The impact of migration on the health status of Iranians: An integrative literature review

© 2015 Shishehgar et al. Background: Immigration, both voluntary and forced, is driven by social, political and economic factors. Accordingly, some discussions and debates have emerged in recent years about the impact of migration on the health status of migrants. The aim of this review was to identify the impact of migration on the health status of Iranian immigrants and present a conceptual framework to facilitate the design and delivery of services and supports for this particular immigrant group. Methods: Data for this integrative review were collected from Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, ProQuest, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, and Google Scholar search engine. The database search was limited to peer-reviewed literature, published in English, between 1980 and 2013. Results: Twenty six articles were included in the review. Analysis revealed several factors influencing the mental health of immigrants, including language insufficiency; unemployment; sense of discrimination; cultural shock; lack of social support; lack of information about health care services; and intimate partner violence. Conclusion: Findings of this review have contributed to development of a conceptual framework that delineates the impact of migration on Iranian immigrants' health. This conceptualization may also help in addressing the needs of other vulnerable groups during the transition phase of migration

The relationship of social support and quality of life with the level of stress in pregnant women using the PATH model

Background: Lack of adequate social support, stress, and generally poor quality of life during pregnancy leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes for both the mother and the baby. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship of social support and quality of life with level of stress during pregnancy. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive-correlative study conducted on 210 pregnant women (meeting study criteria), attending Shahriar Social Services Hospital during 2012. Purposive convenient sampling was used. Study subjects completed questionnaires of obstetrics and demographics, VAUX social support, World Health Organization quality of life, and stress during pregnancy. Data were analyzed with SPSS-19 and Lisrel 8.8, utilizing statistical path analysis. Results: The final path model fitted well (CF1 = 1, RMSEA = 0.00) and showed that direct quality of life paths with β = -0.2, and indirect social support with β = -0.088 had the most effects on reduction of stress during pregnancy. Conclusion: Social support indirectly and quality of life directly affect stress during pregnancy. Thus, health officials should attempt to establish measures to further enhance social support and quality of life of pregnant women to reduce stress and its consequences during this time. © 2013, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal

Validating the Farsi version of the Pregnancy Worries and Stress Questionnaire (PWSQ): An exploratory factor analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Biological, environmental, inter- and intrapersonal changes during the antenatal period can result in anxiety and stress in pregnant women. It is pivotal to identify potential stressors and prevent their foetal and maternal consequences. The present study was conducted to validate and examine the factor structure of the Farsi version of the Pregnancy Worries and Stress Questionnaire (PWSQ). METHODS: In 2015, 502 Iranian healthy pregnant women, referred to selected hospitals in Tehran for prenatal care at 8-39 weeks of pregnancy, were recruited through a randomized cluster sampling. The PWSQ was translated into Farsi, and its validity and reliability were examined using exploratory factor analysis by SPSS version 21. RESULTS: The content validity of items on the PWSQ was between 0.63-1. The content validity index for relevance, clarity and simplicity were 0.92, 0.98, and 0.98, respectively, with a mean of 0.94. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.863. Test-retest reliability showed high internal consistency (α=0.89; p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: The psychometric evaluation and exploratory factor analysis showed that the translated questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool to identify stress in Iranian pregnant women. Application of the questionnaire can facilitate the diagnosis of stress in pregnant women and assist health care providers in providing timely support and minimizing negative outcomes of stress and anxiety in pregnant women and their infants

Older People’s Needs and Opportunities for Assistive Technologies

Older adults experience a disconnect between their needs and adoption of technologies that have potential to assist and to support more independent living. This paper reviewed research that links people’s needs with opportunities for assistive technologies. It searched 13 databases identifying 923 papers with 34 papers finally included for detailed analysis. The research papers identified needs in the fields of health, leisure, living, safety, communication, family relationship and social involvement. Amongst these, support for activities of daily living category was of most interest. In specific sub-categories, the next most reported need was assistive technology to support walking and mobility followed by smart cooking/kitchen technology and assistive technology for social contacts with family member/other people. The research aimed to inform a program of research into improving the adoption of technologies where they can ameliorate identified needs of older people

A brief review of robotics technologies to support social interventions for older users

In the last few decades, various studies demonstrated numerous robotics applications that can tackle the problem of the ageing population by supporting older people to live longer and independently at home. This article reviews the scientific literature and highlights how social robots can help the daily life of older people and be useful also as assessment tools for mild physical and mental conditions. It will underline the aspects of usability and acceptability of robotic solutions for older persons. Indeed, the design should maximise these to improve the users' attitude towards the actual use of the robots. The article discusses the advantages and concerns about the use of robotics technology in the social context with a vulnerable population. In this field, success is to assist social workers, not to replace them. We conclude recommending that care benefits should be balanced against ethical costs

Diagnostic value of colposcopy for identifying precancerous lesions of cervix in patients with abnormal pap smear

Background: Cervical carcinoma was among the most common neoplasm of females. Screening and diagnostics tests are widely used to identify the precancerous lesions. The present study was conducted to determine the diagnostic value of colposcopy for identifying precancerous lesions of cervix in patients with abnormal pap smear referring to ShabihKhani hospital in Kashan during an academic year. Materials and methods: This clinical trail was performed on 100 females with abnormal pap smear. They all underwent colposcopy and punch biopsy. They were assigned in two groups of positive negative according to the findings of colposcopy and biopsy. Results : The mean age of the candidates was 44.6±13.3 years. Colposcopy has a sensitivity of 79.2 and specificity of 63.8. Positive and negative predictive values were 71.2 and 73.2, respectively the total accuracy of the colposcopy was 72. Colposcopy has shown higher sensitivity for high grade lesions. Conclusion : Results have revealed that colposcopy could not identify precancerous lesions regardless of punch biopsy and cytology. With respect to the adequate sensitivity of colposcopy in high grade lesions, one could only rely on colposcopy findings when it reveals a high grade lesion. This screening technique is valuable for patient follow up in low grade lesions and diagnose of high grade lesion before the therapeutic approac

A qualitative study of experiences of asylum-seeker women of living in detention centres: confinement versus safety.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Findings of this study can provide healthcare providers, in particular nurses, an insight about this population's background and difficulties they experienced in detention and their negative psychological impacts which might affect treatment plan