معصومه رزاقی

Addiction to SMS, as a disorder and psychological trauma caused by contemporary technology, has attracted the attention of psychologists, sociologists, and the scholars of education. This study has been conducted with the purpose of determining the correlation between addiction to SMS and depression in the students of Qom University of Medical Sciences.

The present research was performed as a descriptive cross-sectional study on 300 students of Qom University of Medical Sciences through simple random sampling method using Igarashi Standard questionnaire for addiction to SMS and Beck Questionnaire of Depression. Data were analyzed using inferential statistical tests of independent t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient at a significant level of p<0.05.

In this study, 89.9% of the research samples were in the age group of 18-22 years, 71.3% were girls, 86.2% single, and 63.4% indigenous; 28.1% of the students were addicted to SMS, and no significant correlation was found between addiction to SMS and depression in the students (p<0.05) (r=0.024).

Considering the results of this study, it is worth to pay more attention to the phenomenon of addiction to SMS in students, and authorities should plan for appropriate culture-making and the accurate teaching of proper use of mobile phone at university.

Emphasis is placed on the correction of reading the prayer as an important precept in Islamic culture, and it is essential to use an effective teaching method to promote the status of reading the prayers in youth. This study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of the methods of group teaching, personal (face-to-face) teaching and using compact disc (CD) on correcting the pronunciation and reading of the prayer in the students of Qom University of Medical Sciences in 2011. This semi-experimental study was done on the students of the Faculty of Nursery and Midwifery of Qom University of Medical Sciences. The samples were randomly assigned into three groups, and the number of students in each group was 22. A checklist of reading mistakes was completed before the intervention, and then, teaching content was given to them in the form of group and face-to-face teaching and CD. In the following, reading mistakes of the students’ prayer were recorded one month after intervention. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, and Kruskal–Wallis and Wilcoxon tests at a significance level of p<0.05. Findings showed that the highest mean change in reading letters and pronunciation was in face-to-face teaching method, So that the mean and standard deviation of reading of letters and pronunciation before teaching were, respectively, 10.24±3.99 and 1.6±3.17, and after face-to-face teaching were, respectively, 1.56±1.8 and 1.08±0.4 (p=0.000). There was no significant statistical difference between the mean changes of letter reading in three teaching groups (p>0.05). Based on the findings of this study, the effect of teaching methods of group, personal, and CD was the same in correcting the students’ reading of the prayer. Therefore, it is suggested that considering the students’ interest and current circumstances, various methods could be used for correction of the students’ reading of the prayer.

Prayer is one of the most important obligations in Islamic culture and the best means to be proximate to God. Although in the context of effects of prayer on human health, sufficient studies have been performed, there are yet very few studies related to prayer obligation of hospitalized patients. This research was carried out with the aim of determining the problems of prayer obligation among inpatients of Nekooei hospital in Qom.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study based on a questionnaire consisting of two sections (demographic and core questions about characteristic and structural problems of prayer). The questionnaire was constructed by the researcher. 400 hospitalized patients were selected based on randomized sampling method in various wards of Nekooei hospital in Qom city. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

The results revealed that the majority of cases could not perform prayer obligation during hospitalization (72.2%) while these patients doing their religious obligations such as prayer continuously were in normal condition. Among prayer inhibitory parameters in hospitalized patients, personal problems and structural malfunctioning in hospital building were 98.2 and 83.8, respectively. The most important reasons dealt with personal problems were misunderstanding of prayer instructions during illness (36.8%) and inability to perform prayers because of sickness intensity and weakness. (22.5%). Moreover, the majority of prayer inhibitory barriers and problems in hospitalized patients who were saying their prayers in this fashion were due to structural malfunctioning in the hospital (96.4%). Carrying out Cleansing (Teharat) and not taking notice of religious beliefs of “Najes (Filthy) and Pak (Clean)” especially in hospital water closets (45.9%) were among the positive answers regarding these structural malfunctioning.

Based on the results of this study, hospitalized patients in Nekooei hospital have several problems to perform prayer obligation. Therefore, it is suggested that hospital chairman and managers give more emphasis to effective provisions and measures for enhancing the quality of prayer performance in hospital wards with specific attention to personal problems and removing structural barriers.