Advances in Nursing & Midwifery
Volume:23 Issue: 82, 2013

In today’s era of academic competition test anxiety among students is increasing. Anxiety may result in difficulty in concentration and information processing and hampers students’ performance. The current study aimed to determine test anxiety among Ilam UMS’ students.Method and materials: A descriptive correlational design was used. The sample of the study consisted of one hundred and seventy undergraduate students which were included in the study by stratified random sampling. Data were collected by using Sarason’s Test Anxiety Scale (TAS). Data were collected three weeks prior to examination date and were analyzed using descriptive methods by SPSS software. Our findings showed that 34.1%, 51.8%, and 14.1% of students experienced mild, moderate, and severe test anxiety levels, respectively. Further, a significant relationship was found between test anxiety score with only residency status at 0.05 level. In other words, nursing, local, and married students showed more test anxiety. However, no relationship was seen between test anxiety with age and gender. since anxiety has negative effects on educational performance, implementing anxiety preventive programs including psychological consulting services, identifying & improving potential causes are suggested. Much more attention should be paid to high risk students, local, and especially married and nursing students.

Aging is associated with variety of challenges and tensions which could possibly affect Quality of life of older people. This study was conducted to describe factors and HRQoL of elderly people in Tehran city.Method and Materials: This descriptive correlational study was conducted on elderly people of Jahandidegan Centers of Tehran. The sample of the study consisted of 400 elder persons which were selected by stratified sampling method. Demographic questionnaire and Iranian versions of short from health survey (SF-36) scale were used for data collection. Content validity was used to assess the validity of the instrument and Cronbach’s alpha was computed for internal consistency.Data were analyzed with SPSS software. 75% of elderly people were female and 25% male with a mean age of 67.65(± 6.38) year. The mean scores for quality of life domains ranged from11.22 (±9.5) for role physical function to 63.83(± 25.02) for social function. The scores of quality of life domains were significantly correlated with age, gender, marital status, education level, number of family members living with the elder person and number of physician visits.The findings of this study showed that HRQoL of elder people is lower than expect and related to some factors. So, developing plans to improvement of health status and HRQoL of elderly people is necessary.

Prolonged pregnancy increases the maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. In order to avoid these complications and to manage prolonged pregnancies, different methods are used. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of oral propranolol on labor induction in nulliparous women with prolonged pregnancy. A double blind randomized controlled trial was performed on 146 nulliparas women with a gestational age of 40–42 weeks of pregnancy. Participants were allocated into two groups of propranolol (a combination of oral propranolol and oxytocin) versus placebo (oxytocin and placebo). In propranolol group, 20 mg oral propranolol was placed into the empty capsule and administered immediately before induction. Placebo group received a similar appearance capsules containing starch. Administration was continued every 8 hours until obtained the good contractions. The induction with oxytocin was initiated similar in two groups. The mean duration for obtaining good contractions and Apgar scour was determined. Data were analyzed by SPSS and used descriptive statistics, t test, x2 and exit Fisher test. Demographic and obstetric parameter were similar in both groups (p>0.05). Start of good contraction was different between groups in first and second day. In the first day of induction, Mean ± SD start of good contractions were 190.3 ± 21.4 and 176.2± 11.2 in propranolol group and placebo group consecutively (p<0.05). In the second day of induction, Mean ± SD start of good contractions were 113.5 ± 9.2 and 185 ± 26.8 in propranolol group and placebo group consecutively (p < 0.001). Oxytocin combined with oral propranolol can decrease the time needed for start of good contraction in postdate pregnancy.

Striae Gravidarum is one of the common skin changes during pregnancy. There are several risk factors for striae development. The aim of this study was to survey of associated factors with the development of striae gravidarum. A convenience sample of 325 primiparous women were assessed during the immediate postpartum period for evidence of SG. Data were collected by a questionnaire and physical examination. The presence and and severity of striae was evaluated by Davey’s score. To determine the possible risk factors for the development of SG, characteristics of women with and without striae were compared using chi square test, independent t test and logistic Regression. In 182 (81.3%) of participants striae gravidarum was developed. Development of SG in 174 of 182 women (95.6%) was on the abdomen, 110 of 182 (60.4%) was on the thighs and in 74 of 182 (40.6%) SG was developed on the breasts during their pregnancy. Mean and SD of Davey score in breast, abdomen and thighs were (1.08 ± 1.55), (4.31 ± 2.21) and (1.76 ± 2.02) respectively. Family history of SG in mother, weight gain and body mass index during pregnancy and newborn weight, were signifi cantly associated with the development of SG. This study showed that genetic factors (family history of striae gravidarum) and physical factors (weight gain and body mass index during pregnancy) may have a significant role in development of striae gravidarum. Therefore, conducting studies in the future to identify how these factors can cause striae gravidarum seem to be helpful.

Sexual function is an integral part of human life. Chronic diseases, especially diabetes, have a significant impact on sexual performance. Since studies on women’s sexual function and its relationship to quality of life are scant, this study was conducted to determine sexual function in women with diabetes and its relationship to quality of life in attendees to the diabetes center of kermanMethod and materials: This case-control study was carried out in diabetes centers of Kerman. Iran. The sample of the study consisted of 164 married women with diabetes and 170 non diabetic women in control group. Data were collected by a questionnaire which consisted of demographic information, the Sf36 quality of life questionnaire and sexual function scale. All statistical analyses were done by using SPSS, Categorical data were compared using χ 2 test, t test and Pearson coeffi cient were used for scores of quality of life and sexual function scale. Quality of life scores and sexual function in diabetic control group were lower than the control group (p <0.05). There was no significant relationship between sexual function and quality of life in the two groups. Age, duration of diabetes, BMI and education level were associated with sexual function. the impact of diabetes on sexual function of women’s sexual function on quality of life of diabetic patients will require further investigation.

Cultural intelligence is an important factor in interaction among various ethnic groups and environments. cultural intelligence may affect job performance.This study examined the relationship between cultural intelligence and job performance of nurses in Eghbal hospital in Tehran,Iran. A descriptive correlational design was used. Sample of the research consisted of 70 nurses with at least 1 year of work experience which were randomly selected.Data were collected by using 2 questionnaires: 1- modified Ang and colleagues (2004) questionnaires for cultural intelligence which was translated by Kazimi (2010) and 2- Employee performance questionnaire which was developed by Kazemi (2010) with the reliability of the 0.81. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using Pearson correlation, Multiple regression and Analysis of variance tests. Results of the study showed that: although there was no significant correlation between total cultural intelligence scores and job performance of nurses but when examining the relationship between cultural intelligence sub categories and job performance a significant correlation was found between behavioral cultural scores with job performance. There was a significant difference between male and female nurses in term of total score of cultural intelligence. Job performance scores was significantly correlated with educational level. The results showed tthat behaviorialintelligence may mediate the relationship between cultural intelligence and performance in nurses. Gender was correlated with Cultural Intelligence and educational level was correlated with job performance in nurses.

Nursing is an stressful profession and nurses are often confronted with various stressors in their work environment. Job stress may have harmful effects on an individual’s physical and mental health and decrease quality of nursing care. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between job stress and mental health of nurses. A cross-sectional design was used for the study. The sample of the study consisted of 237 nurses who were selected randomly from teaching hospitals in Hamadan, Iran. Data were collected by the nurses stress scale (NSS) and GHQ-28. The validity of instruments was assured by a panel of experts. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was computed to assess the reliability of instruments. The reliability coefficient was 0.93 for the nursing stress scale and 0.82 for the General Health Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the SPSS-13. The relationship between job stress and mental health was investigated by calculating Spearman’s correlation coefficients and χ2. Results The majority of nurses reported high levels of job stress. There was a significant relation between sex and number of night shifts with job stress. Psychological problems were seen in 42.9% of hospital nurses. There was a significant correlation between job stress and general health scores. This study showed more than one third of the participants experienced high levels of job stress and mental disorders.There was significant relationship between job stress and mental health. It is recommended to reduce stress and mental health problems by stress management training

Nowadays patient’s satisfaction has an important role in medical care. Therefore consideration of patient’s expectation is necessary for improving quality of midwifery care. The aim of this study to assess patients’ satisfaction with postpartum care in teaching and nonteaching hospitals in Tabriz,Iran. This was descriptive comparative study in which 270 mothers were recruited from Alzahra, Taleghani and 29 Bahman hospitals in Tabriz. Mother`s satisfaction questionnaire was used to evaluate the satisfaction of four aspects of care (Physical, Providing necessary information, Ethical and Emotional). Overall mother’s satisfaction rate of caregivers during postpartum was 78/5% and 86/3% in teaching and non-teaching maternity hospitals respectively. The results of this study showed that the mother’s satisfaction rate regarding providing necessary information by caregivers were very low. Mother’s dissatisfaction rate was 47% and 37% in teaching and non-teaching maternity hospitals respectively. There were a significant difference between mother’s satisfaction in aspect ethical in teaching and non-teaching maternity hospitals. Satisfaction rate in non teaching-hospitals was higher than teaching hospitals in both labor and delivery phase and one of the reasons for low satisfaction in teaching-hospitals is the presence of students and a large number of care givers in teaching hospitals. So that it is necessary to encourage care givers to give mothers necessary educations. This shows the importance more attention maternity services liable and directors in securing and promotion Mother`s health.