Health warning messages on cigarette packs: how young smokers process it

Background: One of the major smoking prevention strategies has been to educate the public and increase people’s awareness, using health warning messages. However, many young people continue smoking without paying attention to health risk messages on cigarette packets in Iran. Hence, this study was conducted to examine the processing route of anti-smoking messages and influencing cognitive factors by using the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Study design: A case-control study. Methods: The non-probability sample for the cross-sectional study consisted of 387 tobacco smokers in the age range of 18 to 30 years old. This study was conducted between July and November of 2018 in Tabriz, Iran. A researcher-designed questionnaire was used for the purpose of data collection. No causal inferences were drawn due to the non-experimental nature of the study. Results: It was found that tobacco smokers often processed the health warning messages through the central route. Perceived severity, smoking abstinence self-efficacy, and psychological dependence were predictors of message processing through the central route. The results supported the conceptual model of cognitional predictors of the processing route. Conclusions: To design and execute effective health warning messages to quit smoking, it is recommended to consider cognitive factors as a means to enhance critical thinking about the content of the health warning message. &nbsp

Recess Activity and General Health Status among Iranian Elementary Schools’ Pupils

Background: Regular and daily physical activity during childhood and at school is one of the important part of requirements of normal growth, development and well-being. To achieve physical activity promotion among school child aged population recess as outside of class time efforts is scheduled and allows students to engage in physical and social activities. The purpose of the present study was to assess recess activities as well as status of physical activities among a sample of Iranian students at the pri¬mary schools.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in four randomly se¬lected schools from a list of 26 elementary schools in March, 2012 in the city of Shahindej, located in North-west of Iran. Participants were 439 (10–12 years) elementary schools’. Physical activity level by self-reporting, mental health using the parent-completed Child Health Questionnaire, and happiness was assessed using a Persian translated version of the Subjective Happiness Scale. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis was applied in two steps using the enter method to analyze data in the SPSS version 17.Results: Backward logistic regression analysis showed that gender of the parent who answered the study questions, father’s education, educational grade of children, BMI, physical function, physical health, health status of the children and family function were significantly related to the children’s physical activity level.Conclusion: Promoting parents’ awareness and schools’ staff about im¬portance of physical activities especially in recess times must be an impor¬tant part of school and community mental health promotion programs

“It’s beyond the pale to smoke hookah”: perceptions of Iranian adolescents on social unacceptability of hookah smoking

The present study aimed to explore the perceptions of high school students on Social Unacceptability (Arabic/Persian term = Qabahat) of Hookah Smoking (SUoHS). In this qualitative study, 31 student adolescents in Tabriz, Iran, were invited to participate in semi-structured individual interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs). Data were analyzed using interpretative thematic analysis. The unacceptability of hookah smoking was viewed at the “disreputability of hookah smoking and hookah smokers”. The students also explained SUoHS in the “incivility of hookah smoking and smokers in the society”, “disrespectfulness of hookah smokers and their families”, and “the consequences of hookah smoking”. The SUoHS is rooted from the social values and norms within communities. To decrease hookah smoking levels among adolescents, school health nursing interventions should be tailored to bridge the gap between their recognition of SUoHS and subsequent behavior change through creating group dynamics highlighting the domains of social unacceptability of the behavior

Socioeconomic Status and Coronary Heart Disease

Background: Iran has undergone a remarkable demographic transition over the last threedecades. Socioeconomic status (SES) indicators including education, income, and occupationare associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors, morbidity, and mortality. Theaim of the present study was to describe demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, theirassociation to the diseases, and to explore the predictive risk of CHD in Tabriz, the fourthlargest city in Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province.Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out to explore and analyze thecurrent SES status of CHD patients. The study was conducted in Tabriz and all patients(n=189) refereed to the Central Referral Hospital for cardiac patients (Shahid Madani Hospital)from 2009 to 2010 were considered. A researcher structured questionnaire with 15 questionswas used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the basic SES featuresof the CHD patients and data analysis was done using SPSS ver. 16.Results: Less educated participants were more susceptible to CHD. Regarding to occupationalstatus, housewives and retired men were in higher risk of CHD than the rest of the people.Studied patients also reported to be mostly from urban areas that were living in apartmentcomplexes.Conclusion: In line with some international research evidence the study results suggested thatpeople from lower/middle social classes were in greater CHD risk than higher social classes.This epidemic might be halted through the promotion of healthier lifestyles and the support ofenvironmental and policy changes

Cigarette smoking and its relationship with perceived familial support and religiosity of university students in Tabriz

Objective: The goal of the present study was to assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking and its relationship to other risk taking behaviors, perceived familial support and religiosity among college students in Tabriz, Iran . Method: In this study, 1837 randomly selected students participated and completed a self-administered questionnaire inquiring demographic characteristics, risk taking behaviors, Aneshensel and Sucoff's 13-items one-dimensional perceived Parental support scale and 28 - items Kendler's general religiosity scale. Results: In general, 15.8 of the students were cigarette smokers. The results indicated that being male (OR = 3.21), living alone or with friends (OR = 2.00), having a part-time job (OR = 1.98), alcohol consumption during the past 30 days (OR = 3.67), hookah use (OR = 5.23), substance abuse (OR = 1.69), familial support (OR = 0.97) and religiosity (OR = 0.98) have statistically significant relationships with cigarette smoking . Conclusion: Our study represents the co-occurrence of risky behaviors. Cultural context in the traditional communities seems to show the crucial role of familial support and religiosity traits with the female gender as predictive factors to not smoke cigarette and perform other risky behaviors

An analysis of Deleuze's Concept of Time (or Duration) in Photomontage Photography

In this article, we try to consider the concept of time or duaration of Deleuze in photomontage photography with reference to Francis Bacon's paintings. Deleuze discusses time using Bergson's philosophy of motion and duration. Philosophy is a work of art in the postmodernist view, it is anti-structuralist, and according to this issue, art cannot be considered a narrator, because art that is a narrator and is based on structure is a dead art. Deleuze's philosophy is neither subjective nor objective; He tells the story of the very presence and life in the world. For this reason, and based on his initial teachings and Hegelian's totalitarian ideas, he reduced the world and thought in the world to a single whole called the nature of life, and tried to put this totalitarian thought into thought. The gradual-evolutionary naturalistic experience blends. Jilles Deleuze tackles the issue of art from an anti-structuralist perspective. He examines the relationship between times in photomontage photography. We assume that concepts in photography have a motion-driven and creative role with the principle of being in photomontage. The main claim and finding of this article is that it can be said that Deleuze, by violating narrative and being in the art of photography, considers photomontage as a creative movement in fluidity that takes time and space. The most prominent English formalist painter is Francis Bacon. Bacon was able to express the modernist European perception and mentality in his works through visual language or figurative art. Our method in this research is descriptive and analytical. This research seeks to find the answer to the question of how to bring becoming into the art of photography and prevent its narrative and structure

Production of Culex pipiens (Dip.: Culicidae) adults infected by Strelkovimermis spiculatus (Nematoda: Mermithidae) in autodissemination control strategy

Biological Control of mosquito vectors with insect parasitic nematodes is of importance in Integrated Mosquito Management (IMM) due to its benign nature. The mosquito parasitic mermithid Strelkovimermis spiculatus normally parasitizes larval stages of Culex pipiens and rarely do adults of Culex get infected by this nematode in wild. This infrequent phenomenon is assumed as the way of nematode dispersal. We hypothized that infected mosquito adults can be obtained through laboratory manipulations. Parasite: host ratio and host stage were two main parameters to consider. To determine the optimal larval instar and parasite:host ratio, late third, early fourth, late fourth instar larvae and 5:1, 10:1, 20:1, 40:1 ratios were compared and the percentage of infected adult mosquitoes obtained recorded. Average nematode emergence time was measured to to estimate the proper release time of the mosquitoes in larval habitats. The sex ratio, number and length of postparasites emerged from adults were also calculated and compared in quality control process. Only late fourth instars infected adult host at 5:1 with a maximum proportion of infected adults of 17.39%. The ratio of 10:1 was chosen as standard infection ratio (P=0.87). The average duration between infection and nematode emergence was 7.37±0.51 (days). The proportion of females to total emerged nematodes from adults was 0.4:1 which is an acceptable ratio for nematodes’ colonization in water bodies. There was no statistical difference between the length of nematodes emerged from mosquito adults and larvae (P=0.14). Infecting late fourth instars individually at 10:1 infection ratio in an aliquot of nematode suspension and release of infected males seven days post-infection is a feasible strategy for application of this nematode in wild

Development of a Hookah Smoking Obscenity Measurement Scale for Adolescents

Background: The worldwide trend of hookah use among adolescents is increasing, and literature shows arelationship between obscenity and adolescents’ tendency toward hookah smoking. As there is a lack ofappropriate instruments to measure the obscenity of hookah smoking, in the present study, we aimed todevelop an instrument to measure hookah smoking obscenity among adolescents.Methods: In this methodological study, a sequential exploratory design was used to conduct the study fromFebruary 2017 to July 2018 on adolescents in Tabriz, Iran. In the qualitative phase, we conducted semistructured individual interviews (with 18 students) and a focus group discussion (FGD) (with 13 students) toexplain the concept of obscenity and develop the items of hookah smoking obscenity scale (HSOS). We thenexamined the psychometric properties of the HSOS based on face, content, construct and predictive validitiesas well as internal consistency and repeatability.Findings: The HSOS was developed with 21 items based on the results of qualitative data analysis. Applyingconfirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the χ2/degree of freedom (df) ratio was found to be 3.792 for the fourfactor structure of the questionnaire and the fit indices of this structural model were satisfactory. The valuesof Cronbach’s alpha and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the constructs in the HSOS ranged0.81-0.93 and 0.79-0.92, respectively.Conclusion: We found the HSOS with a good level of fit indices, validity, and reliability. The HSOS may beapplied by school healthcare providers and health practitioners to find valid and reliable data on theobscenity of hookah smoking when developing hookah smoking prevention/cessation interventions amongadolescents

Development and Psychometric Properties of a Condom Use and Its Cognitive Determinants Questionnaire (CUCDQ)

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of Condom Use and its Cognitive Determinants Questionnaire (CUCDQ) among married women in Tabriz, Iran.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, applying multistage cluster sampling 388 married women were recruited to participate in the study. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to develop CUCDQ. Face, content, and construct validity, as well as reliability, were investigated.RESULTS: Principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation demonstrated a six factors structure as the best solution [Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (Approx. Chi-Square= 4193.07, df= 780, p<0.001); KMO= 0.815] which explained 43.13% of all the variance between the items. CUCDQ represented a proper validity, reliability, simplicity and functionality.CONCLUSION: CUCDQ may be helpful for family health care providers and family planning decision makers in precise assessing the behavioural, psychological, and educational factors related to condom use. This scale may be useful in a various range of studies including family planning or STIs prevention studies in different communities. Future research is recommended to assess the different dimensions of the tool in different communities

Psychometric Properties of the Lasher and Faulkender Anxiety about Aging Scale (AAS) among Iranian Older Adults

Abstract: (1) Background: The older adult population of society is exposed to multiple stressors daily, such as the loss of loved ones, dysfunctional mobility, financial dependence, and suffering from numerous chronic illnesses. The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Anxiety about Aging Scale among older adults in Iran. (2) Methods: A sample of 703 communitydwelling older adults was recruited and screened using a standardized tool. The mean age of participants was 69.4 � 8.1 years. The majority of participants were male (59.2%), married (66.6%), and illiterate (79.7%). A ‘forward-backward’ translation method was used in developing the Iranian version of the AAS for assessing the psychometric properties among older adults. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the Rasch model were used for construct validity. (3) Results: Applying CFA indicated that the model’s four original factors are the best solution, representing 55% of the total variance. The result of the CFA showed that this four-factor model had a good fit for the data. The findings were also confirmed by Rasch analysis. (4) Conclusions: The Persian version of the AAS is valid and reliable for measuring aging anxiety among Iranian older adults