Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume:2 Issue: 5, Dec 2012

Residents have an important role as teachers and need to know about teaching, teaching methods and skills. In developed countries, “resident-as-teacher” programs have been implemented progressively; but there is little information about this theme in developing countries such as Iran. This study aimed to determine effects of “teaching method” workshop on surgical residents’ teaching skills in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

In this quasi-experimental study, 18 residents in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years of surgical residency in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences have attended in a 10-hour workshop. Two questionnaires (validity and reliability) was verified: Clinical teaching self-assessment and clinical teaching evaluation was completed before and after the intervention (“teaching method” workshop) by attending residents and rater interns, respectively. Paired-samples T-test was used to analyze collecting data.

After intervention, Self-assessment mean scores were increased in two categories: feedback from 3.34 to 3.94 (P = 0.011) and promoting self- directed learning from 3.53 to 4.02 (P = 0.009); whereas, there was no significant differences in evaluation mean scores.

Statistical results from self-assessment and evaluation scores show little improvement in residents’ teaching skills after the intervention, but residents assessed the workshop as useful. Lack of motivation in interns and little reward for residents who attend in educational activities could be responsible for these results. So, to promote role of residents’ as teachers, we offer revision in residency curriculum and residents’ formal duties as well as designing educational programs in teaching theme based on our needs and resources.

Medical tourism is rapidly becoming a worldwide, multibillion-dollar industry. Iran has a high potential for this industry. The purpose of this study was to examine the medical tourism cluster, using Diamond Analysis tool.

This study is a descriptive, analytical and qualitative one. Thirty professionals and researchers in this field were interviewed and official documents belonging to the Health ministry as well as tourism organization and finally related literature were examined. The data was analyzed using content analysis method.

Positive and negative parts of the medical tourism industry of Iran were determined according to diamond of advantage.

The strategic issues were identified and a number of possible solutions for addressing them were recommended. More and effective public-private participations, aggressive marketing, improving infrastructures, and international accreditation of health care facilities and human resources development could improve medical tourism industry in the country

The purpose of this study was to assess nutritional intakes of female aerobic athletes in two different socio-economic classes in city of Isfahan.

The participants of this analytical study were 99 female aerobic athletes aged between 15 and 50 years old who were randomly sampled (50 females in low economic region and 49 females in high economic region). The demographic details were collected by a questionnaire, and anthropometric indexes including height, weight, and waste circumference were measured using a tape measure and a scale. They filled out the 24-hour food recall questionnaire for two consecutive days in order to obtain their nutritional information. To analyze the data, Nutritionist 4 and SPSS18 software were used.

The means of energy intake in high and low regions were 1479.19 ± 561.86 and 1300.68 ± 498.354 kcal, respectively. There was no significant difference in terms of energy intake between these two groups (P = 0.98). The means of protein intake in low and high socio-economic classes were 17.41 ± 5.85 and 54.48 ± 6.62, respectively, and no significant differences were observed between these two regions (P = 0/606). The means of carbohydrate intake were 61.85 ± 9.76 and 54.48 ± 6.62 in the low and high socio-economic classes with a significant difference between them (P < 0.001). The mean of carbohydrate intake in the low socio-economic class was considerably higher than that in the high socio-economic class. The means of fat intake were 23.88 ± 8.24% and 30.07 ± 6.68% in the low and high socio-economic classes, respectively, and the means of fat intake in the high socio-economic region was significantly higher than that in the low socio-economic region (P < 0/001).

The findings of this study indicated that the intakes of fat and carbohydrate were significantly different in the two different socio-economic regions in city of Isfahan. This difference could be attributed to different food patterns in these two regions.

The increasing trend in waste production and its improper disposal in the environment have led to mismanagement of national resources and hazards to the natural environment. Therefore the recycling of solid waste can help prevent economic and bioenvironmental disasters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the health literacy of the student of the Kerman Public Health School, about the management and recycling of solid waste.

This was a cross-sectional study and the target population was all of the students of the Kerman Public Health School (421 students), in five fields. A questionnaire including demographic and health literacy questions was distributed among the students.

The male students answered the questions significantly more than female students (P < 0.001). The Environmental Health students acquired a higher score than all other students and health literacy significantly increased as the student’s studying degree promoted (P < 0.001). Also as the number of trimesters increased, health literacy significantly increased (P < 0.001). The parents’ education, the family income and number of people in the family had no significant effect on health literacy. All students believed recycling is important and more than 50% had acquired their knowledge from their academics.

This survey showed that students in health related fields although confirm its necessity, but need more education in health literacy as they are supposed to be the promoters of public health in the society in the near future.

Communication is the most important part of any educational process, the aim of which is to transfer or exchange ideas and thoughts. It would be provided appropriately if academic members had the communication skills. Considering the important role of academic members in the educational process, in this study, the knowledge, attitude and performance of academic members of School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, were investigated with regard to effective communication skills.

In this descriptive–analytic study, all academic members of the School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, were studied during the second academic semester of 2006- 2007. The data were collected by a valid and reliable three-part questionnaire including knowledge (8 questions and maximum score of 8), attitude (31 questions and maximum score of 155) and observational communication skills checklist (20 questions and maximum score of 20). The obtained data were analyzed by calculating central indices using SPSS software.

The mean knowledge score of studied people in terms of communicational skills, attitude and performance were 4.1 out of 8, 114.4 out of 155 and 16.3 out of 20, respectively.

Although the information of the participants of this study in terms of communication skills was not sufficient, they seemed to have a positive attitude and relatively acceptable performance in communication skills.

Education is basically one of the Universities’ and faculties’ leading missions and duties; its promoted quality will also lead to an elevated educational quality in the University. Teacher assessment can be mentioned as essential for the success of the quality promotion process. This article deals with the designing and evaluation of a teaching quality evaluation form for teachers, from the Lorestan University of Medical Science students’ point of view.

A two-stage, cross-sectional study was conducted on 290 Lorestan University of Medical Science students. First, evaluation priorities were extracted using the Delphi technique in the fifth section, including teaching skills, communication skills, principles of training, and skills assessment. In the second stage, as the priority and importance of each item was evaluated in the fourth Lickert option, sampling was done in few stages. The study instrument was a questionnaire, which included six areas. The first part of the questionnaire was made up of the demographic characteristics and the second part included five evaluation areas that were obtained from the student. The collected data were analyzed using statistical software SPSS-16 and chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test.

In the areas of teaching skills, mastery of the course, individual characteristics, self-confidence, communication skills, intimate relationship with students, educational principles, rules respecting the beginning and end time of class, skill assessment, and an accurate comprehensive examination at the end of the semester by the students, were chosen as the most important factors. There were significant differences in the majority of expressed comments between the genders and academic status (P < 0.05).

Students can properly diagnose the essential factors in teachers’ evaluation, but in item prioritizing they may be partly affected by some factors such as gender, academic status, semester, and academic course.

There are few diverse studies that have reported the case fatality rates of different methods of suicide, none of them are originated from developing countries. The aim of the present article is to report the case fatality rates of different methods of suicide in Ilam province of Iran.

Data on 611 cases of suicide and 1807 cases of deliberate self harm (DSH) that were recorded in a comprehensive registry during 1995 through 2002 were analyzed for both genders together and for males and females, separately.

For both genders together, the two most fatal methods were hanging (75.4%) and self-immolation (68.3%); for males, hanging (76.3%) and self-immolation (64.7%); and for females, firearms (75%) and hanging (73.7%), respectively. The least fatal methods for both genders together and for females and males separately were drug ingestion and cutting.

The results of present study, which for the first time has reported the case fatality rates of suicide methods in a developing world, would not only help to better plan the local suicide prevention strategies and clinical assessment of suicidal cases but to shed light on overall understanding of this mysterious human phenomenon.

Quality gap is the gap between client’s understanding and expectations. The first step in removing this gap is to recognize client’s understanding and expectations of the services. This study aimed to determine women’s viewpoint of quality gap in primary health care centers of Isfahan.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on women who came to primary health care centers in Isfahan city. Sample size was 1280 people. Service Quality was used to collect data including tangible dimensions, confidence, responsiveness, assurance and sympathy in providing services. Data were analyzed by t test and chi square test.

The results showed that women had controversy over all 5 dimensions. The least mean quality gap was seen in assurance (-11.08) and the highest mean quality gap was seen in tangible dimension (-14.41). The difference between women’s viewpoint in all 5 dimensions was significant. (P < 0.05)

Negative difference means clients’ expectations are much higher than their understanding of the current situation, so there is a large space to improve services and satisfy clients.

The role of individual healthy behaviors like physical activity, nutrition and stress management on reduction of rate of disease mortality and morbidity is well known. The aim of this study is to determine healthy life style in teachers employed in district No.4 in Isfahan, Iran, in 2010.

The participants of this cross-sectional study were 96 teachers in district No. 4, selected via random sampling method. The data collection was performed using a questionnaire including demographic healthy lifestyle questions. Analysis of the data was performed through Software SPSS version 18.

The mean age of the subjects was 40.26 ± 6.05 years and, BMI mean was 25.08 ± 3.20. 96.8% of them were married and 3.1% also were single. 1% of the teachers had a weak lifestyle, 13.5%had moderate, 85.4% had a good lifestyle. In terms of nutrition, 2% of the teachers had a weak lifestyle, 23% moderate, 74% good. 76% in terms of physical activity, 29.2% smoking and 21.9% stress had a weak lifestyle.

According to the results, planning for teachers in school for receiving information about healthy lifestyle is important.

To investigate selected constructs of the transtheoretical model (TTM) of behavior change regarding smoking behavior among people in the preparation stage, as well as motivation for cessation and nicotine dependency.

A convenience sample of 123 smokers, during between June to and September 2011, completed the Persian version of the short form of a smoking questionnaire based on TTM, the Fagerstrom nicotine dependence test, and the motivational test.

Motivation for cessation was great (16.35 ± 2.45). The negative affects of self-efficacy were higher than those to other situations (4.02 ± 0.84). The pros and cons of smoking were 2.69 ± 1.00 and 3.78 ± 0.78, respectively. Temptation was influenced by nicotine dependency (P < 0.05). Early initiation of smoking was significantly associated with severe nicotine dependency (P < 0.05).

The results confirm the role of temptation, increase in the cons, decrease in the pros, and nicotine dependency.