Comparison of Quality of Life and Depression among Women with Normal and High Risk Pregnancies

Background & Aim: Women with high risk pregnancy experience changes in their personal, family, and social life that affect their quality of life and mental status. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of type of pregnancy (normal or high risk) on quality of life and depression levels in pregnant women.Methods & Materials: In this case-control study, a total of 100 women (50 women with normal pregnancies and 50 women with high risk pregnancies) who referred to the prenatal clinics of Kashan Medical University were studied. Subjects were randomly selected and then allocated in the normal (control) or high risk (case) groups. Data were gathered using a three-part questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) to assess the quality of life, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to assess the levels of depressive symptoms.  Results: In this study, the results revealed that the mean score of the quality of life was lower in the women with high risk pregnancy (53/20±16/83) in comparison with the women with normal pregnancy (62/18 12/48). The mean of the BDI scores in high risk pregnancies (15/34±9/15) were significantly higher than in normal pregnancies (9/8±5/44). Depression has strong negative correlation with quality of life in both women with high risk and normal pregnancies (P<0.001).Conclusion: To sum up, it is very important to identify women that are at risk and help them to promote their quality of life

Effect of oral carbohydrate intake on labor progress : randomized controlled trial

Background: Lack of information regarding biochemical changes in women during labor and its outcomes on maternal and neonatal health still is an unanswered question. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of oral carbohydrate intake during labor on the duration of the active phase and other maternal and neonatal outcomes. Methods: A parallel prospective randomized controlled trial, conducted at the University Affiliated Teaching Hospital in Gonabad. Totally, 190 women were randomly assigned to an intervention (N=87) or control (N=90) group. Inclusion criteria were low-risk women with singleton cephalic presentation; and cervical dilatation 3-4 cm. Randomization was used by random number generator on every day. Odd numbers was used for intervention and even numbers for control group. Intervention was based on the preferences between: 3 medium dates plus 110 ml water; 3 dates plus 110 ml light tea without sugar; or 110 ml orange juice. The protocol is only run once but women ate and drank gradually before second stage of labor. Control group were fasted as routine practice. Neither participants nor care givers or staff could be blinded to group allocation. Differences between duration of the active phase of labor were assessed as primary outcome measure. Results: There was significant difference in the length of second stage of labor (P <.05). The effect size for this variable was 0.48. There were no significant differences in other maternal and neonatal outcomes. Conclusions: Oral intake of carbohydrate was an effective method for shortening the duration of second stage of labor in low-risk women

Self-efficacy of the First-degree Relatives of Patients with Breast Cancer in the Prevention of Cancer: Using the Health Belief Model

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. The best method to fight this disease is early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of education based on the health belief model on self-efficacy of the first-degree relatives of patients with breast cancer. This randomized clinical trial was conducted in Tehran in 2016 on 80 first-degree relatives of patients with breast cancer. After purposive sampling, the subjects were assigned to interventions and control groups using the randomized block design. The data collection tool was a questionnaire including questions about demographic data, health belief model, and self-efficacy. The educational intervention was held during four 90-min sessions. The questionnaires were completed before and 8 weeks after the intervention in both groups. The data were analyzed using the SPSS16 software. The educational intervention led to a significant increase in susceptibility (d = 1.17, 95CI 0.69, 1.66), seriousness (d = 1.11, 95CI 0.62, 1.59), benefits (d = 1.58, 95CI 1.06, 2.09), and significant decrease in perceived barriers (d = � 0.73, 95CI 0.27, 1.19) scores in the intervention group. The self-efficacy score in the intervention group was increased from 7.58 to 9.20, which was statistically significant (d = 1.72, 95CI 1.19, 2.25). However, in the control group, there was no significant difference in self-efficacy score before and after the intervention (p = 0.45). The present study confirmed the effectiveness of the health belief model in promoting self-efficacy of the first-degree relatives of patients with breast cancer. Therefore, it is recommended that this education program is implemented for women, especially the first-degree relatives of patients with breast cancer. © 2019, American Association for Cancer Education