Parents’ experience of pediatric cancer: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Suffering from life-threatening diseases such as cancer, due to its impact on the patients and their next of kin causes myriads of changes in the structure and function of the family. The objective of this study was to clarify parents' experiences of childhood cancer.METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted through purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 parents whose children were diagnosed with cancer in the oncology department of Besat Hospital in Sanandaj City, Iran. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed through Benner’s thematic analysis.RESULTS: During data analysis, 4 main themes emerged including destroyer and terminator of life, horror and hope, disturbance of normal life, and gaining valuable experience.CONCLUSION: Parental roles, routine care of a child with cancer, and facing multiple treatments and childcare problems threatened parents' compliance with the condition of the disease or treatment, and thus, parents sought social support. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the parents’ probable reaction and different life dimensions. To make healthcare more effective, providing necessary psychological, mental, and emotional support and increasing parental hope is necessary. Parents of a child with cancer should be assisted in preventing some healthcare problems and coping with their child’s illness

Parents’ experience of pediatric cancer: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Suffering from life-threatening diseases such as cancer, due to its impact on the patients and their next of kin causes myriads of changes in the structure and function of the family. The objective of this study was to clarify parents' experiences of childhood cancer. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted through purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 parents whose children were diagnosed with cancer in the oncology department of Besat Hospital in Sanandaj City, Iran. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed through Benner’s thematic analysis. RESULTS: During data analysis, 4 main themes emerged including destroyer and terminator of life, horror and hope, disturbance of normal life, and gaining valuable experience. CONCLUSION: Parental roles, routine care of a child with cancer, and facing multiple treatments and childcare problems threatened parents' compliance with the condition of the disease or treatment, and thus, parents sought social support. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the parents’ probable reaction and different life dimensions. To make healthcare more effective, providing necessary psychological, mental, and emotional support and increasing parental hope is necessary. Parents of a child with cancer should be assisted in preventing some healthcare problems and coping with their child’s illness

Relationship between asthma and related factors of birth

BACKGROUND: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood that causes disturbance in the physical, emotional, mental health, and different information has been mentioned on its risk factors, including factors associated with birth. Therefore, in this study, the relationship between children asthma and factors associated with birth was studied. METHODS: This case-control study was performed on 50 children with asthma as the case group and 150 children hospitalized without asthma as the control group (after matched for age and sex) in an age range of 4-14 years old. Information required on factors affecting asthma was recorded for both groups. Data analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows software. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that the majority of children in the case group were males born through cesarean operation (C-section). A significant difference was seen between two groups in terms of factors such as preterm [odds ratio (OR) = 3.27, confidence interval (CI) 95% = 1.57-6.81] and family history of asthma (OR = 8.50, CI 95% = 4.10-17.60). Regression model of relational variables with asthma show that the family history of asthma was most effective determinant on birth-related factors of asthma. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that positive family history of the disease and premature-birth in infant correlates significantly and directly with asthma occurrence in children. Thus, it is recommended to make further follow-ups in providing prenatal care and early diagnosis of the disease

The Survey of Facilitating and Inhibiting Factors of Clinical Education from the Perspective of Intern Nursing Students of Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery

Background and Aim: Ideal clinical education is the process of preparing nursing students to accept different roles in the areas of health services. This study was aimed to determine the facilitating and inhibiting factors of learning clinical skills from the viewpoints of intern nursing students in the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at Kurdistan university of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: In this study, 48 nursing students were selected by convenience sampling. Data collection tool was a questionnaire consisted of three sections including 7 questions for demographic information, 34 and 30 questions related to the facilitating and inhibiting factors affecting learning clinical skills respectively. SPSS software and regression 16 were used for data analysis. Findings: The results of this study showed that the most important factor in facilitating intern student learning clinical skills was related to the scope of the relationship between teacher and student (34%), and the most inhibiting factor was teacher characteristics (45.8%). Conclusion: The findings indicated the desperate need for professional competence in intern nursing students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences while considering the facilitating and inhibiting factors in clinical education

Survey of eight dimensions quality of life for patients with diabetes type II, referred to Sanandaj diabetes center in 2009

Background & Objective: Diabetes is a chronic disease; the patients suffer from diabetes needs a special care. One of the programs to help these kinds of patients is to analyze their quality of life, which was carried out through a nursing disciplinary program by a cross sectional study during 2009. Materials & Methods: 198 type II diabetic patients who were referred to diabetic center of an educational hospital, affiliated to Sanandaj medical university were selected randomly, they were interviewed and obtained a written permission to join this study, then asked to fill up SF-36 questionnaires, and finally, the data from the questionnaires were analyzed by the SPSS software program. Results: The results showed the quality of life of diabetes patients (55.6%) with respect to their physical fitness were acceptable. Whereas, in case of play in the physical role 67.7% were not acceptable but in case of the physical pain 45.3% had physical pain and effects on public health 45.6% were moderately effected, in case of energy and vitality 35.4% were not acceptable, in case of social functioning 38.5% were favorable, in case of emotional role 75.8% were undesirable and finally considering psycho mental health 49.5% were in the desirable limit. Statistical analysis for evaluation of relationship between quality of life and demographic data, were carried out by using "ANOVA” test. Conclusion: This study showed that the quality of life in all the group of study were at moderate level. In order to improve the quality of life in diabetes patients it is suggested that planners and managers should pay enough attention to support the physical, mental and social well being of the diabetes patients

Clinical Education Stressors from the Perspective of Students of Nursing, Midwifery, and Operating Room: A Study in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Continuous investigation of educational stressors, and managing them is essential for quality improvement of clinical education. This study investigated stressors of clinical education from the perspective of nursing, midwifery and operating room students at Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences during year 2010. Methods: This descriptive study was performed on all 230 students of nursing, midwifery and operating room who had passed at least one clinical course. Data gathering tool was a researcher made questionnaire. The mean scores to each five domains of stressors (including inter-personal communication, humiliating experiences, educational environment, clinical experiences, and unpleasant emotions) were calculated (the range of scores was 1 to 5). Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Tukey post hoc. Results: Among all students, midwifery students gave the highest total stress score in these 5 domains (3.52± .45), and the highest domain score belonged to unpleasant emotions(3.61± .75). After that, the highest tensive domain in nursing group was the educational environment (3.34± .82). In operating room students also, the most tensive domain was unpleasant emotions again (3.29±.86). The results of comparing clinical education stressors in study groups using one-way ANOVA indicated a significant difference among all domains except humiliating experience. Tukey test showed a significant difference between clinical education stressors of midwifery and operating room groups. Conclusion: Students of different fields of medical sciences are exposed to several stressors throughout the clinical education processes. Determining these factors could play an important role in reducing this stress. Considering the fact that unpleasant emotions was the most intensive stressor in this study, paying attention to this issue and exploring its dimensions to implement appropriate strategies seems to be necessary

The Effect of Self-Management Program on Adherence to Treatment Regimen in Patients with Hypertension

Background and Aim: Hypertension is a common challenge in many parts of the world. Medical reports have indicated that failure to control blood pressure is due to patients' non-compliance with treatment. One of the health related behaviors which can lead to successful treatment and reduce the negative side effects and severity of the disease is patients' adherence to the treatment regimen. Using a self-management program is one of the ways to manage the disease by the individual. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of self-management program on adherence to treatment regimen in the pateints with hypertension. Material and Methods: This was a semi-experimental study, which included 70 patients with hypertension in Imam Mohammad Ghazali Clinic in Sanandaj City in 2020. The samples were selected using available sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups, intervention (n=35) and control groups (n=35). The intervention group participated in blood pressure self-management skills training for 2 sessions (45 minutes each session) and the control group was placed in the waiting list. Data collection tools included a demographic information form and a questionnaire of adherence to the treatment regimen of Madanloo patients. Using SPSS-22 software, data were analyzed by Chi-square, Fisher's exact test and repeated measurements. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of demographic characteristics (p<0.05). The results of the repeated measures analysis showed a significant difference between the two groups in the different aspects of treatment i.e., diligence in treatment (P=0.039) commitment to treatment (P=0.003) and adherence to treatment (P=0.041). Also, the interaction effects of time and group on diligence in treatment (P=0.000), commitment to treatment (P=0.001) and adherence to treatment (P=0.000) were significant. Comparison between intervention and control groups showed self-management training in the intervention group led to increase in the average scores of adherence to treatment aspects, including diligence in treatment, commitment to treatment, and the overall score of adherence to treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion:  The designed and evaluated self-care educational interventions in the present study increased adherence to the treatment and improved its components in the intervention group. Therefore, improving self-care in the patients with hypertension, can possibly help maintain blood pressure in the normal range and reduce its related complications

Meanings of Health for Iranian Diabetic Patients: A qualitative study

Introduction: Health is an exclusive and subjective phenomenon, and one of the most important situations with regard to perception of health, arises when patients suffer from a chronic disease. This study was conducted within the qualitative research framework and aimed to explore the meanings of health as perceived by a group of Iranian diabetic patients. Methods: A descriptive qualitative analysis design was used. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 participants among diabetic patients, who were admitted to the diabetes care centre of Tohid Hospital of the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran during a ten-month period in 2014. Interviews were transcribed and analysed through conventional content analysis. Results: Based on the findings of the study, three major health-related themes emerged: 1) the syndrome of the healthy body and the happy heart (physical well-being vivacity, satisfaction, and calmness of the mind), 2) life without compulsory limitations (lack of dietary limitations, No activity limitations, lack of social limitations), and 3) exalted spirituality (satisfying self and others, trusting God, remembering God). Conclusion: Health care providers should consider the meaning of health in special groups, chiefly in patients with chronic diseases. It facilitates the development of appropriate programmes to improve desirable health levels among diabetic patients

Association between exercise and changes in gut microbiota profile: a review

Multiple diseases can decrease levels and changes in gut microbial populations, while increasing microbiota diversity causes an increase in the immune response. Evidence shows that exercise can affect the gut microbiota and, subsequently, the health of individuals. Also, regular exercise provides many benefits for health, protection against the spread of chronic diseases, and improved quality of life. Exercise can increase the number of helpful microbiota species, enrich microflora diversity, and improve the growth of commensal microbiota. This article reviews recent findings on the interaction of gut microbiota and exercise. Also, another purpose of this research is to suggest different mechanisms that using them can provide the way that the exercise factor can change the gut microbiota