فصلنامه حیات
سال سیزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 34، پاییز 1386)

Performance appraisal is one of the most important duties for nursing managers. This will improve the quality of nursing care, and it needs suitable approaches and effective strategies in nursing services. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of performance appraisal using management by objective approach on nursing care quality.Methods & Materials: This was a quasi-experimental and single-blind study that was carried out in two surgical units of an affiliated hospital of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. 80 patients were selected using a randomized sampling. The quality of nursing care were controlled in both experiment and control units before and after the performance appraisal procedure. The procedure was programmed on the basis of management by objective approach for six months in the experiment unit. In the intervention unit, nursing performance appraisal was done three times and in every time head nurse and supervisors participated in giving feedbacks and recommendations for the nurses. At the end of the intervention, quality of nursing care was assessed in both groups blindly. The results were compared and statistically analyzed. Significant difference was found between quality of nursing care in the experiment and control units (P<0.001). Quality of nursing care was significantly different before and after intervention in the experiment unit (P=0.009). Performance appraisal using management by objective approach could increase the quality of nursing care. As a result, using nursing performance appraisal plans according to the basis of MBO could be an effective evaluation way to access the quality of nursing care.

Obesity is increasing dramatically world-wide not only in adults, but also in children and adolescents. Nutritional and physical activity behaviors are related to the prevalence of obesity. Determining adolescent's behavioral patterns is important in preventing and adjusting this healthy problem. This study was carried out to assess lifestyle behaviors among girl adolescents and to determine the association between these behaviors and perceived parental lifestyle behaviors.Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, 270 students were selected using multistage random sampling from girl's schools in the areas covered by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Descriptive and analytical tests were used to analyze the data. Results showed that the mean age was 13.3 (10.7-16) years. Most of the adolescent's had normal limits of BMI. Only 9.2% of adolescents had optimal dietary behavior and 4.3% were physically active. There was not significant relationship between their nutritional behavior and their perceptions about parent's lifestyle. BMI and parents economic status was related to nutritional behaviors significantly. Physical activity was statistically related to BMI and mother's education. This study showed that the adolescent's nutritional and physical activity behaviors were not healthy. Some factors are related to the adolescent's healthy behavior. Teaching healthy behaviors and defining healthy behavioral patterns for adolescent are necessary.

Health is one of the vital concepts in every society which is affected by several factors including age, gender and social situation of the people. Individual's perception of health concept is also of paramount importance. The main objective of this study is to determine health concept perceptions and health promoting behaviors among Tehran University medical and non-medical studentsMethods & Materials: This is a descriptive- analytical study. Four hundred medical students and four hundred non-medical students were recruited for the study using stratified sampling. A three-section self-evaluating questionnaire including demographic information, health perception information and health promoting behaviors information was used to gather data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and Pierson Correlation Coefficient. 49.7 percent and 6.8 percent of the medical students had good and excellent perceptions about health concept, respectively. In non-medical students, it was 49.4 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively. 57 percent of the medical students and 54.9 percent of non-medical students had good health promoting behaviors, respectively. There was significant relationship between perceptions of health concept and health promotion behaviors among both groups (P<0.001). Based on the results, there is a direct relationship between perception of health concept and health promoting behaviors among both groups. There is no difference in all aspects of health promoting behaviors, except for cigarette smoking in which the medical students showed more healthy behaviors.

Although natural contraceptive methods have been used for centuries, they have high failure rates; so family planning programs tend to promote modern methods. Knowing utilization rate of natural methods and its pattern could help the planners to design effective family planning programs. This study was designed to identify the utilization rate of natural family planning and its related factors in Ghaemshahr, Iran, 2005Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, 304 married and non-pregnant women aged 15-49 years that were not intended to become pregnant were recruited using systematic random sampling. All participants completed the informed consent form. Data were collected using a content valid and reliable (r=0.84) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, ANOVA and t-test. The utilization rate of natural and medical methods were 39.5% and 60.5%, respectively. Among all various methods, withdrawal was the most prevalent one (37.5%). The frequency of breastfeeding and safe period were 1% and 0.3%, respectively. The most cited reasons for using natural methods were fear of side effects of other methods (50.6%), its convenience (36.5%), preference of spouses (32.6%), and the wrong perception of being as effective as other methods (22.5%). There were significant associations between age (P=0.003), marriage duration (P=0.01), number of children (P=0.0001) and living in urban area (P=0.0001) with utilization rate of natural methods. Health providers were reported to be the main source of information. Although family planning programs tend to promote modern methods, the wide spread use of natural methods especially withdrawal method suggests that those couples that are interested in continuing the method should be educated for correct use of it. On the other hand, it is recommended that family planning packages should contain programs to increase knowledge, to correct the wrong believes, to consult with couples, to targeted men and other groups of the populations and finally to activate mass media.

Job satisfaction is the person's attitude toward his/her work. Increasing nurse's job satisfaction result in better quality of nursing care and reduces the number of nurses who leave their job. Conditions of different wards of hospitals can affect nurse's job satisfaction. The aim of this study is to compare nurse's job satisfaction in oncology and delivery wards.Methods & Materials: This is a cross-sectional comparative study. A total of 144 nurses (94 nurses in oncology and 50 nurses in delivery wards) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences hospitals participated in the study. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical test (chi-square). Comparison of the global job satisfaction among oncology and delivery nurses, indicated that there was no statistical significant relationship between them from working in a specific ward point of view (P=0.637). Also there was no significant relationship between intrinsic job satisfaction and working in a specific ward (P=0.966). There was statistical significant relationship between extrinsic job satisfaction and working in specific ward (P=0.039). Considering that extrinsic job satisfaction of oncology nurses were low, reconsideration about specific conditions of oncology wards and taking efficient measures in improving nurse's extrinsic job satisfaction (especially oncology nurses) is essential.

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common chronic diseases with unknown causes and it is the most important cause of disability especially in adulthood that can have a considerable impact on patient's quality of life.Methods & Materials: This is a cross-sectional study. One hundred and ninety patients with rheumatoid arthritis referred to rheumatology clinic and rheumatology wards of Tehran university of Medical science's hospitals were randomly selected. The data were collected using a two-section questionnaire including demographic and disease characteristics, and quality of life questions. All analyzes were carried out using SPSS statistical software. The result showed that quality of life of %50 of patients was high and moderate and the other 50% had low quality of life. Approximately 50% of the patients reported that they have no problem in their physical, socio-economic, mental, sleep and rest, and general health regarding rheumatoid arthritis. There were significant relationships between age, marital status, employment, duration of the disease, physiotherapy, and family income with the quality of life. The results showed that quality of life in half of the patients (%50) was low. Determining the patient's quality of life result in designing proper programs and strategies for prevention and control of the disease that result in promoting quality of life.

Menopause is an important event in women's lives. By increasing life expectancy, women spend about one-third of their lives in menopausal stage. Lack of knowledge about self-care and unhealthy life style in menopause women result in many of serious damages in this period. This study is to determine the effect of educating self care strategies on knowledge and practice of menopausal women. Methods & Materials: This is a semi-experimental study. A total of 81 women were selected using convenience sampling method. All women completed an 11-item questionnaire covering demographic information, medical history, lifestyle and current symptoms and their severity. The women completed pre- and post-intervention (at the baseline and 6 weeks later) questionnaire which assessed knowledge and beliefs about menopause and a number of health-related behaviors. The intervention included giving information and group discussion about menopause, stress management, health behaviors (smoking, exercise, diet) and treatment choices. The results indicated that at the baseline, 22.2% had poor knowledge, 64.2% had average and 13.6% had good knowledge. Following the educational intervention, none of the respondents had poor knowledge. 27.5% were at average and 72.5% were at good level of knowledge. According to the findings, education had strong effect on promoting the respondent's knowledge about self-care strategies. We believe the stronger efforts

Inter-partner relationships as part of a somatic-affective interaction have important role in supporting of familial relations. In this regard, knowledge of couples about their specific role against their spouses and the ways of having correct sexual relationship is essential. This correct knowledge might help spouses to understand their husband/wife and would promote family's cultural status and would be transmitted to next generations. This study carried out to determine the knowledge level and beliefs of couples attending marriage counseling centers toward correct sexual relationships. Methods & Materials: This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 300 individuals (150 couples), attending marriage counseling centers in the north and east of Tehran recruited for the study using random selection method. Data were collected using a questionnaire including knowledge and beliefs assessment questions. Mean knowledge score for men and women were 12.3±2.5 and 10.1±1.8, respectively (P=0.23). Knowledge level of participants with higher education (P=0.00); and those aged 25-29 years (P=0.65) were higher than others. 11.3% of women and 13.1% of men did not have appropriate attitudes toward correct sexual relationships (P=0.35). Although knowledge level of respondents was just above the half of the complete score, the overall beliefs toward sexual relationships were positive.