Psychometric Properties of the Patient Self-Advocacy Scale: The Persian Version.

BACKGROUND: Advances in science and technology and the changes in lifestyle have changed the concept of health in terms of etiology and mortality. The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the original Patient Self-Advocacy Scale for use with an Iranian population. METHODS: In the current study, 50 chronic patients between the ages of 25 and 75 were selected as samples. This study was conducted in May 2013 at Bou Ali Sina Hospital in Sari. The translation process and cultural adaptation of the Patient Self-Advocacy Scale were conducted. The face validity and content validity of the instrument were formally verified by analyzing the feedback of patients and health professionals. In order to evaluate questionnaire's reliability, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated for each item and each domain; and the Cronbach's alpha was calculated for the entire instruments and each domain. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients participating in the study, 36% were male and 64% were female. The mean age of the patients was 42.5. To comply with the Iranian culture and the study target population, slight changes were applied to the process of translation and validation. In the present study, intraclass correlation coefficient for each item was 0.8-1, which demonstrates excellent reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha value was 0.75 for overall scale. CONCLUSION: The Persian version of Patient Self-Advocacy Scale was valid and reliable. Hence, it can be used by public health researchers and health system policy makers for programming and offering patient-oriented health services based on patients' comments, needs, and preferences.

The experience of puberty in Iranian adolescent girls: a qualitative content analysis.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is an important stage in human life span. Physiologic changes associated with puberty manifest themselves in often complex and bizarre ways to which girls show different reactions. This study aims to explore to puberty experiences in adolescent girls who live in the city of Sari in Iran. METHODS: The present study is a qualitative study of content analysis. Sampling took place in the city of Sari, Iran and was objective focused in accordance with qualitative studies. Participants were 38 girls of 12-20 years old who had at least experienced 3 menstrual cycles. Data was collected by means of focus group and in-depth interviews. RESULTS: As follows, Seven main themes were extracted from the interviews are follows: Menarche as the most unpleasant event in puberty, getting nervous about and ashamed of bodily changes, psychological changes, discordance with parents, sexual orientation and the need for education on this issue, scholastic dysfunction and religious considerations. CONCLUSION: The results showed that for the majority of the participants puberty was an unpleasant experience. Most of them were in need of education on how to go about the issues surrounding puberty. The society, families and of course the adolescents themselves are responsible to work together in order to create an atmosphere in which correct information on puberty and the associated issues are readily accessible.

Patient involvement in health care decision making: a review.

BACKGROUND: Patient participation means involvement of the patient in decision making or expressing opinions about different treatment methods, which includes sharing information, feelings and signs and accepting health team instructions. OBJECTIVES: Given the importance of patient participation in healthcare decision making which empowers patients and improves services and health outcomes, this study was performed to review previous studies on patient participation in healthcare decision making. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To prepare this narrative review article, researchers used general and specific search engines, as well as textbooks addressing this subject for an in-depth study of patient involvement in healthcare decision-making. As a result, 35 (out of 100 relevant) articles and also two books were selected for writing this review article. RESULTS: BASED ON THE REVIEW OF ARTICLES AND BOOKS, TOPICS WERE DIVIDED INTO SIX GENERAL CATEGORIES: definition of participation, importance of patient participation, factors influencing participation of patients in healthcare decisions, method of patient participation, tools for evaluating participation, and benefits and consequences of patient participation in health care decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: IN MOST STUDIES, FACTORS INFLUENCING PATIENT PARTICIPATION CONSISTED OF: factors associated with health care professionals such as doctor-patient relationship, recognition of patient's knowledge, allocation of sufficient time for participation, and also factors related to patients such as having knowledge, physical and cognitive ability, and emotional connections, beliefs, values and their experiences in relation to health services.

Sociodemographic characteristics of pregnant women exposed to domestic violence during pregnancy in an Iranian setting.

BACKGROUND: Domestic violence refers to any type of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse enforced in the setting of familial relationships. Domestic violence has a significant relationship with poor outcome among pregnant women. Success in resolving this social phenomenon rests on accurate assessment of the society and the factors associated with violence in that specific community. OBJECTIVES: The present study was conducted to assess the demographic characteristics of pregnant women exposed to different types of domestic violence during pregnancy in Iranian setting. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a descriptive-analytic, cross-sectional study. Sampling was done with convenience sampling method. in the current study, 301 pregnant women aged 15-45 years of Iranian nationality who were referred to the hospital for delivery or abortion, regardless of the gestational age, were selected as the subjects. Data collection tools consisted of a sociodemographic questionnaire and a violence checklist. Violence was assessed using Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2). Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics on SPSS version 16 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) and STATA version 10. The characteristics of the participants were presented as mean ± SD or number and percentage. Differences between variables were determined by the χ2 test, and multivariate logistic regression. P < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: According to the findings, 34.56% of participants had experienced psychological violence, 28.24% physical violence, and 3.65% sexual violence. Multivariate logistic regression revealed a statistically significant relationship only in the case of physical violence and history of penal conviction for partner (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 12.60) and a patriarchal household (AOR = 16.75). CONCLUSIONS: As domestic violence is greatly influenced by the customs and cultures of each community, no single strategy can be adopted to resolve it universally. Simultaneously, it is necessary to adopt comprehensive measures to control factors associated with domestic violence in the healthcare, judiciary, and the educational systems in order to prevent and curb this social challenge.