m. nourian

The current research aimed to design a model for the educational needs of Iranian female heads of the family. This qualitative research had a phenomenological approach and was undertaken through carrying out semi-structured interviews. The statistical population of the study was comprised of all experts in the field of female heads of the family from the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, the State Welfare Organization of Iran, and the Municipality of Tehran in 2021. For the purpose of sampling, 12 experts were chosen through purposive sampling and the interviews were undertaken until data saturation was achieved. The obtained data were content-analyzed and coded using open, axial, and selective coding. Finally, 5 main components were extracted: “knowledge of menopause”, “knowledge and skills of employment and self-sufficiency”, “development of individual abilities”, “and development of social skills”, and “knowledge and skills of raising children”. Based on the main goal of this research, 34 categories were obtained which were placed in 5 themes, and finally a model was designed for the education of women heads of the family. This model can be used by such organizations as the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation to design educational programs for women heads of the family.

It is very clear that in today's world, empowered women are one of the main indicators of the superiority of a society over other societies, because they will significantly increase individual performance to achieve society's goals. A developed society needs capable women so that they can create good and novel ideas and then realize them by participating in decision-makings and activities. Rural women, as hidden workers, play a vital role in home and farm activities, especially in planting, growing, harvesting, and processing livestock products. By empowering rural women, they can find appropriate solutions for problems in terms of technical, skill, interaction, etc. In other words, capable rural women can understand their duties well before they are told what to do . Empowerment strategies include equal access to opportunities, resources, credits, and education. Studies show that by empowering women, the whole society finds benefits, because empowered rural women expand the acquired capabilities in the family. They act like catalysts. By transferring the acquired abilities to others, on the one hand, the time to reach the development goals is reduced, and on the other hand, the desired goals are achieved more easily.

The present research is a sequential qualitative-quantitative mixed research with an exploratory approach. In the qualitative part, the dimensions and components of rural women's empowerment were first extracted using the meta-composite method. Due to the existence of an information gap in the data, an attempt was made to resolve this gap by using the foundation's data theory. The population of this phase of the research to conduct interview of a focus group included experts in the field of women (N=64) and a number of rural women who work in the projects of the Agriculture-Jahad Organization (N=36324). The categories extracted from the qualitative section were converted into questionnaire items, and in the quantitative section, they were validated with the help of a questionnaire survey and factor analysis. The population of the quantitative section included 80 experts from the Office of Rural Women Affairs and the service centers of Lorestan province. Due to the limited statistical population, all of them were considered as samples. In this phase, a five-item Likert scale was used to measure the importance of the measurement items. Ensuring the quality of the questionnaire, its validity and reliability were checked. The face validity of the questionnaire was checked and confirmed by providing corrective opinions of relevant experts and professors. Cronbach's alpha test was also used to check the reliability. The results showed that the questionnaire has acceptable reliability and all alpha values are higher than 0.70

The findings in the metacomposition section showed that 14 survey sources, 12 review sources, 13 descriptive sources, and 1 causal-comparative source were used in metacomposition, 70% of which had a quantitative approach, 27% a qualitative approach, and 3% enjoyed a mixed approach. Also, research tools included 23% of sources and documents; 57%, questionnaire; 10% interviews and 10% a combination of questionnaires and interviews. The results of the analysis in the quantitative part are chi-square value of 1.27 degrees of freedom, which is at the optimal threshold of less than 3. Also, the root mean square error of estimation (RMSEA) should be less than 0.08, which is 0.051 and acceptable. The values of goodness of fit indices of GFI and AGFI, NFI and CFI should also be more than 0.90, which in the present study are 0.97, 0.95, 0.97 and 0.98, respectively, and are at the optimal level. Therefore, the dimensions and components obtained from the qualitative step of the study have the necessary quality to present the rural women's empowerment model of Lorestan province.The t value of all indicators is higher than 1.96 and significant at the level of less than 0.05. Also, the values of the factor loadings showed that all the measurement items are at an acceptable level above 0.5. The values of Cronbach's alpha were higher than 0.7 and were acceptable. The calculation of composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) values and their placement at higher levels than the acceptance threshold of 0.7 and 0.5, respectively, also construct the validity. In order to check the diagnostic validity, the Fornell-Larker criterion was used. The investigation showed that the square root of the AVE values is all greater than the internal correlation values between the other components of the model at a significance level of less than 0.05. This finding shows how different the measurement items of one component are from other components. Based on this, the model has the necessary diagnostic validity.

In this research, it has been tried to identify and explain the dimensions and components of rural women's empowerment in Lorestan province. The findings of this research showed that although some dimensions of rural women's empowerment are consistent with the results of previous literature (such as educational, structural and socio-cultural dimensions); it is diverted in parts due to having a comprehensive, broad and context-oriented view on the problem of explaining and classifying the dimensions and components of rural women's empowerment through successive quantitative and qualitative mixed studies and including the benefit of focus group interviews with rural women and experts. The field of rural women is distinguished from other conducted researches. Based on this, the main dimensions of empowerment of rural women in Lorestan province include five dimensions of comprehensive education, individual-cognitive, economic, structural and socio-cultural, which have been reported in the findings of some previous researches. Therefore, the obtained results show double importance of these dimensions in the issue of empowering rural women and also achieving rural development. In addition, 52 items were identified, explained and classified for the twelve components of these dimensions.

Adolescents who suffer from chronic diseases, such as major thalassemia are more susceptible to physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, educational, and social self-care failure. These factors are generally more likely to be overcome if affected adolescents have a high level of self-care. This study aimed to assess self-care quality in adolescents with major thalassemia.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 200 adolescents with major thalassemia selected by convenience sampling. The Self-Care Assessment Questionnaire (SCAQ) with 52 items in six dimensions was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and ANOVA.

There was no significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and the dimensions of self-care in participants. Adolescents with major thalassemia were found with a high score of quality of self-care. The highest mean scores were related to the dimensions of “emotional/mental self-care (2.44±0.64)”, “social self-care (2.08±0.61)”, and “spiritual self-care (2.07±0.62)”, respectively.

It is recommended that this issue be investigated in other adolescent patients, considering the importance of self-care and its effects on various aspects of quality of life in chronic diseases. Also, planning and implementing patient education is another important management measure to promote self-care in these adolescents.

The purpose of this study is the systematic study of the characteristics of an e-learning environment that is considered from all aspects in the teaching-learning process in the curriculum and its practical implementation. Learning environment means the space in which the most important aspects of educational activities and learner interaction with the teacher take place. This environment is influenced by culture, tradition, technology and richness in design and construction. Learning environment can refer to an educational approach, cultural context or physical environment in which teaching and learning take place. E-learning is a creative approach to convey insights, skills, and information designed for a specific purpose. It is learner-oriented, interactive, flexible, expandable and innovative produced using the achievements of digital technology; and they are transmitted through network infrastructure and the Internet.

The research approach is qualitative using content analysis. To achieve the above explanation, the synthesis research method has been used. To find the features and components of the learning environment, the recent studies have been systematically selected, content analyzed, screened and categorized. The study population is comprised of the research conducted from 2000 to 2020 during which classification and screening have been done through content revision, and about 97 studies that were appropriate and met the required criteria were purposefully selected. First, with the performed analyses, coding and classification were performed and patterns, theoretical bases, and main themes were extracted. Nvivo-8 software was used to analyze the data by open and axial coding method.

Using content analysis, 29 subcategories were identified and the components of e-learning environment that were extracted using content analysis in 7 dimensions include: the learner, the teacher, curriculum approaches, the teaching-learning process, the teaching content, the physics of e-learning environment and evaluation. To assess the validity and reliability of the coding, the trust feature was used.  it includes four criteria, namely reliability (the degree of belief in research findings), confirmability (the ability to identify the place from which the data of a particular study has come) and verifiability (the findings are practically based on the data) and transferability (the results of a qualitative study can be transferred to a different environment)

By classifying the sub-components, the main components were extracted and the conceptual model was designed. The learner dimension with six subcategories includes the learner’s individual characteristics, cultural considerations, the learners’ relationship with each other, the learner-teacher relationship, the learners’ presuppositions, the learners’ interaction with the environmental physics. The curriculum approaches include 5 subcategories, i.e., the learner-centered process, the social approach to education, the behavioral approach, the constructivist approach, and the constructivist approach. The teacher dimension with four subcategories includes the teacher competence, the interactive relationship with the learner, the teacher’s experiences. The teacher’s relationship with school authorities and the teaching-learning process with four subcategories include teaching and learning methods, curriculum planning, participatory learning strategies, the learner’s motivation. The educational content dimension with two subcategories includes content selection, the teaching aid materials and media. The physical dimension of the learning environment with four subcategories includes the physical environment, the environment layout, lighting, location, sound, safety in the learning environment. The evaluation dimension with four subcategories includes self-evaluation, homework, the teacher observation, the criteria in evaluation. Despite many efforts that have been made to achieve the goals of a national curriculum, there is no special design for the e-learning environment. Therefore, according to the model proposed in this research, the components of the model can be considered and the e-learning environment can be designed according to the curriculum approach. 

Objective :

Today's educational systems in the world with a content-based curriculum do not perform well with the wide-ranging changes that occur in human societies. Because they are unable to develop the motivation, competencies, and skills associated with self-directed learning. Because they are not able to create opportunities to integrate knowledge and skills and provide learners with the experience needed to interact with their surroundings. So, in line with the fast-paced developments of today's world, a curriculum should be used to provide the basis for the growth of today's most important need for self-directed learning. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of the upside down approach curriculum on learners' selfdirected learning.

The research design used in this study was pre-test and post-test with two groups of control and experiment. Data were collected using Fisher, King and Tago selfdirected learning readiness questionnaire. The statistical population of the study consisted of 10th-grade female students in Tehran District 3, of which 70 were selected through convenience sampling. The sample was selected and then divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received ten sessions of training through the upside down curriculum and the control group through the traditional curriculum. Descriptive statistics on overall self-directed learning readiness scale and its three subscales (self-management, selfcontrol, and willingness to learn) were presented in two control and experimental groups at two measurement levels (pre-test and post-test) to provide a better understanding. The results are analyzed. In the section of analytical findings, one-way analysis of covariance (ANOVA) examines the effect of curriculum with upside down approach on self-directed learning readiness and its three subscales (self-management, self-control and willingness to learn) Before running this test, the assumptions of the test (normality of data distribution, homogeneity of variances, and regression slope equality) were assured. The findings of the present study indicate that the reversed curriculum increased learners' self-directed learning and its components (self-management, self-control, and willingness to learn) in the experimental group compared to the control group.

The results of univariate analysis of covariance showed that the effect of a well-designed syllabus on students' self-directed learning was confirmed and considering that the mean of the experimental group was improved in the post-test phase. It can be said that the inverted curriculum increased readiness for self-directed learning. In some ways, it can be acknowledged that an inverted curriculum can be an effective way of realizing learners' selfdirection in learning and its subscales. Trying to gain self-directed learning skills increases responsibility for one's own and others' activities, academic achievement, readiness to be present in the workplace, problem-solving, independence, initiative, self-esteem, improved communication, and self-assessment skills. Learners are also able to identify their needs, create goals, control their time and energy with self-management in the learning process. Self-directed learners are responsible for self-management by achieving self-control and can analyse, plan, implement and evaluate their learning activities independently, and can also make the most of their learning resources and practical learning strategies to overcome the problems that occur in the learning process by motivating them and learning to achieve the best learning outcomes.