مرضیه مقدم

Home-Visit is a recently growing approach for patients with chronic mental health problems. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of this approach in some therapeutic factors in the patients with BID.

In this randomized control trial study, among bipolar I patients discharged from Ghods Psychiatric Hospital in Sanandaj, those who met our inclusion criteria, after informed consent, randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. The evaluators were unaware of the patients' groups. The intervention group received 1-year intervention of home-care services, whereas the control group doesn't receive any intervention, except for their pharmacological treatment. Hamilton-Depression-Rating Scale and Young-Mania-Rating-Scale were used to record possible changes during the steps of our study (before, 6-months and 12-months after intervention). Data were analyzed using SPSS.

Our study included 26 patients (19 men, 7 women). 13 assigned to intervention group (Mean age= 36.15, SD=15.04), and 13 assigned to control group (Mean age=34.92, SD=5.15), which did not show any significant difference at the baseline (T=.279, p= .783). The results implied that the intervention group had significant decrease in all of the three variables, including frequency of hospitalization (p=0/001), mania (p=0/002), and depression (p=0/006), compared to the control group. These changes remained the same during the one year follow-up period.

Results showed that home-visit was effective in, decreasing the severity of the symptoms, frequency and length of hospital stay in BID patients. It seems possible that increased length of interventions can lead to better outcomes.

Schizophrenia is a disabling disorder with a complex and chronic nature. Home-visit is a recent approach used for the treatment of the patients with schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate and compare the effect of this approach on the severity of symptoms, length and duration of hospitalization between the patients with schizophrenia and patients in the control group.

This was a randomized control trial. Among the discharged patients, 26 met our inclusion criteria. After informed consent, they were placed into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received after-care services for one year. The control group did not receive any intervention except for their pharmacological treatment. The number of hospitalizations and mean duration of hospitalizations of the patients along with the Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia Scale (PANSS) were evaluated three times (before the intervention, 6 months and also 12 months after receiving the intervention). Using SPSS 20, data were analyzed, by descriptive methods and repeated measures analysis of variance.

This study included 26 persons (19 male, 7 Female) with mean age of 37.6 years and SD =12.2, which showed no significant differences in the variables in the baseline data. Results of statistical analysis showed significant decrease in all of the three variables in the intervention group compared with those in the control group. These changes maintained during the one-year follow-up.

Results showed that home-visit is an effective program to covers some needs of the patients with schizophrenia. It also decreased the severity of the symptoms and length of hospitalization. Increasing regular intervention program during the follow up periods can probably lead to better results.

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of religious cartoons on religiosity of female six-grade students. This study is a quasi-experimental with pre-test, posttest and control group. The statistical population was primary school’s sixth grade female students of Miyandoab city who were studying in non-public schools. By random sampling, a class of 15 people as experimental group and a class of 15 people as a control group were selected. Before performing any intervention, religiosity questionnaire was used in both groups. Then, after two weeks in experimental group, interventions (religious cartoons) were performed during 11 weeks and in the other class (control group) no intervention was done. Finally, after three months religiosity questionnaire was used again in both groups and the results were analyzed using MANCOVA. The results showed that religious cartoons could have significant impact on religiosity of students in experimental group.

Medical students experience a high level of stress, with potential adverse consequences on their academic performance. Stressors cannot be modified in numerous cases but student's abilities to cope with stressors should be upgraded. In this study, we investigated the effect of stress management training (As part of the Life Skills Curriculum in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences) on perceived stress, coping style in medical college students and also persistence of the effect of training. This was a quasi-experimental study (before and after). The sample size was 35 medical students and included all of the second semester medical students. Sampling method was census. Stress management training included four two-hour sessions for four consecutive weeks. Assessment was carried out by use of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS-21) in four steps (before, immediately, 3 and 6 months after classes). Collected data were entered into SPSS17 software and analyzed by paired t-tests., ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. Before training, the mean value for perceived stress among students was 33.42 which decreased to 32.70, 31.50 and 29.22, after one, three and six months after training, respectively. We found significant differences in perceived stress only between the stages conducted before training and six months after training. (P-Value: 0.012). The dominant style of copping with stress in all periods was that of problem oriented but changes in a variety of styles in different periods were not significant. In this study, reduced perceived stress can be related to the training, but the role of confounding factors should be kept in mind. Lack of change in the students´ coping style after training can be attributed to short-term training and defective contents of the training. It seems that other factors such as students’ level of education and compulsory training can interfere with the results of this study. Therefore, further studies are required to carry out alterations in the life skill curriculum in Kurdistan University of medical sciences.

Nurses must be able to recognize and manage emotions and feelings of themselves and clients; also, they must have good empathic and communication skills. These capabilities are part of the constituent elements of emotional intelligence. The aim of this study was to determine the level of emotional intelligence, its components and its correlation with some demographic variables in nurses working in the hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2010.

This descriptive study included 344 nurses. Bar-On questionnaire was used to collect required information. Data were analyzed by use of SPSS-18 software.

86.6% of the subjects were female and 13.4% were male. The majority of nurses (77.8%) had a good level of emotional intelligence. Of the five components of emotional intelligence, interpersonal component with a mean value and SD of 77.2% ± 12.5% had the highest score. Among the 15 factors related to emotional intelligence, social responsibility, empathy and interpersonal skills with mean values and SD score of 82.16%±14.14, 76.84%±13.74%, and 73.59%±15.64% had the highest score, respectively. Emotional intelligence had no correlation with demographic variables of gender, work background, marital status, university and university degree.

The nurses had a good level of emotional intelligence in regard to empathy, social responsibility and interpersonal relationships, but improvement of other skills such as problem solving, control of impulsivity and toleration of psychological pressure are also important because of their importance in nursing care.

Gender identity disorder consists of the patient’s consistent desire to identify with the opposite sex and feels significant discomfort or the inability to deal with this condition. In patients resistant to treatment (Individual Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis …) operational procedure has been utilized and has been authorized in Iran through a religious decree issued by the country’s late leader, Ayatollah Khomeini since 1964. A study into the instances of surgery procedures in the country has proven positive results. The procedure consists of cross-sectional study in small scale on 12 transsexual individuals consisting of 9 men and 3 women. All of the participants had sexual reassignment surgery at an average of six years prior to the study. They all were from middle class families and held an average age of 25. The participants were subjected to MMPI-1 questionnaire, (MF) MMPI-2, The Bem Sex-Role inventory and the Bem Gender Traits Test. The study showed that the patients have responded positively to the treatment in psycho –social dimension and had obtained a normal grade at the MMPI- 1 test. According to the results of the Bem and MF tests they have also accepted their new identity and role. Results of Semi structural interview included all of sample agreed with their decision. Neither of the patients has expressed regret of undertaking the surgery Multiple factors include economic status of the patients, satisfying interpersonal relationships, efficient support system, sexual partners and satisfactory sexual life, suitable familial reactions and possibility of extra surgery have prominent role to adjust them with their new identity and role in the society.

Substance abuse is one of the most prevalent problems in young adults. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence rate of substance abuse among Kurdistan university students. This was a cross sectional and descriptive analytic study. The sampling method was census and sample size included all students of Kurdistan University (1186 student) in 2007. The data were collected and recorded in a questionnaire for each subject. Data were introduced into SPSS software and analyzed by mean of x2 test. The results of this study indicated the percentage of students who reported usage of substance one or more times in their lives as following: alcohol 17.1, cannabis 4.7%, opium 4.8%, heroin 0.7%, ecstasy 2.7, and other substances 5.2. Ongoing abuse of different substances was assessed as following: alcohol 1.1%, cannabis 0.1%, opium 0.1%, heroin 0.1 %, ecstasy 0.1%, other substances 0.2. There was a correlation between substance abuse and male gender (p<0.001), age (p<0.001), living with friends (p<0.001), and being medical student (p<0.01). There was no correlation between substance abuse and marriage and father education. All substances, except for opium, had been offered to the medical students for the first time by their friends. Curiosity was the most common motivation for cannabis and opium use and pleasure was the most common reason for alcohol, heroin and ecstasy use. The mean age of first use for different substances was 18.6, 18.3, 19.5, 20.3, and 20.2 years for alcohol, opium, heroin, ecstasy, and cannabis. Substance use among Kurdistan university students was similar to other universities of Iran. Although substance abuse by female students was much lower than male ones in Kurdistan University, it was higher in comparison to the results of studies in other universities.

Students at university are always exposed to a lot of psychological problems during their education due to experiencing new problems and different stresses. Thus, teaching life skills was added to medical and midwifery freshmen’s curriculum for the first time in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, in 2006.This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of the aforementioned program on the student’s knowledge and attitude to life skills and their psychosocial capabilities improvement. In this quasi-experimental study, cases were 51 medical and midwifery freshmen and control group included 42 medical and midwifery students who were in their second semester. Data was collected using a questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed. The mean scores of the students’ knowledge and attitude increased significantly in cases in comparison to controls (7.19 in contrast to 4.66, P=0.0001 and 8.74 in contrast to 5.90, P=0.0001 respectively). According to two way ANOVA, field of study did not influence on the efficacy of education regarding students’ knowledge and attitude. Mean score of psychosocial capabilities increased significantly only in cases of midwifery group compared to their control group (24.75 in contrast to 20.14 with p=0.0001) Teaching life skills to students in a systematic and organized way, in a form of single unit course, had a significant effect on improvement of students’ knowledge and attitude to life skills, and psychosocial capabilities. It is obvious that education should continue for at least one year in order to have constant results.

To reach psychical health, study of children behavioral disorders is essential. The goals of this research were the study of validity and reliability of Rutter teacher scale and epidemiological study of behavioral disorders of Ghorveh primary school children. This study was analytical-descriptive and the method of sampling was multistage stratified cluster random sampling. One stage of research was devoted to determining the validity and reliability of Rutter teacher scale. At this stage with a determined cut off point of 16, test did not have desirable sensitivity and specificity and also there was a weak correlation between the results of Rutter teacher scale and results of clinical interview. Prevalence of behavioural disorders of primary school children in Ghorveh was 20.4%. Oppositional behavioural disorder and hyperactivity, with prevalence of 10.2% and 8.4% were the most prevalent disorders respectively. Behavioural disorder and epilepsy with 0.6% were the least prevalent disorders. With respect to the results of Rutter teacher test, this from is not reliable enough to be used for the study of behavioural problems of primary school children in this or other similar regions. In other words the opinion of teachers can not be reliable for assessment of behavioural problems of children. Prevalence of behavioural disorders of primary school children in this region is relatively similar to other parts of the country. This rate is closer to countries with the same social, economical and cultural status (like Porterico and China) than other countries (like USA and Canada).