Scale were used as tools for data collection. Finally, all data were analyzed by SPSS, and a multiple linear regression analysis was employed to determine factors associated with happiness.

The mean scores of happiness, spiritual well-being, and social support were 64.0 ± 13.2, 96.4 ± 18.6, and 42.8 ± 10.9, respectively. Overall, 211 (48.6%) elderly people had high levels of spiritual well-being. The findings indicated that 43% (R2 = 0.43) of the variance of change in happiness could be attributed to spiritual health, social support, and socio-demographic variables, including membership in non-governmental organizations, age, underlying disease status, marital status, and physical activity.

Spiritual well-being and social support play an important role in elderly happiness. The results of the current study might be considered a basis for planning health promotion programs among the elderly. It is recommended that authorities assist in meeting the social and spiritual needs of the elderly to increase their overall happiness.

Pregnancy is one of the most sensitive stages of a woman’s life, and changes in this time can have important effects on the quality of life (QoL) of women. Therefore, this study aimed to assess QoL and its related factors in pregnant women referring to health centers.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 417 pregnant women who referred to Neyshabur health centers in 2021 using stratified random sampling. Data collection was carried out using demographic characteristics and QoL. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) analytical statistics (ordinal regression) were employed, data analysis was performed by SPSS software version 22, and the significance level was considered 0.05.

The mean ± standard deviation of pregnant women was 28.36 ± 5.96 years old. Physical health was the lowest and mental health was the highest aspect of women’s QoL. Most participants (49.16%) had moderate QoL. It was also found that employment (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.03-5.30) and good sleep quality (AOR = 4.85, 95% CI: 2.99-7.01) were statistically significant variables in relation to QoL.

According to an undesirable and moderate QoL in pregnant women, it is recommended that interventions be made to increase QoL, especially in physical health in pregnant women.

Traffic accidents are one of the biggest public health challenges. Considering the role of safe behaviors in reducing traffic accidents, the present study was conducted to determine the effect of educational intervention based on protection motivation theory on promoting safe traffic behaviors in male students.

In this study, male students were randomly divided into two control group (n = 70) and an intervention group (n = 70). After confirming the validity and reliability, a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 63 questions based on the theory of protection motivation was distributed among the students. The students in the intervention group received training for 90 minutes for four weeks. The data were collected in the form of self-report immediately and six months after the intervention and analyzed by the statistical tests of correlation, Chi-square, multiple regression, repeated measures ANOVA, and t tests using SPSS version 19.

The structures of protection motivation theory predicted 21% of the variance of safe behaviors. Immediately after the educational intervention, except for the fear construct, the mean scores of other theoretical constructs and students’ safe behaviors were significant between the two groups, but the mean scores were not significant six months after the educational intervention except for perceived selfefficacy, perceived response efficacy, protection motivation of other studied theoretical constructs, and safe behaviors (P > 0.05).

Considering the influence of several components on the formation of safe traffic behavior, it seems that to promote safe behaviors of students, in addition to designing theory-based training programs, creating supportive infrastructures by policymakers and planners is essential for correct traffic behaviors.

Adherence to the treatment regimen reduces complications of surgery after heart valve replacement. Educating the patient can improve treatment adherence. This study thus aimed to evaluate the effect of education based on the health belief model (HBM) on treatment adherence in patients with heart valve replacement surgery.

In this quasi-experimental research, a total of 90 patients undergoing valve replacement surgery were studied. The subjects were selected randomly and then divided into an intervention and a control group using the permutation blocks method. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, an HBM- based questionnaire, and a treatment adherence questionnaire during two stages before and one month after the education. Three 60-minute sessions on HBM- based education were held based on a need assessment for the intervention group. The collected data were analyzed using the chi-square test, paired t test, independent t test, and linear regression in SPSS software version 16.0.

Most of the patients in the two groups were male, married, and employed, had reading and writing literacy and lived in an urban area. Both groups were similar in terms of demographic data except for marital status, disease history, and familial disease history. The mean scores of knowledge, HBM constructs (e.g., perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy, and cues to action), and treatment adherence were greater in the control group than in the intervention group pre-intervention. However, the mean scores of all variables improved in the intervention group, and there were significant differences in the knowledge, all HBM constructs (except for perceived susceptibility and perceived self-efficacy), and medical adherence between the two groups post-intervention (P < 0.05).

Considering the positive effect of HBM-based educational intervention on the patients’ treatment adherence, HBM-based education could be suggested for patients with heart valve replacement surgery.

Tooth decay is the most prevalent chronic childhood disease. Fluoride tooth restoration is a common method of controlling tooth decay, but common misconceptions in this area prevent family involvement. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of educational interventions on the participation of preschool children’s mothers in the fluoride varnish program.

This was an interventional study performed on 176 mothers of preschool children in Yazd in 2020. Participating mothers were randomly selected and divided into intervention and control groups. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with confirmed validity and reliability. It included demographic variables and 4 sections of awareness, facilitators, barriers, and behavior. Intervention and control groups completed the questionnaires before and two months after the intervention. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman correlation tests, as well as repeated measures analysis of variance and the generalized estimating equations model were used for data analyses.

The proportion of people who participated in the fluoride varnish program before the study was the same in both intervention and control groups (35.2 and 37.5), but after the intervention, the percentage of people whose children participated in this program was more in the intervention group (88.6 and 51.1, P < 0.0001).

The findings of this study confirmed the positive effect of the educational intervention on increasing the participation of mothers in the fluoride varnish program. To better cooperate and involve families with oral health programs in schools, thinkers in the field should be fully justified in the program to provide timely training and interventions.

The literature has identified gaps in adolescent health literacy (AHL) measurements, as well as how the health literacy (HL) level is related to health promotion (HP) aspects. This study aimed to examine the tools used to measure HL and determine its relation with HP among adolescents.

Three online databases (HINARI, PubMed, and DOAJ) were searched to conduct a systematic assessment of papers published between January 1, 2016, and January 1, 2021. In this review, 373 articles were identified from these databases. After removing duplicates and screening titles and abstracts of articles, 49 full texts were selected for full-text reading. After comprehensive reading, 23 papers were appraised for qualitative synthesis.

Of the 23 reviewed papers, 21 focused on assessing AHL measures, and 15 addressed the association between AHL and HP. Seven studies used the HL School-Aged Children instrument. The findings suggested that the methodological and conceptual underpinnings of HL measures are insufficient. Furthermore, HL acts as an independent and positive mediator for many facets of HP.

This review offers a warning to practitioners and educationists interested in measuring HL as the number of measurement tools is quite huge with different tools applying different scales.