Identification of Concepts of Spiritual Care in Iranian Peoples with Multiple Sclerosis: A Qualitative Study

Living with multiple sclerosis (MS) often needs attention combined with receiving the holistic care. Attention to spiritual care dimension is one of the most important aspects of care for these patients. This study aims at exploring and explaining dimensions of spiritual care for MS patients in care system of Iran. This study is conducted to explore the concept of spiritual care in care system of Iran during 2015-2016. Purposive sampling is done on 25 participants through unstructured interviews and observation of obtained data through conventional content analysis approach. Four themes of participants' experiences in spiritual care include restoration of identity essence and nature; disease as a factor for nearness to God; giving meaning to life; and disease as a facilitator for self-purification. Clear understanding of spiritual care dimensions and promoting knowledge in MS nurses as the caregivers play important roles in achieving the goals of health among patients in different cultures and religions. Given the results of this study, the themes such as the restoration of identity essence and nature, the disease as a factor for nearness to God, giving meaning to life and the disease as a facilitator for self-purification play important roles in explaining the concept of spiritual care in patients with MS. Therefore, the MS nurses and other health professionals need to effectively and successfully integrate the concept of spiritual care with their professional performance by deep understanding of this concept and try to provide holistic care to respond to MS patients' intertwined needs

Greenness as a Differentiating Strategy

In a vertical differentiation model, we study a market where consumers, depending on their level of environmental consciousness, value the greenness of the product they consume and are distributed according to a Kumaraswamy distribution. Three scenarios are studied: only one firm takes some green measures and firms compete upon prices; only one firm takes some green measures, and this firm acts as the leader of the price competition; and finally, both firms choose their level of greenness and compete upon their location and price. The results suggest that as consumers become more environmentally conscious, the marginal consumer and the greener firm’s location move to the right. In contrast, the less green firm’s response is non-monotonic. In fact, when the two firms choose their location along with their prices, the latter firm chooses to produce a less green product in response to more environmentally conscious consumers. In the extreme case where all consumers are fully environmentally conscious, the latter firm produces a brown product and sells it at a price equal to its marginal cost. In this case, the greener firm’s price and location choices make the consumers indifferent between the two products. These results could explain why despite all the improvements in the consumers’ environmental consciousness, brown (in its general term) products are still widely produced and consumed, even by environmentally conscious consumers

Reclamation of a Resource Extraction Site Model with Random Components

We compute the cooperative and the Nash equilibrium solutions for the discounted optimal control problem in a two-player differential game of reclamation of a resource extraction site, where each firm’s planning horizon presents the period that extraction of the resources from their site is economically viable. Hence, the planning horizon is defined by a random duration determined on the infinite time horizon. The comparison of the cooperative and Nash solutions and also the comparative statics are provided numerically. We also define the concept of “normalized value of cooperation” and explain how this concept could help us to better characterize the losses the players will face if they continue to refrain from cooperation

The effect of family-centered care on the family caregivers' burden of patients with epilepsy

Background and Aims Caring for patients with epilepsy, creates many challenges for their family caregivers. The implementation of family-based interventions can facilitate the caring duty of caregivers and increase the quality of care for patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of family-based care program on care burden in family caregivers of patients with epilepsy. Methods This clinical trial study was conducted in Ayatollah Kashani and Hajar hospitals in Shahrekord City, Iran for 7 months in 2016. Samples were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned in the intervention (n=50) and control (n=50) groups. For the intervention group, a family-centered care program was implemented including self-efficacy, self-esteem and evaluation, through education, support, problem solving and group discussion during four sessions. Data were collected by using Persian version of Zarit's burden of care scale from the intervention and control groups in three stages; before, immediately, and two months after the intervention. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical t-test and ANOVA with repeated measurement in the SPSS. Results The mean score of burden of care in the intervention and control groups were 37.42 and 34, respectively before the intervention (P<0.179). The mean score of care burden in the intervention and control groups immediately after the intervention was 21.36 and 28.7 , respectively and two months after the intervention was 15.78 and 27.92 respectively. Conclusion The results showed that a simple, low-cost and feasibility program of family-based care has significantly reduced the care burden of caregivers of epilepsy patients. This family centered program can help to play a better role for family caregivers with physical and psychological stress

The effect of family-centered care on the family caregivers\' burden of patients with epilepsy

Background and Aims Caring for patients with epilepsy, creates many challenges for their family caregivers. The implementation of family-based interventions can facilitate the caring duty of caregivers and increase the quality of care for patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of family-based care program on care burden in family caregivers of patients with epilepsy. Methods This clinical trial study was conducted in Ayatollah Kashani and Hajar hospitals in Shahrekord City, Iran for 7 months in 2016. Samples were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned in the intervention (n=50) and control (n=50) groups. For the intervention group, a family-centered care program was implemented including self-efficacy, self-esteem and evaluation, through education, support, problem solving and group discussion during four sessions. Data were collected by using Persian version of Zaritchr('39')s burden of care scale from the intervention and control groups in three stages; before, immediately, and two months after the intervention. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical t-test and ANOVA with repeated measurement in the SPSS. Results The mean score of burden of care in the intervention and control groups were 37.42 and 34, respectively before the intervention (P<0.179). The mean score of care burden in the intervention and control groups immediately after the intervention was 21.36 and 28.7 , respectively and two months after the intervention was 15.78 and 27.92 respectively. Conclusion The results showed that a simple, low-cost and feasibility program of family-based care has significantly reduced the care burden of caregivers of epilepsy patients. This family centered program can help to play a better role for family caregivers with physical and psychological stress

The effect of family-centered care on the family caregivers\' burden of patients with epilepsy

Background and Aims Caring for patients with epilepsy, creates many challenges for their family caregivers. The implementation of family-based interventions can facilitate the caring duty of caregivers and increase the quality of care for patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of family-based care program on care burden in family caregivers of patients with epilepsy. Methods This clinical trial study was conducted in Ayatollah Kashani and Hajar hospitals in Shahrekord City, Iran for 7 months in 2016. Samples were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned in the intervention (n=50) and control (n=50) groups. For the intervention group, a family-centered care program was implemented including self-efficacy, self-esteem and evaluation, through education, support, problem solving and group discussion during four sessions. Data were collected by using Persian version of Zarit's burden of care scale from the intervention and control groups in three stages; before, immediately, and two months after the intervention. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical t-test and ANOVA with repeated measurement in the SPSS. Results The mean score of burden of care in the intervention and control groups were 37.42 and 34, respectively before the intervention (P<0.179). The mean score of care burden in the intervention and control groups immediately after the intervention was 21.36 and 28.7 , respectively and two months after the intervention was 15.78 and 27.92 respectively. Conclusion The results showed that a simple, low-cost and feasibility program of family-based care has significantly reduced the care burden of caregivers of epilepsy patients. This family centered program can help to play a better role for family caregivers with physical and psychological stress. &nbsp

Happiness Program in Improving Sleep Quality in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Background: Since happiness affects the various aspects of human life and is considered as one of the most important psychological needs, achieving it and it effects on the health of the body and soul has always occupied the mind of human beings. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Forde's happiness program on sleep quality in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: This randomized clinical trial study was performed in the MS Society of Shahrekord in 2018. 70 eligible patients with MS were recruited through convenience sampling method and randomly allocated into intervention and control groups equally. The Fordyce Happiness Training Program was conducted in eight sessions in the intervention group. The sleep quality was measured by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), before intervention, immediately and three months after the implementation of Fordyce Happiness Program. The data analysis was analyzed using Chi-square, and independent t-test and Fishers exact test for demographic data distribution in intervention and control group, and repeated measures ANOVA for sleep quality in SPSS-16. Results: The findings indicated that total scores of sleep quality of the two intervention (4.61±.052) and control (6.62±.054) groups were not significantly different before the intervention (P=0.05). However, the mean sleep quality scores of intervention and control groups showed a significant difference before, immediately after the intervention with a significant decrease in sleep quality scores over time (F=23.291, P˂0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that the implementation of Fordyce Happiness Training Program in MS patients is a suitable method for improving sleep quality, and if this program continues, they will get better results

Identification of Concepts of Spiritual Care in Iranian Peoples with Multiple Sclerosis: A Qualitative Study

Living with multiple sclerosis (MS) often needs attention combined with receiving the holistic care. Attention to spiritual care dimension is one of the most important aspects of care for these patients. This study aims at exploring and explaining dimensions of spiritual care for MS patients in care system of Iran. This study is conducted to explore the concept of spiritual care in care system of Iran during 2015–2016. Purposive sampling is done on 25 participants through unstructured interviews and observation of obtained data through conventional content analysis approach. Four themes of participants’ experiences in spiritual care include restoration of identity essence and nature; disease as a factor for nearness to God; giving meaning to life; and disease as a facilitator for self-purification. Clear understanding of spiritual care dimensions and promoting knowledge in MS nurses as the caregivers play important roles in achieving the goals of health among patients in different cultures and religions. Given the results of this study, the themes such as the restoration of identity essence and nature, the disease as a factor for nearness to God, giving meaning to life and the disease as a facilitator for self-purification play important roles in explaining the concept of spiritual care in patients with MS. Therefore, the MS nurses and other health professionals need to effectively and successfully integrate the concept of spiritual care with their professional performance by deep understanding of this concept and try to provide holistic care to respond to MS patients’ intertwined needs