Comparing the effects of active and traditional teaching of stress management on academic performance and the stress level in nursing students

Background: Stress as one of the prevalent diseases of the century, is the body non-responsive status to any request that can reduce the forces and affect activities and efforts. Nursing and midwifery students are experiencing multiple stressors during their study. They stress not only from theoretical training environments, that also from hospital stressors. According to negative effects of stress over academic performance of nursing students, stress management could be taught via different methods including traditional and active teaching methods. In traditional teaching, the teacher througout a one-way relationship with students is transferring knowledge and students act as knowledge recievers. In traditional teaching, the teacher is responsible for the education topic, transferring information, assessment of students’ learning status, and strengthening students’ favorable behaviors. The active learning includes methods in which students play more roles than just listening and participate in information process and practice. Objective: The aim of current study was to investigate the effect of traditional teaching compared to the active teaching of stress management on academic performance in nursing students. Methods: The study population consisted of all 3rd-semester nursing undergraduate level students from Alborz Medical University. Participant including 50 students were randomly assigned to two 25-individual groups. The first group received traditional teaching (pamphlet, explaining, lecturing) and for the second group active teaching methods (brain storming, group discussion, ask questions, role play, role-play replacement…) were performed for 8 hours. All students completed the DASS 42 questionnaire. Findings: Independent t-test results indicated significant difference between students’ level of stress before and after traditional and active teaching of stress management. Knowing that both traditional and active teachings could reduce students’ stress, though active teaching was more effective. Moreover, active teaching compared to traditional method led to a better students’ academic performance. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that compared to the traditional method the active learning reduced the students’ anxiety and depression. Teaching stress management especially via an active learning is a suitable approach to improve students’ academic performance and to decrease the negative effects of anxiety, stress, and depression. Keywords: Stress, stress management, active learning, academic performanc

The effect of olive oil on prevention of striae gravidarum: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Objectives: Striae gravidarum (SG) is one of the cutaneous physiological changes during pregnancy with a high prevalence. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of olive oil in prevention of SG. Design: Randomized controlled clinical trial. Setting: Health care centers and three Hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Participants: 100 nulliparous pregnant women. Interventions: Fifty women were randomly allocated to each study group. The treatment group received 1 cc topical olive oil twice a day to apply on the abdominal skin in a gentle manner without massaging it until the delivery. Control group did not receive any cream or oil during the study. Main outcome measures: Development of SG and its severity was recorded at the end of the study. Results: Although the frequency of severe SG was lower in the users of olive oil compared to the other group, no statistically significant difference was found between the two experimental groups and the control group in the incidence and the severity of SG. Conclusion: Olive oil reduces the incidence of severe SG and increases the incidence of mild SG, but it does not significantly reduce the incidence and the severity of SG and it could not be recommended for SG prevention. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The effect of olive oil and the Saj (R) cream in prevention of striae gravidarum: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of olive oil and the Saj (R) cream on the occurrence and severity of striae gravidarum. Design: Parallel randomized controlled clinical trial. Setting: West Health Centre, Lolagar and Akbarabadi Hospitals, Tehran, Iran. Interventions: 360 Nulliparous women at their second trimester of pregnancy randomly (simple randomization) allocated into three groups of olive oil, the Saj cream, and control that finally 150 of them (50 subjects in each group) completed the study. Control group did not receive any medication/intervention. At gestational age of 38-40 weeks the participants were evaluated regarding the occurrence of striae on abdominal skin and its severity that were primary outcome of the study. Results: In the olive oil group, striae occurred in 72% of the participants, which were mild, moderate, and severe in 32%, 26%, and 6% of the cases, respectively. In those who received Saj cream, striae occurred in 64% of the cases, which were mild, moderate and severe in 16%, 34%, and 14% of the cases, respectively. With regard to the control group, striae occurred in 60% of the participants, among which striae were mild, moderate, and severe in 22%, 24%, and 14% of the cases, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences among the three studied groups regarding the incidence or severity of striae. Conclusion: Neither olive oil nor the Saj cream were effective in preventing the occurrence of striae gravidarum or affecting its severity. Further studies to examine the effect of other herbal/chemical preparations on occurrence of striae gravidarum are recommended. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Development and Assessment of Respectful Maternity Care Questionnaire in Iran

Background: Disrespectful and undignified care during childbirth has been documented in health facilities all over the world. The purpose of this study was to develop and pretest a new instrument, the Quality of Respectful Maternity Care Questionnaire in Iran (QRMCQI), with an ensured validity and reliability to evaluate and measure Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) in three sections of labor, delivery and post-partum. Methods: This is a study with mixed sequential exploratory design. Here, the questionnaire design is a part of descriptive survey study and consists of five phases implemented in one year. The phases include item or questions generation, face validation, content validity assessment, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability assurance of the questionnaire. The participants were selected from the mothers referring to health care centers affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences in five cities after recruitment from hospital for after-care services of delivery. Results: The primary questionnaire was developed, face validity was performed by experts and their comments were implemented. The content validity index (CVI), Kappa index and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) were calculated for each item and they were satisfactory in an acceptable range. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed good fit of the hypothesized model for 453 participants in the interview. Testing showed an acceptable internal consistency and reliability by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for questions in labor (0.86), in delivery (0.85), and in postpartum care (0.78). Conclusion: We have developed a new instrument as the 59-item QRMCQI for evaluating respectful maternity care in Iran through a rigorous process of item generation and validity-reliability assessment besides confirmatory factor analysis that were in an acceptable range and can be used as a reliable instrument for RMC in Iran

The Effect of Oral Intake of Honey Syrup on the Pain Intensity of Active Phase of Parturition of nulliparous women: A Randomized clinical trial

Background: Labor is a natural pain despite the fact that the severity of the pain and response to it differ in various people, but most women refer to labor as an unpleasant experience of their lives. The present study was carried out to determine the effect of honey on the severity of labor in primigravida women. Methods: In this study, 80 healthy volunteer primigravida women were entered to the research as randomized clinical trial (40 subjects in each group) after studying and signing consent form and they were randomly divided into two intervention honey group and control group. The data gathering tool comprised four main parts of the personal profile questionnaire, controls performance in the labor, records fluid intake rate and pain intensity using a 0-10 cm ruler. Results: The mean of pain intensity in the honey syrup intervention group was significant. Conclusion: Honey syrup consumption without side effects significantly affected the severity of labor

Determining the Educational Needs of Emergency Nurses in Educational Hospitals of Iran, Tehran, and Shahid Beheshti Universities of Medical Sciences through Delphi Technique, 2013

Introduction: Having trained and experienced personnel is an essential in an emergency ward. Nowadays, nursing knowledge is constantly developing and four year undergraduate nursing course cannot meet these growing needs, therefore, it is necessary that nurses receive professional education according the ward they are working in. The first step in any curriculum planning is to assess educational needs. The purpose of this study is to determine the emergency nurses’ educational needs in educational hospitals of Tehran, Iran and Shahid Beheshti universities of medical sciences. Methods: This need assessment study was conducted using Delphi technique. Study population included faculty members of three schools of nursing and midwifery of 3 medical universities, educational supervisors, head nurses, and emergency ward managers. 40 volunteer experts were selected through purposeful sampling, and participated in three Delphi rounds. Results: 109 educational needs in four domains of care, education and counseling, research, and management had been determined during three Delphi rounds. The highest educational needs were related to care domain (78 items). Other needs were in domains of education (10 items), research (11 items), and management (10 items). Conclusion: Applying the results of needs assessment performed locally and considering basic needs of our country in future planning for training professionals, can lead to the training of nurses who will be successful in long term and this will be associated with health, economic, cultural and social benefits

Effect of Tribulus terrestris , ginger, saffron, and Cinnamomum on menopausal symptoms: a randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial

Menopausal symptoms experienced by women vary widely, and while many women transition through menopause with manageable symptoms, others experience severe symptoms, which may impair their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Tribulus terrestris , ginger, saffron, and Cinnamomum on menopausal symptoms. A randomised, triple-blind, controlled trial design was used for this study. The participants were 80 postmenopausal women aged 50–60 years. A demographic data form and the Menopause Rating Scale were used to collect data. The women were randomly divided into two groups, each of which received either an Aphrodit capsule or a placebo twice a day for four weeks. The two bottles looked exactly the same, so that the investigator and the participants were not aware of the contents of the bottles. Each Aphrodit capsule contained 40 mg of Tribulus terrestris , 12.27 mg of Zingiber officinale, 3 mg of Crocus sativus extract, and 11 mg of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, while the placebo capsules contained 50 mg of starch. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. A statistically significant change was reported in the menopausal symptoms of the intervention group compared with the placebo group. The results of the study demonstrate that the Aphrodit capsule was effective in reducing menopausal symptoms

Effect of Foot Massage on Pre- and Post Hysterectomy Anxiety

Background & Aim: Hysterectomy is a common gynecologic surgery leading to great concerns in women. This study aimed to determine the effect of foot massage on anxiety level after hysterectomy.   Methods & Materials: In this double-group randomized clinical trial, 60 women undergone hysterectomy were selected using convenience sampling method and were randomly allocated into two intervention or control groups. Patients in the intervention group received foot massage three sessions during three consecutive days (every session lasted 20 minutes). In the control group, the researcher was only beside the women for 20 minutes. The Spilberger anxiety questionnaire was used to measure the anxiety level. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and independent t-test.   Results: The mean of the anxiety score was not significantly different between the two groups before the intervention (P=0.21). After the intervention, there was significant difference between the two groups in the anxiety scores (P<0.001). There was also significant difference between the two groups in the anxiety scores one week after the surgery (P<0.001).   Conclusion: Foot massage can reduce anxiety in patients who underwent hysterectomy