International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery
Volume:1 Issue: 1, Jan 2013

Dear Colleagues and ResearchersThe knowledge of healthcare issues within the community is essential for the development ofan effective strategy and approach to solve any health problem. The International Journal ofCommunity-Based Nursing and Midwifery is designed to inform its readers on various aspectsof preventive healthcare and offer innovative ideas for nurses and midwives. To counteract adisease-based medical framework with a greater focus on treatment and illness management,nurses and midwives are able to provide safe and effective community-based services to women,families and the members of the community. The list of preventive services at the communitylevel includes patient information as one of the best sources to combat preventable conditions.This journal introduces expert views on multitudes of health issues to inform well-intentionedpeople who are disseminating myths instead of facts and answer particular concerns forindividuals. Advanced practice nurses and midwives face misinformed and skeptical patientswithin the community. A community-based journal could be a useful resource to share scientificand original studies and challenging cases by a panel of experts to stimulate and elucidatediscussion among healthcare scholars. This journal is a reliable source for those serving toaddress the healthcare issues of individuals, families and community members.We invite all researchers& faculty members to submit their paper related to Journal’s aimand scope for possible publication in the “IJCBNM”

Stroke is an unexpected major life incident that effect on physical functioning and can lead to changes in lifestyle and inability to manage self care, work or leisure. To explore the everyday life situation as experienced by stroke survivors, and their family caregivers, this study was conducted 3-6 month after stroke. Twelve stroke survivors and thirteen family caregivers were interviewed and a qualitative content analysis was conducted to analyze data. The results were categorized into two central themes that were identified as; (1) Being challenged by changes in everyday life situation including; the struggle with physical dysfunctions, inappropriate daily plan for leisure activities, changes in mood, being faced with economical problems and being worried about changing roles (2) striving to cope with new conditions including; trying to preserve self-worth, seeking to support from spirituality, learning and re-learning and regaining independency. Physical dysfunction was the major concern for both the survivors and their family caregivers in their everyday life situation. This problem led to, and forced them, to be dependent on others. Training is needed to teach stroke survivors and their families strategies of how to cope with and overcome ongoing challenges of everyday life after stroke and to re-organize their lives and improve skills of the survivors to deal with the new situation at home. A daily plan for spending their time and leisure activities would ease this work. More investigation will be needed to clarify the process of life after stroke to cover this gap

In recent years, healthcare organizations have supported the professionalization of nursing in order to improve the quality of care delivered to patients. The purpose of this study was to explore facilitators and barriers to professionalization of nursing in Iran.A qualitative study was conducted using the conventional content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were held with 18 nurses working in various nursing positions and in different healthcare settings. Themes related to the professionalization of nursing was developed. During the data analysis, five themes were developed: “communication”, “motivation and attitude”, “organizational culture and structure”, “academic education”, and “supportive resources”. Each theme as a factor impacted the professionalization of nursing in a positive or negative manner.Recognizing factors influencing professionalization of nursing contributes to improvement of quality of nursing care delivered to patients. Healthcare system authorities can facilitate the development of the nursing profession and facilitate the professionalization of nursing through increasing the number of postgraduate nurses and also improving the nurses’ work conditions.

Marital conflicts are among the most common problems in today’s society. Conflicts are unavoidable since people have different viewpoints, personalities, and goals. Marital conflicts can ultimately lead to divorce. This study aimed to assess the effects of conflict resolution training on marital satisfaction in a sample of Iranian couples. This interventional and clinical trial was performed in 2011 in the counseling centers of Shiraz, southern Iran. 56 couples, having the necessary inclusion criteria, were randomly selected using the convenient sampling method. These couples had moderate to severe scores of conflicts (>60) according to the marital conflict questionnaire. The participants were divided into experimental and control groups, using random block allocation. Then the experimental group was randomly subdivided into three groups. The experimental group received 10 sessions of conflict resolution skills training, twice a week, lasting for 1.5 hours. The level of conflict and marital satisfaction was checked before, immediately, and one month after the intervention in the experimental groups, and before and one month after the intervention in the control group. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 16.Both groups were demographically homogenous with no statistically significant difference. The difference in the mean scores of marital conflict and marital satisfaction before, immediately and one month after the intervention was statistically significant in the experimental groups (P<0.0001) but not in the control group. Conflict resolution training is effective in reducing marital conflicts. Therefore it can be recommended for couples who have marital conflicts.

Obesity is one of the most common nutritional problems in adolescent. Knowing eating behavior of adolescents improve our understanding about this pandemic and helps design an appropriate preventive and care plan. In a cross-sectional study, 372 students selected randomly from 8 guidance schools of Shiraz, Iran, during August-December 2009. Body weight was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg, height was measured in bare feet to the nearest 0.5 cm. Adolescents with a Body Mass Index (BMI)over the 85th but less than 95th percentile are considered overweight and those with a BMI greater than the 95th percentile are considered obese. Eating behaviors was assessed using Dutch eating behavior questionnaire (DEBQ). The analysis was performed using the SPSS statistical software version 13. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.The mean age of adolescent was 13.43±0.973 years. Of population studied, 23.9%, 22.35% and 53.8% were found to be obese, overweight and normal weight There was significant differences between restrained and external eating score in obese and overweight groups (P=0.0001). Restrained eating score in obese and overweight adolescent was higher than those of normal weight group. There was no significant difference between emotional eating behavior in adolescent (P>0.05). There was a positive significant correlation between dietary restriction and BMI (r=0.36) in adolescent (P=0.000).Understanding the individual differences in eating behaviors is the first step in modifying programs for obesity. Emotional eating behavior is also recommended to be considered in designing preventive programs.

Public health nursing system, which is an accepted universal model for improvement of the community health, has not yet attained its rightful status in Iran. The present study was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of the pioneers of health care about the public health nursing and the roles that a public health nurse can play in Iran’s health system. This is a qualitative study comprising nine participants purposively selected from nurses, nurse educators and physicians in Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Individual semi-structured interviews were used and qualitative content analysis method was used for data analysis. Three emerged main categories included perceptions about public health nursing, the roles of public health nurses, and barriers to establishing public health nursing. Additionally, five main roles were defined for a public health nurse. These involved the gatekeepers of the health system, direct continual care, health monitoring and disease prevention, health educator and health promoter. The disease oriented health system and the policy makers’ viewpoints were also proved to be the main barriers to establishing public health nursing. The study showed the positive attitudes of the front line health team about public health nursing. The five emerging roles, if established, may facilitate achieving the global objective of health for all. Efforts are needed to encourage policy-makers decide on this issue.

Nowadays, it has been found that the mental state of caregivers may have a noticeable effect on both patient and caregiver’s health. This study was conducted to determine the burnout and general health status of the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation nurses in Tehran, Iran. In a cross-sectional study, burnout and general health status of 65 hematopoietic stem cell transplantation nurses in Tehran were examined. Each subject filled out two questionnaires in 2010: The General Health Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory as well as demographic information. The data were gathered after obtaining the participants’ agreement to take part in the study. The majority (67.7%) of the nurses had scores lower than the cut off score of the General Health Questionnaire-28. The majority of the nurses were in the low level in terms of emotional exhaustion (50.8%), depersonalization (66.2%), and personal accomplishment (58.5%). The general health status score of the nurses was positively related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores. However, there was an inverse relationship between health status and personal accomplishment scores.The result of the current study did not have a significant agreement with the general view indicating that working in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation units leads to an increase in burnout levels. Hence, the majority of nurses were in low levels in terms of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and in good condition in terms of general health status; there is a need for conducting further studies in order to find out the reason behind these differences.

Comprehensive studies on community health nursing education have not been performed In Iran and nursing graduates have limited ability to provide health care outside the hospital. However, education policy makers require a thorough understanding of nursing education for training of professional nurses. The aim of the present study is to review the existing challenges of community health nursing education in undergraduate curriculum, and explore its dimension. In this review study, some medical resources including nursing index, nursing consult, Proquest, Scopus, Elsevier, Pub Med, SID, Iranmedex, Magiran and Medlib were used in order to cover all associated studies. Searching articles from 1991 to 2012 was performed by using key words: Undergraduate nursing education, community health, and review studies separately and in combination. Inadequate productivity weakness of holistic and community-oriented attitude of nursing students, non-applicability and poor training methods are the biggest problems in community health nursing education. Education of community health nursing is of poor quality and absence of educational models and appropriate practical programs challenge its progress against major barriers. The findings of this study have provided compelling evidences for authorities involved in nursing education. We believe that the desirable change would be possible by considering the experiences of students; teachers and employees involved in community health nursing, a process providing better understandings and directives for nursing education policy makers

A prior history of healthy lifestyle may be misleading when we consider associated risk factors for developing a serious and debilitating condition such as multiple sclerosis under extreme stress. The author reports a case of a woman who lived a healthy life and yet experienced an unexpected event leading to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. The patient’s condition was predominantly provoked by a major motor vehicle accident resulting in temporary paralysis. Significant family disbelief ensued for the way medical professionals addressed the patient’s concerns and questions. The author then reviews the literature on the onset of MS and highlights the importance of competent care, promoting hope for healing and dietary approach to manage multiple sclerosis.