Reproductive Health Need Assessment of Adolescent Boys and Girls during Puberty: A Qualitative Study

Background Adolescence is the transient period from childhood to adulthood and the beginning of physical, mental and social changes. Understanding and meeting adolescents’ needs may have important effects on reducing theirs dangerous behaviors and therefore, will result in a more health society. This study aimed to assess the reproductive health needs of Iranian adolescent. Materials and Methods This qualitative design study explored the reproductive health needs among Iranian adolescent boys and girls. Purposeful sampling method was used until data saturation was reached. Data was gathered using focus group for girls and face to face interviews for boys. The interviews used semi-structured questions. Data analysis was carried out using the method proposed by Altschuld for need assessment. Trustworthiness of the data was assessed using Guba and Lincoln Indicators. Results Participants were 10 adolescent girls (age range from 13-15) and ten 14-17 year age male adolescences. The reproductive health needs of girls included 4 categories:  Menarche and puberty health, Discrimination in family and society, Sexual orientation, education and Consultation demands. The needs extracted from interviews of adolescent boys included adaptation with changes in puberty, sexual orientation, educational and consultation demands. Conclusion Despite some differences between males and females needs, their reproductive health needs are greatly similar. Adolescents need more Education and consultatio

Reproductive Health Needs Assessment in the View of Iranian Elderly Women and Elderly Men

Objective: To assess reproductive health needs in men and women as the first and basic step in educational planning. Materials and methods: The study was qualitative. Participants were Postmenopausal women and men over 60 years. Data gathering was done by semi structured interviews. Analysis of the qualitative data was conducted during a multi-step process according to the assessment method of Altschuld et al needs analysis. Results: Two general themes were considered in categorizing codes extracted from interviews: 1) Problems, 2) Demands. Women’s reproductive health problems were Problems associated with menopause, Related to family planning, sexual problems, and diseases and cancers. Reproductive health problems in men were in two main subthemes Urinary-reproductive problems and sexual dysfunction. Their main demand was for establishing a health center for geriatric reproductive health. Conclusion: Aging has severe effect on men’s and women’s reproductive health and elderly peoples need health services to cope with changes, therefore these needs should be considered in medical curriculums.

Development and application of a social accountability assessment tool at the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences

Background: One of the critical needs of governmental agencies and educational institutions is meeting community needs. Organizations and governmental systems that rely on social capital are considered inefficient and vulnerable if they are unable to meet the needs of society. Thus, accountability is a critical pillar of government management that leads to effective actions and better service delivery. Methods: Critical review methodology was used in the first phase to review texts and documents available in the field of social accountability and to collect items used to develop the social accountability assessment tool. The Delphi method was then used to finalize and approve the model and assessment tool. University processes were investigated and evaluated based on the social accountability tool in the second phase. Result: In all, 422 university processes were investigated and evaluated to determine their accountability in different fields. The mean score of the evaluated processes was 11.9 out of 100. Conclusion: The results show that social accountability is a relatively new topic that has received considerable attention in medical education in Iran. Given the relative newness of this topic, these results could be expected; social accountability should try and be expected to improve in the coming years

Students’ Perception toward Elements of Globalization in Four Interdisciplinary Summer Schools in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran

Background & Objective: Globalization is one of the most important topics in higher education today, which presents a powerful challenge and an opportunity for medical sciences university and healthcare provider. Nowadays, increasingly faced with healthcare challenges that require an understanding of global health trends and practices, yet little is known about what constitutes appropriate global health training. The main purpose of this research was to review the association between perception of globalization and information mastery and curriculum planning. Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical study on medical students. The study population consisted of 180 medical sciences students who were selected with random sampling methods. In order to measure attitudes of students towards globalization, measures were developed and used by researchers. For the purpose of evaluating of the validity of the measures, construct validity was utilized by factor analysis. In order to determine the reliability of the measures Cronbach's alpha was used, as well. Results: Findings indicated that the total respondents agreed or had positive approach towards globalization. Based on the results of the factor analysis, four factors i.e. personal and social attitude with 15 questions, sociopolitical attitude, and 7 question, two questions for performance and the fourth factor was the resource management concept of globalization which were identified with only one question in the questionnaire. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that there was no statistically significant association the students' perspective and demographic variables gender, school and age. Conclusion: The positive perception of globalization highlighted the needs of global health educational competencies and approaches used in medical schools and the need to facilitate greater consensus amongst medical educators and students on appropriate global health training for future health care providers. This process led to world integration, density of human awareness and world culture formation Keywords Globalization Medical sciences students Factor analysi

Students and Teachers’ View about Educational Regulation Related to Continuing Education without Entrance Exam

Introduction: In recent years, ministry of health and medical education has approved a regulation for accepting top students for postgraduate courses without entrance exam that leads to many critiques and discussions. This article addressed students’ and teacher’s view about this regulation. Methods: This was a qualitative study at school of nursing and midwifery, Isfahan University of medical sciences. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews. Undergraduate students in 7th and 8th semester (who were not eligible for acceptance without entrance exam), postgraduate students and faculty members were selected using purposeful sampling. Data saturation was achieved with 8 interviews. Results: 3 main themes and 11 subthemes were obtained. They were Justice (selecting only one outstanding student, inappropriate selection criteria, little differences and big outcome, ignoring differences between universities, deserve to be accepted) Ethical problems (destructive competition, bad communication with student who is accepted, negative attitude toward classmates) knowledge improvement (encouraging students in getting knowledge, optimized application of free higher education). Discussion: The most frequent mentioned theme was injustice. However, decision-making for accepting students should be according to the public justice and higher education goals, and it must lead to a perfect policy and decision-making. There is no a standard and obvious strategy for student selection in higher education institutes, and it is hoped to consider the best strategy

The Localization, development and validation of a survey instrument to assess attitudes toward professionalism based on the opinions of clinical teachers

Abstract Background This study examined the validation of a survey instrument to assess attitudes toward professionalism based on the opinions of clinical teachers in Iran and localized it. Methods The research is applied-descriptive, that is conducted in two stages: qualitative and quantitative. Fifteen expert professors in the field of professionalism from Iranian universities of medical sciences participated in qualitative stage by Delphi. sampling method was purposive. In the quantitative stage, using simple and quota sampling method, 82 samples were collected from all clinical professors of first ranked universities of medical sciences. We used “The Penn State College of Medicine Professionalism Questionnaire”( PSCOM) as a basic questionnaire. Its validity assessed by Delphi and survey. Some items changed, deleted and added. Then it confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Data analysis was performed using one-sample t-test and SmartPLS software. Results Seven dimensions and 48 final indicators were approved and all 7 dimensions were in good condition. Among the approved dimensions, “the enrichment” with a factor load of 0.238, was the biggest factor in measuring the variable of professionalism. The dimensions of “respect”, “responsibility”, “altruism”, “duty”, “honor, honesty and justice”, “respectively” with factor loads of 0.215, 0.212, 0.163, 0.146, 0.106 and 0.047 are ranked in order. Conclusion the most dimensions in PSCOM are accepted by experts and teachers, but there are many differences in details. If we want to have an accurate tool for measuring attitudes toward professionalism, then, it is necessary to study localization and validation of instrument to assess attitudes toward professionalism in every new community. Delphi and factor analysis could be useful for assessing tool in new community

Peer Assessment in evaluation of Medical sciences students

Introduction: Recently, peer assessment is especially noticed as a progress evaluation method. Although it is a known method, it is a novel method in many countries that they use traditional methods. Then the topic of current review article is peer assessment in medical education. Methods: The documents related to peer assessment, advantages, disadvantages, applications and how use it extracted of articles, books and report of researches in reliable sources. Results: Peer assessment is a comprehensive evaluation of peer student performance and activities. The main aim of using this method was to produce more correspondence to own learning and peer learning. Of advantages for this method might be mentioned like increasing in student perception of his/her learning, encourage students to accept accountability for their learning, give and get feedback, encourage students to deep learning. The peer assessment is used in evaluation for communication skills, professionalism and effective domain. In peer assessment we should notice to some points: determine assessment criteria, discussion between students after peer assessment, confidence of sufficient time and educating it to students. Also we should notice to some limitations like the correlation between characteristics and results of assessment. Conclusion: Peer assessment is an evaluation method, that if it was used correct and proper, it could be an effective method in formative evaluation for some domains of medical education like affective domain. It is necessary, according to the gap in evaluation of these domains of medical education, we use better of this cheap and accessible tool

Effect of stress inoculation training on the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in cancer patients

Background: Cancer is a broad group (over 270 types) of diseases. This disease, like other chronic diseases, occurs in all ages and ethnic groups, and is considered as a major health problem. Stress is one of the most important psychological factors influencing the occurrence of physical diseases, and can lead to severe anxiety, depression, and negative effects on health. It can also make individuals vulnerable to physical diseases, and in the long term, leads to death. This study was conducted to determine the effect of inoculation training on stress, anxiety, and depression in cancer patients. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in 2013 as a clinical trial with convenient random sampling of patients from the chemotherapy clinic of Seyed Al-Shohada hospital of Isfahan. Forty patients with cancer who were eligible for the study were randomly assigned to either case or control group. The case and control groups had the same treatment plans, and the only difference was stress inoculation training administered in the case group, which was composed of eight 90-min sessions over 8 weeks. Data were collected using Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales 42 (DASS-42) questionnaire and demographic questionnaire, and analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test in SPSS. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between case and control groups in terms of stress, anxiety, and depression ( P < 0.001). Stress inoculation training reduced stress, anxiety, and depression in cancer patients. Conclusions: Stress inoculation training significantly reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. Therefore, teaching this skill and the strategies of coping with stress is recommended for these patients, in addition to medicational treatment

Assessing the Leadership Styles and Effectiveness of Administrators in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 1388

Introduction: Achieving the organization goals depend on management and effective leadership styles. This is true in all organizations including academic centers. This study aimed to investigate leadership effectiveness and styles among the middle level managers of Isfahan University of Medical Science. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on all middle level managers (head or deputy of faculties) of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Data collection was done using a questionnaire consisting of three parts: demographic characteristics, Metzcus & Burden’s leadership style questionnaire, and Ramazani’s effective leadership questionnaire. Leadership styles was classified into three categories: liberal (democratic), arrogant (authoritarian or dictator) and consolidated. The principles of effective leadership, based on obtained scores, were described as strong leadership, good leadership, leadership that requires more effort, and poor leadership. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistical methods. Results: Based on results, mean age was 44.9 years, 76% were men, mean work experience was 17.5, management experience was 7 years and mean training duration was less than one month. 87% of managers had postdoctoral degree. 60% of managers were dictator, 26% were consolidated and 13 percent of managers had a democratic leadership style. 84% of managers believed that their leadership is strong, 16 percent believed they are good leaders and none of them believed that their leadership requires more effort or is poor. Conclusion: It seems that current managers were selected based on their degree not they major. For most of them leadership was equal to duty performance. They believed that utility is in higher productivity and they paid less attention to its human aspects. University administrators need to pass formal and informal management courses in order to have an effective leadership and they should not be selected merely based on their academic degree