Evaluating the Use of Role-Playing Scenarios on Mood Change and Empathy in Undergraduate Psychiatric Nursing Students

Background & Objective: The time nursing students have their first interviews with patients who have psychiatric problems they may not be aware of how to communicate with them; because stereotypes and stigma are associated with individuals who have psychiatric diagnosis. The aim of this educational project was to develop and evaluate the use of role-playing scenarios on mood change and empathy in undergraduate psychiatric nursing students. Methods: This semi-experimental study was conducted with 18 undergraduate nursing students during one course of nursing training; and data were collected through Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) questionnaire and Profile of Mood States (POMS) before and after 9 nurse-patient roles for such communication trainings. Results: Significant differences in mood and empathy of undergraduate nursing students were not found in pre- and post-role playing phases. Conclusion: Significantly lower change mood and empathy with role-playing may reflect fear, confusion-bewilderment and concerns. Suggestions are offered as role-playing scenarios performed with more sessions, larger samples and use of other teaching methods such as educational video. Keywords Role-playing Empathy Mood Undergraduate nursing student

Developing and validating a measurement tool to self-report perceived barriers in substance use treatment : The substance use treatment barriers questionnaire (SUTBQ)

Background Substance using often cause a wide range of social, health, and psychological problems. This study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire of barriers of treatment in substance users. Methods In this cross-sectional study, the initial questionnaire was designed based on the evaluation of previous studies. The preliminary tool including 35 Likert-scaled items. After assuring the face validity of the questionnaire, 13 experts’ opinions were obtained for assessing or improving the content validity. The reliability was investigated by internal consistency methods using Cronbach’s alpha. For measuring the structural validity, the exploratory factor analysis was performed to determine the dimensionality of the questionnaire using principal components extraction and Varimax rotation. Results The preliminary questionnaire consisted of 35 items. After completing the face validity and summarizing the experts’ suggestions, 8 items were removed. By calculating the content validity ratio and coefficient, 11 questions were deleted. The internal consistency was calculated to be 0.84 using Cronbach’s alpha. In the last stage and according to the results of the factor analysis, three factors fear of or unawareness of treatment, doubt or inefficiency, and social stigma were identified from the 10-items questionnaire, which explained 67.34% of the total variance. Conclusion Considering the necessity of using a validated tool for planning and evaluating effective interventions on people who use substance is inevitable. The Substance use Treatment Barriers Questionnaire is designed with 10 items and 3 dimensions, which has appropriate validity and reliability and can be used to determine the obstacles for treatment or factors that lead to discontinuing treatment

Road traffic accidents in Yazd province, Iran: A longitudinal study (2012-2016)

Background and Objectives: The victims of road traffic accidents (RTAs) are mainly young. Hence, reduction of mortality from RTAs should be considered as one of the most important priorities for health-care systems. This study aimed at assessing the mortality rate of RTAs in Yazd Province during 2012-2016. Subjects and Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, data were obtained from data collection forms of forensic medicine organizations in Yazd. The general equation estimation method was used to compare the number of accidents by distinguishing independent variables. To investigate the trend, a decomposition method was used to analyze a time series with a trend and a seasonal pattern in the Minitab software. Results: In this study, 1437 people who died due to RTAs during 2012-2016 were studied. The number of deaths in men was 1076 (75), almost three times of women. The risk of death from RTAs in married couples, the main road, heavy car driving and driving out-of-town were 1.6, 3.6, 1.9, and 3.2, respectively. An indirect and significant linear relationship was found between the number of accidents and time during 2012-2016. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the most cases of events are in the age group of 20-30 years. Therefore, prevention should be done for this age group. Furthermore, findings of this study show that decreasing in fatal RTA can be attributed to the exacerbation of traffic regulations and its implementation

Correlation of Pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index, Prenatal Weight Gain and Gestational Diabetes – A Case-Control Study

Introduction: Obese and overweight women are more prone to gestational diabetes. Body mass index and weight gain during pregnancy play an important role in pregnancy and is considered as an important indicator of maternal and neonatal health. Because the prevalence of obesity in Yazd is remarkable, we studied the relationship between gestational diabetes with Pre-pregnancy BMI and weight gaining during pregnancy in pregnant women in Yazd. Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 336 pregnant women who had just given birth, who they consisted of 168 pregnant women with gestational diabetes and 168 healthy pregnant women as case and control group, respectively. We gathered data from the information recorded in the health information system. In this study, Chi-square, independent t-test, and correlation test were used to analyze the data by using the SPSS23 software. Results: The present study showed that the average pre-pregnancy BMI and the average weight gaining during pregnancy until screening for gestational diabetes were significantly higher in cases than controls (P<0.05). Also, there was a significant reverse correlation between pre-pregnancy BMI and weight gain during pregnancy(r = -0.27, P <0.001). Conclusion: Since BMI is one of the modifiable risk factors, we should give all women good training on the quality of their diet for having proper weight before pregnancy and appropriate weight gain during pregnancy

Effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral therapy ‎on ‎symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) ‎

Objective: Standards of care and treatment of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) vary. Non-drug ‎psychosocial intervention therapy is recommended for women with any kind of ‎discomfort or distress caused by PMS. The current study examined the effectiveness of ‎group cognitive-behavioral therapy on the symptoms of PMS at a girls’ dormitory of ‎North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences. Method: In this quasi-experimental study, 32 female students with PMS who were majoring in ‎nursing and midwifery and residing in the dormitory were selected using the ‎convenience sampling method and were assigned to experimental and control groups. ‎The Standardized Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool was used as the research ‎tool. Eight sessions of cognitive-behavioral group therapy were held for the students Results: There was a significant difference in psychological symptoms before and after ‎cognitive-behavioral therapy (p=0.012). Furthermore, cognitive-behavioral therapy was ‎effective on social interferences caused by PMS symptoms (p=0.012).‎ Conclusion: Group cognitive-behavioral therapy effectively alleviates PMS symptoms in female ‎college students.

Incidence of occupational exposure to blood and body fluids and measures taken by health care workers before and after exposure in regional hospitals of a developing country: a multicenter study

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 371 health care workers working in government hospitals in the Northern Khorasan province of Iran. Exposure to sharp objects was 44% and 31% of participants had a history of being in contact with blood or body fluids of patients. Among health care workers who had needlestick injuries, 82 had a positive hepatitis B surface antibody titer measured after injur

Comparison of anthropometric indices in predicting the risk of hypertension, Iran - 2014

Purpose: The best anthropometric index has not been established to investigate the relationship between hypertension and obesity. Since a similar study was not conducted in Bojnurd, we began to investigate the comparison of anthropometric indices (body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratios) in predicting the risk of hypertension. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on women referring to Bojnurd health centers. For analyzing the data, we used t-test, Chi-square, logistic regression, and the receiver operating characteristic curve in SPSS 19 software. Results: The prevalence of blood pressure was 53.4% (confidence interval = 46.8–60). All four anthropometric indicators were used as a screening tool for hypertension diagnosis; however, body mass index (BMI) had a higher sub-curved surface than other anthropometric indices (area under curve = 0.717). The cutoff point of BMI for predicting the risk of hypertension was 25.6. Conclusions: This study suggested that BMI as an anthropometric indicator to evaluate the risk of hypertension. Since a significant percentage of people are unaware of the existence of hypertension, continuing education is needed to encourage people to pay more attention to this problem

Tobacco consumption, opium use, alcohol drinking and the risk of esophageal cancer in North Khorasan, Iran

Background: There are some unique epidemiological characteristics of esophageal cancer in Iran. The objective of this study was finding the association between tobacco, substance and alcohol using with the risk of esophageal cancer in North Khorasan, Iran. Methods: This Case-Control study was carried out on 96 patients with esophageal cancer and 187 controls. Controls were matched to cases by age and sex. Data were collected through structured interview. Data were analyzed by using chi-square test, T-test and logistic regression, in Stata software version 12. Results: Our findings show Hookah smoking [OR = 6.1(CI95%:1.2–13.1)] and opium consumption [OR = 2.1(CI95%:1.2–3.5)] were associated with esophageal cancer. Cigarette and pipe smoking, age of onset of smoking, duration of smoking, number of smoking per day, leaving history of smoking, years of leaving smoking, drug withdrawal, number of times of drug withdrawal, a history of drug relapse, alcohol consumption and alcohol dose–response were not related to esophageal cancer. Conclusion: According to our results, hookah smoking and opium consumption enhance the risk of esophageal cancer in North Khorasan of Iran. We suggest appropriate planning to prevent the esophageal cancer in this district