مجله زنان مامائی و نازائی ایران
سال هفدهم شماره 111 (هفته اول شهریور 1393)

In the area of menopause and it’s related problems، alternative and complementary therapies are expanded to some extent. As such study hasn’t been done till now، here under the title of Hot Flashes of Menopause and Herbal Medicine، it’s aimed to analyze clinical trials of herbal medicine and to summarize them.

In this study some informations were gathered from database SID، IranMedex، IranDoc، Magiran، Google Scholar، PubMed and journals of herbal medicines also papers from the beginning of the year 2000 to 2013 were evaluated. These papers were evaluated under the scrutiny of Jadad scale and those were used in the study which got the score 3 or more. Data were analyzed qualitatively.

Among 27 clinical trials which were analyzed، 22 of them got the score 3 or more under the scale of Jadad. In this research، 6 papers were devoted to soybeans، 4 to five-finger herb، 3 to Licorice، 2 to fenugreek، 1 to Linnaeus'' flower clock، 1 to valerian، 1 to flaxseed، 1 to paper sage، 1 to geranium tea، 1 to anise، 1 to manee papers، 1 to red clover، 1 to black kohosh and 1 to the plant hypericum. Consequently، due to the heterogeneity of the time that had been spent for studies، doses and specific products; performing a meta-analysis was impossible.

In Iran different papers have been written in this area. Although numerous and perfectly-valid papers exist which focus on soybeans، it is suggested for treatment of menopause problems.

Anxiety is the most common psychological response of women who are in labour. One method for alleviating anxiety is aromatherapy in which natural oils are used to stimulate the olfactory system that leads to calmness and reduce the feeling of tension. Citrus aurantium is one of the oils uses in Aromatherapy. The present study was carried out on the basis of the effects that the pleasant smell of citrus aurantium had on nulliparous women during their first stage of labor. This clinical trial study has been done on 126 nulliparous women who were admitted to Valie-Asr hospital in Tuyserkan in 2013. 4ml of both، citrus aurantium distillate and normal saline were impregnated with gauze. Then they were attached to collars of subjects in the aromatherapy and control groups، respectively. This prescription was repeated every 30 minutes. Afterwards، the level of anxiety at baseline and after the intervention at dilations of 3-4 and 6-8 cm was measured. anxiety was measured with Spielberger questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22، independent t-tests، Mann-Whitney، chi-square tests، Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and exact fisher test. P values less than 0. 05 were considered significant. Before intervention، the mean level of anxiety was 55/16± 1/247 in intervention group and 61/86±1/327 in control group that was not statistically significant. The mean anxiety severity score after the intervention in intervention group with dilatation 3-4 cm (45. 32 ± 1. 216)، and 6-8cm (43. 19 ±1. 664) decreased significantly)P<0. 05 (compared with control group in dilatation 3-4 cm (56. 38 ± 1. 128)، and 6-8cm (59. 32 ± 1. 584). After the intervention، the mean level of anxiety in intervention group with indilatation 3-4 cm was (45. 32 ± 1. 216)، and in 6-8cm was (43. 19 ± 1. 664) which had decreased significantly)P<0. 05 (in comparison with control group with dilatation 3-4 cm (56. 38 ± 1. 128)، and 6-8cm (59. 32 ± 1. 584). Using Citrus aurantium in aromatherapy is a simple، inexpensive and non-invasive intervention that can be effective in reducing anxiety during labor.

A critical physical and psychological period in couples’ lives is «Transition to parenthood» when their relationship faces several challenges. As far as taking care of new born babies is too difficult and exhausting، if fathers try to perform their Parenting tasks as well، it will reduce mother’s anxiety. Therefore this study aims to determine the relationship between transition difficulty to parenthood and participation in the Parenting tasks. This descriptive study was conducted on 120 couples in health care centers of Mashhad in 2013. Half of these couples had their first child and half had two or more. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and questions about transition difficulty to parenthood scale and participation in the Parenting tasks. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16، t-tests، Mann-Whitney، Pearson and Spearman and ANOVA. There was inverse correlation between couples’ transition difficulty to parenthood and their participation in Parenting tasks which was not statistically significant (p=0. 055، r=-0. 17). There was a significant inverse correlation between transition difficulty to parenthood in mothers with first child and men`s participation in the Parenting tasks (p=0. 005، r=-0. 35) whereas there was not any significant correlation between men`s transition difficulty to parenthood and women`s participation in Parenting task (p=0. 78، r=-0. 02). By increase couples’ participation in Parenting tasks، transition difficulty to parenthood was reduced، but there was not statistically significant. Transition difficulty to parenthood was reduced whenever parents’ participation in their own tasks had increased. Corresponding with transition to parenthood is very stressful، especially for women، men`s support and participation in Parenting tasks can be a key role in reducing the transition difficulty. Ultimately men’participation in their Parenting tasks plays a key role in reducing women’s stress during this period.