An Analytical Comparison of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding HIV/AIDS Among Medical and Non-Medical Students in Iran.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Young people are the main group at risk of HIV/AIDS due to factors such as curiosity, peer pressure, lack of knowledge and skills, unsafe sexual behaviors, and drug abuse. The present study was conducted to compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among medical and non-medical students in Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted on a population consisting of the students of Shahid Beheshti University (SBU) and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU). A total of 303 students were randomly selected from the two universities. Data were collected using a researcher-made HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire. Data were then analyzed using the independent t-test, Mann-Whitney's U-test, the ANOVA, and the Kruskal-Wallis test in SPSS-18. P<0.05 was set as the level of significance for all the tests. FINDINGS: The frequencies of marital status, education, smoking, alcohol and psychotropic substance use, employment status, and source of information differed significantly between the medical and non-medical students. There was a significant difference between the two groups regarding knowledge (P<0.001) and practice (P=0.019) regarding HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of their attitude toward HIV/AIDS (P=0.503). The results of the ANOVA revealed a significant correlation between marital status and practice (P=0.022), education and attitude (P=0.004), and smoking and knowledge (P=0.008) among the medical students. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference between the demographic variables and knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among the non-medical students (P>0.005). CONCLUSION: The present findings showed that designing and developing appropriate educational programs, offered through group media, scientific seminars, courses, lectures, and group discussions, can be effective in enhancing the students' knowledge and changing their attitudes and should be incorporated into healthcare programs.

Predictors of Health-Promoting Lifestyle in Pregnant Women Based on Pender's Health Promotion Model.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pregnancy causes changes in women's lifestyle; therefore, their health-promoting behaviors should be improved in order to avoid problems during this critical period, which requires knowledge of the factors affecting these behaviors. This study was conducted to determine the predictors of health-promoting lifestyles in pregnant women based on Pender's health promotion model constructs. METHODS: This descriptive study was carried out on 300 pregnant women in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy and sought to determine the correlation between lifestyle and the constructs of Pender's health promotion model. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) and a questionnaire based on Pender's model constructs. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. FINDINGS: A health-promoting lifestyle had a significant positive correlation with the constructs of social support and perceived benefits and a significant negative correlation with the construct of perceived barriers (P<0.05). A health-promoting lifestyle also had a significant relationship with the constructs of perceived barriers, social support and perceived benefits in pregnant women (P<0.05) based on the results of the regression analysis. The regression coefficients showed that all the three variables can significantly explain the variance in health promoting lifestyles in pregnant women (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: According to the results of the present study and based on the constructs of Pender's health promotion model, social support, perceived benefits and perceived barriers were the most important predictors of health-promoting lifestyles in pregnant women. These predictor constructs are recommended to be further considered in designing and implementing training packages and interventions for promoting pregnant women's lifestyle.

Health-related quality of life and related factors among pregnant women.

CONTEXT: Quality of life is significant in all stages of life, including within pregnancy. The hormonal, emotional, psychological, and physical factors specific to pregnancy can affect and threaten the quality of life of pregnant mothers. AIMS: This study sought to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and related factors among pregnant women. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was performed on 300 pregnant women who were in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy without any risk of high-risk pregnancy covered by a community health center in Yazd, Iran, between 2018 and 2019. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The required data were collected using demographic questionnaire and HRQoL (SF-12v2) questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were analyzed using SPSS 18 software and ANOVA statistical tests (P < 0.05). RESULTS: Physical dimension of quality of life of pregnant women had the mean and standard deviation of 43.7 ± 7.3 and that psychological dimension had the mean and standard deviation of 31.5 ± 11.8. Physical dimension of quality of life was significantly correlated with maternal age, gestational age, body mass index before 12 weeks of pregnancy, mother's education and job as well as spouse's level of education (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the psychological dimension of quality of life was significantly correlated with gestational age, mother's education and occupation as well as spouse's level of education (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: According to the findings, attention to physical and psychological aspects of quality of life of pregnant women and demographic factors affecting it is essential for improving maternal and child health during and after pregnancy.

The Concept of Successful Aging: A Review Article.

BACKGROUND: With the increasing number of elderly people in the world, usage of concepts and terminology related to this phenomenon has substantially increased. One concept in this context is successful aging. The purpose of the present study is to extract and introduce a common concept to be used in studies on measuring successful aging. METHODS: This is a review study. First, by searching the databases of Magiran, Noormags, Medlib, Irandoc, Iranmedex, Barakat Knowledge Network System, Civilica, SID, ISI Web Of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct and search engines, Google Scholar and Elmnet as well as using standard keywords such as elder, elderly, aging, and successful aging, all related published articles during the period 1995 to 2017 were retrieved. A total of 3417 documents were retrieved. By removing 3390 unrelated, duplicate and unusable documents, 27 articles were included in the study after quality control. RESULTS: The findings of the study were categorized in three areas: "defining successful aging by focusing on dimensions", "successful aging principles" and "factors influencing successful aging". Reviewing various studies, we found that the definition of successful aging deals with cognitive action, perception, control, life satisfaction, and ethics. Successful aging is also defined as having inner feelings of happiness and satisfaction with life for the present and the past. Sometimes successful aging is also considered to be survival with health. CONCLUSION: Health care professionals as community health supporters can use the results from the present study for providing the grounds for successful aging. Then, they can use the designed successful aging program for preserving and promoting active and healthy aging for every elderly person in old age.

Design and implementation of an empowerment model to prevent elder abuse: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Older adults are more vulnerable to health risks than younger people and may get exposed to various dangers, including elder abuse. This study aimed to design and implement an empowerment educational intervention to prevent elder abuse. METHODS: This parallel randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2014-2016 for 18 months on 464 older adults aged above 60 years who visited health houses of 22 municipalities in Tehran. Data were collected using standard questionnaires, including the Elder Abuse-Knowledge Questionnaire, Health-Promoting Behavior Questionnaire, Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, Barriers to Healthy Lifestyle, Perceived Social Support, Perceived Self-Efficacy, Loneliness Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, and the SCARED (stress, coping, argument, resources, events, and dependence) tool. The intervention was done in twenty 45- to 60-minute training sessions over 6 months. Data analysis were performed using χ2 tests, multiple linear and logistic regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS: The frequency of knowledge of elder abuse, self-efficacy, social support and health promoting lifestyle before the intervention was similar in the two groups. However, the frequency of high knowledge of elder abuse (94.8% in the intervention group and 46.6% in the control group), high self-efficacy (82.8% and 7.8%, respectively), high social support (97.0% and 10.3%, respectively) and high health promoting lifestyle (97.0% and 10.3%, respectively) was significantly higher (P<0.001) and the frequency of elder abuse risk (28.0% and 49.6%, respectively) was significantly less in the intervention group after the intervention. SEM standardized beta (Sß) showed that the intervention had the highest impact on increase social support (Sß=0.80, ß=48.64, SE=1.70, P<0.05), self-efficacy (Sß=0.76, ß=13.32, SE=0.52, P<0.05) and health promoting behaviors (Sß=0.48, ß=33.08, SE=2.26, P<0.05), respectively. The effect of the intervention on decrease of elder abuse risk was indirect and significant (Sß=-0.406, ß=-0.340, SE=0.03, P<0.05), and through social support, self-efficacy, and health promoting behaviors. CONCLUSION: Educational interventions can be effective in preventing elder abuse.

The effect of health promoting intervention on healthy lifestyle and social support in elders: a clinical trial study.

BACKGROUND: Many of the problems pertaining to old age originate from unhealthy lifestyle and low social support. Overcoming these problems requires precise and proper policy-making and planning. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current research is to investigate the effect of health promoting interventions on healthy lifestyle and social support in elders. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was conducted as a clinical trial lasting for 12 months on 464 elders aged above 60 years who were under the aegis of health homes in Tehran, Iran. Participants were selected through double stage cluster sampling and then divided into intervention and control groups (232 individuals in each). Tools for gathering data were a demographic checklist and two standard questionnaires called Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile version 2 and personal resource questionnaire part 2. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests including paired t test, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The average age of elders in this study was 65.9 ± 3.6 years (ranging between 60 and 73 years old). Results showed that the differences between the mean post-test scores of healthy lifestyle and its six dimensions as well as perceived social support and its five dimensions in the control and intervention groups were statistically significant (P value < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Aging is an inevitable stage of life. However, effective health promoting interventions can procrastinate it, reduce its consequences and problems, and turn it into a pleasant and enjoyable part of life.

Medication errors of nurses and factors in refusal to report medication errors among nurses in a teaching medical center of iran in 2012.

BACKGROUND: About one third of unwanted reported medication consequences are due to medication errors, resulting in one-fifth of hospital injuries. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was determined formal and informal medication errors of nurses and the level of importance of factors in refusal to report medication errors among nurses. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The cross-sectional study was done on the nursing staff of Shohada Tajrish Hospital, Tehran, Iran in 2012. The data was gathered through a questionnaire, made by the researchers. The questionnaires' face and content validity was confirmed by experts and for measuring its reliability test-retest was used. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics. We used SPSS for related statistical analyses. RESULTS: The most important factors in refusal to report medication errors respectively were: lack of medication error recording and reporting system in the hospital (3.3%), non-significant error reporting to hospital authorities and lack of appropriate feedback (3.1%), and lack of a clear definition for a medication error (3%). There were both formal and informal reporting of medication errors in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Factors pertaining to management in hospitals as well as the fear of the consequences of reporting are two broad fields among the factors that make nurses not report their medication errors. In this regard, providing enough education to nurses, boosting the job security for nurses, management support and revising related processes and definitions are some factors that can help decreasing medication errors and increasing their report in case of occurrence.