The effects of multimedia-based puberty health education on male students� self- esteem in the middle school abstr

Background: Adolescents, as a large group of the world population, face many physical and psychological changes in their puberty period. They struggle with adjusting to the intensive changes that can lead to the development of low self-esteem. This study was conducted to determine the effect of multimedia-based puberty health education on male students� self-esteem in the middle school. Methods: It is a quasi-experimental study by using multi-stage sampling method which was done on 118 boys from two middle schools in Ilam (an Iranian city) from November 2017 to April 2018. Students were divided into two intervention (N=58) and control (N=60) groups. Then, the intervention group students were trained using a multimedia application. Data were gathered using a demographic questionnaire and Rosenberg�s Self-Esteem Scale completed by students in three phases including before, immediately after, and three months after the end of the educational program. The collected data were analyzed using independent t-test, Chi-square, Fisher�s exact test, post hoc test, and repeated measures ANOVA. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16, and P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean and standard deviation of the self-esteem scores in the intervention and control groups were 28.37±3.58 and 27.89±3.82 before the education, 32.17±3.12 and 27.50±3.56 immediately after the education, and 33.83±3.32 as well as 27.32±4.37 three months later, respectively. Mean self-esteem scores were significantly different post-intervention (P<0.001) and three months later (P<0.001) between the two groups. Conclusion: Education on puberty health assisted by multimedia application can increase self-esteem in adolescent boys. © 2019, Shriaz University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Investigation the Relationship among Mobile Value-added Services Quality, Customer Satisfaction and the Continuance Intention: Case Study, Hamrah Avval Operator

Understanding the antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction in the mobile communications market is important. This study explores the effects of service quality, trust and perceived value on customer satisfaction, which, in turn, affects continuance intention of mobile services. Service quality and customer satisfaction were measured by multiple dimensions. A research model was developed based on this multidimensional approach and was empirically examined with data collected from about one 237 users of mobile value-added services in Tehran university. Results show that all two dimensions of service quality (interaction quality and outcome quality) and perceived value have significant and positive effects on customer satisfaction while only one dimension of service quality (environment quality) and trust have no effect on customer satisfaction

Psychometric testing of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale in an Iranian sample of family caregivers to newly diagnosed breast cancer women

Aim. To translate and test the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale. Background. Research across many countries has determined quality of life of cancer patients, but few attempts have been made to measure the quality of life of family caregivers of patients with breast cancer. The Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale was developed for this purpose, but until now, it has not been translated into or tested in the Persian language. Design. Methodological research design. Methods. After standard translation, the 35-item Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale was administered to 166 Iranian family caregivers of patients with breast cancer. A confirmatory factor analysis was carried out using LISREL to test the scale's construct validity. Further, the internal consistency and convergent validity of the instrument were tested. For convergent validity, four instruments were used in the study: sense of coherence scale, spirituality perspective scale, health index and brief religious coping scale. Results. The confirmatory factor analysis resulted in the same four-factor structure as the original, though, with somewhat different item loadings. The Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scales had satisfactory internal consistency (0·72-0·90). Tests of convergent validity showed that all hypotheses were confirmed. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis additionally confirmed the convergent validity between the total Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer score and sense of coherence (=0·34), negative religious coping (=-0·21), education (=0·24) and the more severe stage of breast cancer (=0·23), in total explaining 41 of the variance. Conclusion. The Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale could be a reliable and valid measure in Iranian family caregivers of patients with breast cancer. Relevance to clinical practice. The Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale is simple to administer and will help nurses to identify the nursing needs of family caregivers. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Patient-reported outcome measures for cancer caregivers: a systematic review

Purpose Informal caregivers provide invaluable help and support to people with cancer. As treatments extend survival and the potential burdens on carers increase, there is a need to assess the impact of the role. This systematic review identified instruments that measure the impact of caregiving, evaluated their psychometric performance specifically in cancer and appraised the content. Methods A 2-stage search strategy was employed to: 1. identify instruments that measure the impact of caregiving, 2. run individual searches on each measure to identify publications evaluating psychometric performance in the target population. Searches were conducted in Medline, Embase, CINAHL and Psychinfo and restricted to English for instrument used and article language. Psychometric performance was evaluated for content and construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, precision, responsiveness and acceptability. Individual scale items were extracted and systematically categorised into conceptual domains. Results 10 papers were included reporting on the psychometric properties of 8 measures. Although construct validity and internal consistency were most frequently evaluated, no study comprehensively evaluated all relevant properties. Few studies met our inclusion criteria so it was not possible to consider the psychometric performance of the measures across a group of studies. Content analysis resulted in 16 domains with 5 overarching themes: lifestyle disruption; wellbeing; health of the caregiver; managing the situation and relationships. Conclusions Few measures of caregiver impact have been subject to psychometric evaluation in cancer caregivers. Those that have do not capture well changes in roles and responsibilities within the family and career, indicating the need for a new instrument

To share or not to share: the optimal advertising effort with asymmetric advertising effectiveness

In this paper, we study a two-stage model in which a manufacturer expands to a new market through a local retailer and has private information on the advertising effectiveness. The manufacturer chooses the information sharing format with the retailer, either no information sharing or mandatory information sharing. Under no information sharing format, the manufacturer and the retailer play a signaling game. We derive both separating and pooling equilibria and conduct equilibrium refinements for the signaling game. Under mandatory information sharing format, the manufacturer simply informs the retailer the advertising effectiveness. We also establish the stylized model and derive the optimal advertising effort. By comparing the manufacturer’s ex ante profit under the two information sharing formats, we find that the manufacturer always prefers mandatory information sharing, under which both the advertising effort and profit can be higher. We also observe that unlike the common case that the channel members may have different preference over the information sharing formats, the manufacturer and the retailer can actually achieve alignment. While some previous studies suggest that the manufacturer and the retailer may have different preference over the information sharing formats, we find that they can actually achieve alignment with asymmetric information on advertising effectiveness

Genetic Structure of Modern Durum Wheat Cultivars and Mediterranean Landraces Matches with Their Agronomic Performance

A collection of 172 durum wheat landraces from 21 Mediterranean countries and 20 modern cultivars were phenotyped in 6 environments for 14 traits including phenology, biomass, yield and yield components. The genetic structure of the collection was ascertained with 44 simple sequence repeat markers that identified 448 alleles, 226 of them with a frequency lower than 5%, and 10 alleles per locus on average. In the modern cultivars all the alleles were fixed in 59% of the markers. Total genetic diversity was HT = 0.7080 and the genetic differentiation value was GST = 0.1730. STRUCTURE software allocated 90.1% of the accessions in five subpopulations, one including all modern cultivars, and the four containing landrace related to their geographic origin: eastern Mediterranean, eastern Balkans and Turkey, western Balkans and Egypt, and western Mediterranean. Mean yield of subpopulations ranged from 2.6 t ha-1 for the western Balkan and Egyptian landraces to 4.0 t ha-1 for modern cultivars, with the remaining three subpopulations showing similar values of 3.1 t ha-1. Modern cultivars had the highest number of grains m-2 and harvest index, and the shortest cycle length. The diversity was lowest in modern cultivars (HT = 0.4835) and highest in landraces from the western Balkans and Egypt (HT = 0.6979). Genetic diversity and AMOVA indicated that variability between subpopulations was much lower (17%) than variability within them (83%), though all subpopulations had similar biomass values in all growth stages. A dendrogram based on simple sequence repeat data matched with the clusters obtained by STRUCTURE, improving this classification for some accessions that have a large admixture. landraces included in the subpopulation from the eastern Balkans and Turkey were separated into two branches in the dendrogram drawn with phenotypic data, suggesting a different origin for the landraces collected in Serbia and Macedonia. The current study shows a reliable relationship between genetic and phenotypic population structures, and the connection of both with the geographic origin of the landraces.The research was funded by the Ministerio de Economía y competitividad project AGL-2006-09226-C02-01, and Dr. Jose Miguel Soriano is funded by Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (http://www.mineco.gob.es/)

Carbon and strontium isotope chemostratigraphy of the Neoproterozoic carbonates from the Amadeus Basin, NT.

This item is only available electronically.Stratigraphic sections that include Bitter Springs Group, Wallara Formation and Ringwood Member were selected from two cores in the Amadeus Basin, which are BR05DD01 and Wallara-1 to be examined, and evaluated using stable carbon isotopes (δ13Ccarb) and radiogenic strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotopes, together with major and trace elements, measured in carbonates. Correlation of acquired δ13CC and 87Sr/86Sr data with local and global C and Sr isotope records were explored and evaluated, and our results suggest that δ13Ccarb trend from studied cores showed strong correlation with presumably coeval global δ13C records, however most of our 87Sr/86Sr data appeared to be more radiogenic than global marine Sr isotope record. This in turn suggests that the depositional environment of the Amadeus Basin was predominantly restricted with respect to a coeval Neoproterozoic open ocean. Also, this proposed basin restriction became more enhanced with time (from Tonian to Cryogenian/Ediacaran), however some 87Sr/86Sr data from the Tonian Bitter Springs Group are very close to the expected global marine Sr isotope trend. This, on the other hand, is not the case for younger (Cryogenian, Ediacaran) carbonates from the Amadeus Basin (e.g., Ringwood Member, Olympic Formation) as these have systematically much more radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr signatures compared to the expected Neoproterozoic paleo-seawater 87Sr/86Sr trend. We also found a high abundance of rubidium (Rb) in studied carbonate rocks, which will cause higher production of radiogenic strontium (87Sr) within the bulk carbonates since their deposition. All our 87Sr/86Sr data were thus corrected for in-situ 87Rb decay, which caused the measured strontium isotopes to be additionally more radiogenic. Nevertheless, even after this correction for Rb decay, our 87Sr/86Sr trends from most of the studied carbonates are systematically more radiogenic than the global marine 87Sr/86Sr trend, further corroborating the above progressive restriction of the Amadeus Basin throughout the Neoproterozoic. Furthermore, based on C isotope constraints, we also argue that the formation carbonates in the top part of the BR05DD01 core correspond to the Aralka Formation and its carbonate-rich Ringwood Member. The paleo-redox conditions were constrained using rare earth element (REE) patterns, specifically based on the Ce anomaly (Ce/Ce*), wherein most of the results from studied Neoproterozoic carbonates showed a positive Ce anomaly. This in turn indicates that the seawater/local basin waters in the Amadeus Basin were predominantly anoxic during the deposition of both Bitter Springs Group (Tonian) and the Ringwood Member (Cryogenian). However, selected carbonates from Bitter Springs Group sampled from the Wallara-1 core showed a true negative Ce anomaly, and also have less radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr values (close to expected global ocean) which thus might suggest transient more oxic shallow-water conditions in marine-dominated evaporitic settings, compared to the rest of the studied Neoproterozoic carbonate records from the Amadeus Basin.Thesis (B.Sc.(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Physical Sciences, 201

Impact of an Educational Program on Nurses' Performance in Providing Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Care for Neonates

All nurses who care for neonates with peripherally inserted central catheters require enhanced awareness of the current practice guidelines and standards. This study evaluated the impact of an educational program on nurses' performance from May 2016 to July 2017 at 4 hospitals in Tehran, Iran. The performance of 80 nurses was observed and scored 3 times before the intervention. Four weeks after the last training session, their performance was observed with the same researcher, and the checklist was completed 3 times in different working shifts. Four 35- to 45-minute training sessions were completed with a 4-week follow-up. Results of the study indicated that training courses should be held every 6 months, including permanent or periodic feedback. © 2020 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved

Impact of an education program on the performance of nurses in providing oral care for mechanically ventilated children

Background: Mechanically ventilated children are prone to pneumonia due to immobilization and lack of laryngeal (cough) reflex and swallowing. Nurses are directly responsible for many clinical approaches used to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia. Objective: The research objective is to determine the effectiveness of the nurse education program on the performance of nurses in providing oral care for mechanically ventilated children. Methods: This quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was conducted on 100 nurses (50 in each of the control and intervention groups) in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) in Tehran, 2015. The research tools included a demographic form and three checklists for evaluation of performance according to the clinical practice guidelines for the oral health status of children in PICU. Before intervention, the performance of nurses in both groups was observed at three stages and three different shifts, using an observational checklist. After one month, their performance was observed again with the same checklist at three stages and three different shifts in the PICU. The training was done in four 40-50 minute sessions in a workshop with a 4-week follow-up. The Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, paired t-test, independent t-test, and regression analysis comprised the tools used to analyze the data. Findings: The mean performance scores of nurses before the education program in the intervention and control groups were 42.8 (±18.5) and 48.7 (±15.7), respectively. These scores improved to 68.6 (±31.4) and 48.6 (±15.4) four weeks after the intervention (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The performance of nurses in providing oral care for mechanically ventilated children improved after the intervention. It is recommended to implement this program for all nurses, regardless of their ward or specialty, based on the clinical practice guidelines. The periodic refreshing in-service training program should be provided to nurses in PICU in order to enhance their performance in providing oral care. © 2018 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Lt