Psychological Distress Model Among Iranian Pre-Hospital Personnel in Disasters: A Grounded Theory Study

Objective: Pre-hospital personnels (PHPs) who work in disasters under extreme pressure, uncertainty, and complex situations are victims of disasters themselves, and there is a link between experiencing such incidents andmental health problems. Because most studies focus on the injured and less on the psychological issues of PHPs, the present study aimed to develop a model to provide relief for PHPs in disasters from a psychological perspective. Methods: A grounded theorymethodology recommended by Corbin and Strauss (2015) was employed. PHPs (n = 24) participated in a semi-structured interview between July 2018 to May 2020. Results: In the analysis of the pre-hospital staff interviews, three main themes were extracted, namely, providing relief with struggle (complexity of incident scenes, command-organizational and occupational challenges), psychological distress (psychological regression and psychological empowerment), and consequences (resilience and job burnout). Seven categories and 22 subcategories were explored from our data via the grounded theory approach Conclusions: The PHPs managed psychological distress with two approaches: psychological self-empowerment and regression, which resulted in resilience and burnout, respectively. Due to the lack of enough support, the resilience of the PHPs was short-term, turned into burnout over time, and affected the structural factors again as a cycle

The Effect of Educational Program on the Prevention of Pediculosis in Primary School Fifth Grade Students: An application of the Health Belief Model

Background: Pediculosis is one of the most common problems in the world, which despite the improvement of the health status, still has a global distribution. Since this disease is usually transmitted through direct (head-to-head) and indirect (using personal belongings of others) contact, conditions of prevalence in populated areas such as schools can cause students to experience physical and psychological problems. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of education based on health belief model on pediculosis prevention in the fifth grade female students in Bafq city in the academic year of 2016 - 2017. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial. The study population included 110 fifth grade female students who were selected by multi-stage sampling method and were randomly divided into two groups of test (55) and control group, (55). First, to determine the prevalence of pediculosis, students were checked to find out if they had Lice and Livestock in their hair and then the required data was collected through a questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model whose validity and reliability had already been confirmed. After their analysis and need assessment, a training program was designed according to the design model and delivered as a lecture, question and answer, and group discussion for students of the experimental group and pamphlets were also distributed among them. Then six weeks after the intervention, the initial questionnaire was completed again by student groups. Data was analyzed using independent t-test, Chi-square, Chi-square, ANOVA and Pearson correlation. Results: There was a positive and significant correlation between head lice preventive behaviors in students and self-efficacy and perceived benefits constructs. Knowledge and constructs of the health belief model predicted 28.7% of behavioral variance that predicted only predictive power of self-efficacy was statistically significant and it was found that the perceived benefits construct indirectly affects the behavior. After the intervention, the mean score of all constructs of the health belief model, knowledge and behavior in the experimental group significantly increased; however there was no significant increase in the control group. Conclusion: Considering that both constructs of self-efficacy and perceived benefits were behavior predictors and the educational program led to improve the attitude and behavior of students, health-based and belief-based programs can be implemented based on these two constructs to improve students' performance in lice preventive behaviors

Prevalence of refractive errors among schoolchildren in Shiraz, Iran

PURPOSE\ud \ud To determine the prevalence of refractive errors in Shiraz schoolchildren by age and gender.\ud \ud METHODS\ud \ud For this cross-sectional study, random cluster sampling was carried out from students of the 2008-2009 academic year. After the initial interview, ophthalmic examinations including tests of visual acuity, non-cycloplegic and cycloplegic refraction and binocular vision were performed. Myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent < or =-0.50 dioptre (D), hyperopia as > or =+2.0 D, and astigmatism as a cylinder refraction > or =0.75 D. All values for school grade and gender were directly standardized based on the total student population in the 2008-2009 school year.\ud \ud RESULTS\ud \ud A total of 2130 students were sampled, of which 1872 participated in the study (response rate = 87.88%). The prevalence of uncorrected, best-corrected, presenting and spectacle corrected visual acuity of 6/12 or worse in the better eye was 6.46%, 0%, 1.49% and 0.9%, respectively. The prevalence rates of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism were 4.35% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.89-5.82%), 5.04% (95% CI: 3.50-6.58%), and 11.27% (95% CI: 9.81-12.74%), respectively. Anisometropia was detected in 2.58% of schoolchildren. The prevalence of hyperopia significantly decreased with age (P = 0.021).\ud \ud CONCLUSIONS\ud \ud Compared with other reported rates, the prevalence of myopia in the schoolchildren of Shiraz is similar to that in most places excluding East Asian countries, and that of hyperopia is in the mid range