Oct-Dec (Part-I), 2009.pmd

ABSTRACT Objective: To determine the relationship between unintended pregnancy and neonatal weight of babies. Methodology: It was a case-control study which included 114 women who were admitted in the post partum of a Maternity hospital in Kermanshah city in Iran. A questionnaire was used to gather the data and determine the unintended and intended pregnancies as case and control groups. The questionnaire consisted of variables such as age, mothers' education level, parity, number of children and so on; also, an information form was utilized to collect the neonatal data such weight, height and sex. All the collected data was analyzed by Chi-Square, Fishers' Exact test and Odds Ratio. Results: The findings showed that all participants were housewives, 27.3% were illiterate, 46.4% had unintended pregnancies (case group). There were not significant differences between two groups in mothers' educational level and neonatal weights and heights. Conclusion: Among the study subjects approximately half had unintended pregnancies, but there was no relationship between neonatal/newborn weight and unintended pregnancy. It seems, the health services have some defects about counseling and instruction of emergency contraceptions, conversely they can detect the unintended pregnancies very well and present the perfect counseling and instruction during prenatal care. It is recommended to study complications of unwanted pregnancies in a large study to confirm our observations. KEYWORDS

The Relationship between Critical Thinking Disposition and Self-Esteem

Introduction: Critical Thinking Disposition indicates individual’s inclination to Critical Thinking, which is one of the domains of personality. Individual characteristics are important and influential factors in the growth and development of students’ Critical Thinking. One of these influential characteristics might be self-esteem, thus this study was to determine the correlation between Critical Thinking Disposition and self-esteem in medical students. Methods: In an analytical cross-sectional study, 289 medical students were selected through stratified random sampling method in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2011. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire containing 3 parts: demographic data, California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, and Cooper-Smith Self-Esteem Inventory. The results were analyzed by SPSS-16 using descriptive statistics, Pearson and Spearman Correlation Coefficient, ANOVA, Chi-Square and Fisher exact test. Results: Results showed that 98.6% (285) of students had deficiency, 1.4% (4) ambivalence and nobody had positive critical thinking disposition. There was a significantly negative correlation between Critical Thinking Disposition and self-esteem (r=-0.462, P<0.001). Also, there was no a significant relationship between two groups of low self-esteem , high self-esteem , negative and ambivalent Critical Thinking Disposition. Conclusion: It seems that Critical Thinking Disposition, like other psychological variables, is influenced by social factors and social environment plays a role in promoting or undermining it. So, similar studies are recommended to investigate the factors affecting Critical Thinking in medical students

Job Satisfaction and its Affecting Factors from the Viewpoints of Faculty Members of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Human resource is one of the factors for organizations' survival. Generally, every organiza-ion's success depends on its employee's efforts as well as their job satisfaction. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing job satisfaction from the viewpoints of faculty members of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 156 full time faculty members of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. In order to collect the data, the demographic feَAutres question-aire and the standard questionnaire of Smith, Kendall-Halley with little modifications were used. Data was analyzed by SPSS software using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Tukey test. Results: The highest satisfaction belonged to nَAutre of the job (4.41±0.70) and welfare opportunities proved to be the factor for lowest satisfaction (2.13±0.83). Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between some occupational variables and job satisfaction. Conclusion: Faculty members of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences are satisfied with their job and their job satisfaction would increase if some factors such as salary, lack of welfare opportunities, and their progress were taken into consideration

Critical Thinking Disposition and Its relationship with Self-Esteem in Pre-Clinical and Clinical Medical Students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Critical Thinking (CT) is an essential component of clinical decision-making and professional competence. Personal characteristics of the students are one of the factors influencing their critical thinking development. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between Critical Thinking Disposition (CTD) and self-esteem among pre-clinical and clinical medical students in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, 225 pre-clinical and clinical medical students were randomly selected through stratified sampling method in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2011. The data gathering tool included California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), and Cooper-Smith self-esteem inventory. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation coefficient, Chi-Square, and independent sample t-test. Results: Results showed the students' mean scores in critical thinking disposition was 212.99±28.87(out of 420). Among all, CTD scores of 120 students (53.3%) were in ambivalence range, 102 (45.3%) were strong opposition, and 3(1.4%) positive inclination. There was a significantly positive correlation between CTD and self-esteem scores (r= 0.429, P=0.001). Also, there was a significant correlation between being in high or low self-esteem groups and CTD scores (P=0.0001, χ2=25.9). Conclusion: Students with higher self-esteem had a better CTD scores compared with those who had lower self-esteem and there was a direct and positive correlation between these two variables. Thus, faculty members should impart adequate self-esteem to their students for proper clinical judgment and decision making in different clinical circumstances

Educational Needs Assessment through the Poll in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2011

Introduction: Since educational empowerment of the faculty members of universities of medical sciences depends on our understanding of their educational needs. The present study aimed to investigate the educational needs of the faculty members of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2011 in order to plan the appropriate training workshops.Methods: In this descriptive study, the poll was used to accomplish the abovementioned objective. A questionnaire was designed and delivered to the faculty members to fill out, and then was returned to education development center after being completed. Descriptive statistics to determine educational needs of the faculty members.Results: Our findings indicated that from all the returned questionnaires, 60% from medical faculty and the rest from other faculties, most educational needs in the view of the faculty members included creativity and innovation, and professional ethics workshops.Conclusion: With regard to the activities of education development centre, it seems that the individuals involved in education have different needs compared to the previous years and are interested in learning new materials

The Relationship between Test Anxiety and Academic Performance of Students in Vital Statistics Course

Introduction: Test anxiety is a common phenomenon among students and is one of the problems of educational system. The present study was conducted to investigate the test anxiety in vital statistics course and its association with academic performance of students at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. This study was descriptive-analytical and the study sample included the students studying in nursing and midwifery, paramedicine and health faculties that had taken vital statistics course and were selected through census method. Sarason questionnaire was used to analyze the test anxiety. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated no significant correlation between test anxiety and score of vital statistics course

Critical Thinking Disposition among Medical Students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Critical thinking as a process of purposeful self-regulatory judgment leads to problem solving and correct decision making in individuals. In the modern world, health care faces rapid change and burgeoning amount of knowledge. Possessing critical thinking is essential for individuals in health care centers, specially when they are forced to solve clinical problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate critical thinking disposition among medical students in various levels of education.Methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, we determined critical thinking disposition among 289 medical students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. The students were studying at different levels of general physician education. In Iran general physician education divided into four levels; basic sciences, physiopathology courses, clerkship and internship. They were selected using stratified sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire that consisted of two parts; demographic information of the participants and California Critical Thinking Disposition. To analysis the data, both descriptive and inferential statistics (One-way ANOVA) were employed using SPSS-16 software.Results: Our findings indicated that 98.6% of the students lacked critical thinking disposition, 1.4% were ambivalent disposition and no one had positive disposition to critical thinking. The highest acquired score of critical thinking was for truth-seeking (20.4%) and the lowest score acquired for analyticity (4.8%). The results revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between mean score of participants with regards to their critical thinking disposition in various educational levels. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that medical students lacked appropriate critical thinking disposition