Reflection on the Experiences of Disabled People: The Society as a Cause of Growth or Barrier

Introduction: In recent years, based on evidence from several communities, positive psychology researchers have constructed a new conceptualization called “post-traumatic growth”. Based on the theory of symbolic interaction, members of the society, especially family members, play an important role in meaning making of events, quality of life after the accident and its consequences, and whether they experience growth or not. The aim of the present study was decoding experiences of successful disabled people of causing factors (facilitator) or barriers of growth by qualitative method. Method: A qualitative design, based on the content analysis approach, was used to collect and analyze the experiences of 12 disabled people with national and international achievements. Participants were selected by purposeful and snowball sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The data were analyzed based on the Granheim content analysis approach. Results: The findings showed two main themes: 1) intelligent and noble family with 3 subcategories of initial acceptance and support, interaction with other groups and successful disabled people, and timely attraction and repulsion 2) family as obstacle with 3 subcategories of pity and clumsy support, entertaining instead of being goal-oriented, and ignoring them. Conclusion: Attitudes and family functions have wanted and unwanted effects. They may act as facilitators or obstacles of growth. Understanding these factors based on experiences of disabled people could cause effective changes in the attitudes and beliefs of people. Keywords: People with spinal cord disability, Growth, Content analysi

Exploring Iranian Women\u27s Perceptions Regarding Control and Prevention of Breast Cancer

The purpose of this study was to explore Iranian women\u27s perceptions, behaviors, and beliefs related to breast cancer screening, breast cancer, and follow up care. A qualitative descriptive inquiry with both individual and focus group interviews was conducted in Tehran with 31 Farsi-speaking women, age 35 to 65 years of age. A constant comparison method of analysis assisted the researchers in gaining an understanding of factors that influence Iranian women\u27s perceptions regarding the control and prevention of breast cancer. Findings suggest that insufficient knowledge regarding breast cancer and breast cancer screening is a significant factor among this population. Breast cancer programs are needed in Iran that address women\u27s religious beliefs and spiritual needs

The Evaluation of a Blended E-learning Program for Nursing and Midwifery Students in Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Blended-E-Learning system uses various methods and technologies to improve learning quality. We developed some courses based on Instructional System Design Processes (analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation) for blended-e-learning, then we evaluated the effectiveness of this system in Tehran University of medical Science. Methods: In this partnership-based action research study, carried out in 2008-2009, firstly viewpoints of faculty members and also nursing and midwifery students of Tehran University of Medical Science on the blended e-learning were assessed via a valid and reliable questionnaire. Then a platform of blended e-learning was designed and voluntary faculty members participated in a workshop held to develop an e-learning course. Finally a blended learning program covering 22 courses (45 credits) for BS,MS and PhD students of nursing and midwifery was designed . At the end of the semester, we used questionnaires and check-lists to assess students' & faculty members' feedback on the learning outcome of this program. The collected data were analyzed using frequency, Chi square and Wilcoxon tests in SPSS software version 16. Results: 181 students filled out and returned questionnaires (response rate=82.2%). 67.4% students were highly satisfied with this system. Similarly 88.2% of faculty members were completely satisfied with teaching in blended e-learning system. Both students and faculty members preferred the blended e-learning system to the conventional method (P=0.000). Mean scores of students' grades and participation were significantly higher in blended learning method than students’ in the previous semester with face-to-face method (P<0.001). Conclusion: Because the blended e-learning uses benefits of both e-learning & face to face learning and provides more flexibility and satisfaction for learner and teacher, it can be considered as an effective alternative method for education in universities of medical sciences in Iran

Strategies for Continuous Nursing Education: A qualitative Study

Introduction: The unprecedented growth of professional nursing knowledge, rapid changes in the healthcare system and the mandate to maintain their professional competency, nessecitae continuous nursing education and strategies used in the process of continuing education plays an important role in achieving its objectives. This study was conducted to clarify the strategies used in continuing nursing education in Iran. Methods: This is a qualitative study in year 2011, in which a purposeful sample of 28 educational supervisors, nurse managers, and staff nurses participated. Data were collected through unstructured interviews, and were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Three broad conceptual areas were resulted from: “symbolic education”, “normative performance”, and “conscience-centered performance”. Subcategories for symbolic education were “ineffective education” and “education irrelevant to needs”. For normative performance, subcategories included “delivery of minimally required education”, and “apparent implementation of the ordered educational process”. Conscience-centered performance had subcategories of “training coverage for all nurses” and “making education effective”. Conclusion: Competent nursing performance in health system, which may result from effective continuous nursing education, is very important in health system. Therefore it is essential to motivate nurses, supervise and support effective education, in ordr to facilitate their performance improvement

The Effect of Continuous Care Model on Diabetic Patients’ Blood Pressure

Introduction: Hypertension can accelerate other complications of diabetes mellitus, particularly cardiovas-cular disease and nephropathy. This study was carried out in order to determine the effect of applying Continuous Care Model on diabetic patients’ blood pressure. Methods: This clinical trial was performed as time series on 74 patients with diabetes mellitus type II, in Orumieh in the years 2003-2004. After matching the study variables, the patients were divided equally and with random allocation to two experiment and control groups. The Continuous Care Model which included 4 main steps of orientation, sensitization, performing and evaluation was performed for the experiment group through 10 sessions of education concerning self care in diabetes, each session lasting for 2 hours. The blood pressure of both groups was measured at the beginning and every month, for three times. The data was analyzed by SPSS software using repeated measure ANOVA. Results: There wasn’t any difference between the mean of systolic blood pressure in both study groups, but comparing the mean of diastolic blood pressure of the two groups showed a significant difference. Conclusion: Applying Continuous Care Model can reduce diastolic blood pressure in type 2 diabetic patients. Therefore, it is recommended to use this model on diabetic patients in order to control diabetes complications

The interrelation between landform, land-use, erosion and soil quality in the Kan catchment of the Tehran province, central Iran

The objective of this study was to better understand the functional links between soil quality, erosion, geomorphology and land-use. This was done for the Kan catchment of the Tehran province, central Iran. Soil quality was assessed by using the integrated quality index (IQI) and the Nemoro quality index (NQI): this enabled the total and minimum datasets (TDS) to be obtained by using the principal component analysis. Soil erosion was calculated using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model using the InVEST software. The calculated erosion rates are very high (on average 7 t ha−1 yr−1) in the region due to the variety of topography, steep slopes and lack of suitable vegetation. The variety of topography and steep slopes are a caused by the high uplift rates. Consequently, the modelled actual erosion rates are in the same order of magnitude as measured, long-term denudation rates (10Be). The erosion rates in the rangeland were higher than in agriculture land and built-up areas and exhibit a positive correlation with elevation and slope angle. The integrated soil quality index produced more plausible results than the NQI. According to the IQI, the soils in the study area mostly have a moderate to low quality. The statistical analyses showed that organic matter and sand play a more important role on the soil quality than all the other soil characteristics. Slope and elevation seem to significantly influence the soil quality. We demonstrated that soil quality can be evaluated precisely enough by using the minimum dataset (which reduces costs and time) and that it is dependent only on a few soil parameters. Soil quality and erosion rates vary strongly in areas having a rough and steep topography and the effect of land-use is partially overshadowed

The challenges experienced by Iranian war veterans living with chemical warfare poisoning: a descriptive, exploratory study

This exploratory, descriptive study investigates the experiences of Iranian war veterans living with chronic disease acquired as a result of chemical warfare. Sulphur mustard (SM) is considered one of the most important agents of chemical warfare and was widely used during the Iran–Iraq conflict in 1980–1988. There are approximately 100 000 Iranian SM casualties who suffer from serious long-term progressive health problems involving their respiratory organs, eyes and skin. Seventeen male Iranian war veterans aged between 30 and 59 years and four victims' family members participated in the study. Data was generated during individual in-depth interviews that used open-ended questions. Grounded theory techniques, including the constant comparative method of concurrent data generation and analysis, were employed in the analysis of data. Preliminary results indicate two main thematic categories: social isolation and physical disability. It is argued that a lack of knowledge about the outcomes of SM poisoning, physical restrictions and difficulty in adjusting socially decreases war veterans' functional capacity and levels of independence

Comparison of head nurses and practicing nurses in nurse competence assessment

BACKGROUND: Nurses play a crucial role in patient-care. Therefore, assessing nurses’ clinical competence is essential to achieve qualified and safe care. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the competence assessments made by head nurses and practicing nurses in a university hospital in Iran in 2009. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to make comparisons of both self-assessment of nurse competence as well as assessment made by their respective head nurses working in a university hospital setting in Iran. The instrument employed for data collection was Nurse Competence Scale (NCS), whose reliability and validity have been previously confirmed. The clinical competence of the nurses in 73 skills under 7 categories was determined based on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) (0 to 100). They were also asked to indicate the extent to which their competence was actually used in clinical practice on a four-point scale of Likert. The data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS: Comparison of self-assessment (87.03 ± 10.03) and the assessment done by head nurses (80.15 ± 15.54) showed a significant difference but no precise differences were found between the assessment methods for the frequency of using these competencies. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicated no consensus between the nurses owns assessment and their head nurse assessment. Therefore, it is necessary to use a combination of nurses’ competence assessment methods in order to reach a more valid and precise conclusion