University Students' Attitudes About Violence Against Women in the Name of Honor.

OBJECTIVE: This research was conducted to determine attitudes of university students toward violence aganist women in the name of honor. METHOD: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted with university students in Turkey. In addition to demographic information gathering, the following instruments were used to measure student attitudes: Introductory Information Form, Attitudes Toward Honor Scale, and Attitudes Toward Violence Against Women Scale. The high scores show the negative attitudes regarding the concept of honor. Analyses included descriptive statistics and analysis of variance with t tests, and alpha was set at 0.05. FINDINGS: Analyses were conducted on 1,038 surveys completed by students. Among the student participants, 686 (66.1%) were female, and the mean age was 20.51 ± 3.17 years. In all participants, 509 (49.0%) reported that they had been exposed to physical, verbal, sexual, or economic violence at least once in their lifetime; 151 (14.5%) had witnessed an honor killing in the social environment in which their families lived. The mean score of the Attitudes Toward Honor Scale (31.80 ± 15.84, max: 84) and Attitudes Toward Violence Against Women Scale (25.32 ± 9.36, max: 84) were found to be below the average. The mean scores on scales were found statistically significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: University students do not approve of violence against women in the name of honor. However, some students, whose cultural characteristics were more dominant, tend to approve honor killings.

The relationship between health sciences students' perceptions of health news and their attitudes to using complementary and alternative medicine.

PURPOSE: Written-visual and social media play a significant role in accessing knowledge about health issues. Media coverage of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) can affect the beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and decisions to use of CAM the individuals. The research was planned as a descriptive, cross-sectional study was to evaluate the relationship between the health sciences students' perceptions of health news and their attitude towards using CAM. METHOD: The sample included 736 students studying in a Department of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, and Nutrition and Dietetics program in a Faculty of Health Sciences. A Students' Description Form, The Perception of Health News Scale (PHNS), and The Attitude towards Using Complementary Treatments Scale (ACTS) were used to collect the data in this study. RESULTS: The students' mean PHNS scores were found to be 81.05 ± 13.42, and their mean ACTS scores were 30.07 ± 6.56. There was a statistically significant difference between HS students' mean PHMS scores and usage of CAM and following of health news on the written-visual media (p < 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between HS students' mean ACTS scores and their department of study, year of study, usage of CAM, education on CAM, usage of social media, following of health news on the written-visual media and following health news on social media (p < 0.05). A weak positive correlation was found between the students' PHNS scores and their ACTS scores (r = 0.189, p = 0.000). CONCLUSION: In the conclusion of our research, it was found that HS students' perception of health news may affect their attitudes towards using CAM.

Health Beliefs, Self-Care Behaviors and Quality of Life in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes.

AIM: Diabetes mellitus is a lifelong metabolic disease accompanied by acute and chronic complications and requires continuous medical care. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the diabetes self-management educational intervention given to individuals with type 2 diabetes on their health beliefs, self-care activities, and quality of life. METHOD: A single group randomized quasi-experimental study with the pre- and post-intervention design was conducted in two family health centers (n=60). The self-care activities, health beliefs, and quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes were investigated. RESULTS: The mean pre- and post-intervention blood glucose subscale scores were 1.57±0.91 and 3.22±1.06, respectively. The mean pre- and post-intervention social/vocational issues subscale scores were 29.26±5.54 and 33.26±3.19, respectively. The mean scores of the quality of life increased in the primary school graduates and in those who previously had no diabetes intervention after the intervention program. It was determined that the mean body mass index values of the participants decreased after the intervention. CONCLUSION: It is recommended to organize and implement periodic diabetes self-management educational intervention programs in family health centers and in centers providing diabetes health care to improve health beliefs and to increase self-care activities and quality of life in individuals with diabetes.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein in children at risk for coronary artery disease.

AIM: To determine the value of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in predicting risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) in children. METHODS: We measured hs-CRP levels in 51 children (11.79 +/- 3.14 years) with risk factors for CHD (hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, obesity, low HDL cholesterol and familial history of CHD). The results were compared with 26 children (12.98 +/- 2.59 years) without any risk factors. RESULTS: The children with risk factors had significantly higher serum levels of hs-CRP compared to the control group (3.33 +/- 4.58 vs. 0.92 +/- 1.90 mg/L, respectively, p < 0.01). CRP concentrations significantly increased in children with three or more risk factors. Hs-CRP levels correlated to body mass index (r = 0.411, p = 0.003), diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.323, p = 0.021), fibrinogen (r = 0.447 and p = 0.004) and HDL cholesterol levels (r =-0.461 and p = 0.001). Cutoff value for CRP was 1.04 mg/L with 58% sensitivity and 92% specificity. CONCLUSION: Serum hs-CRP level is a useful marker in screening the children who are under the risk of CHD in adulthood. Early identification of the children with risk factors and intervention for obesity, harmful habits and life style in childhood might decrease the incidence of coronary heart disease in adulthood.