mahmood atharizadeh

Performance assessment in organizations can lead to healthy relationships in the workplace, and it also pays grounds for intellectual growth and improvement of staff performance. This study examines the attitudes of Staff of Kashan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services about their annual performance.
In this descriptive study, 714 staff were randomly selected. The data of this study were collected by a questionnaire, whose validity and credit were tested. Then, in two stages, samples of 52 and 56 persons were taken and by two-half method and calculating the homogeneity coefficient and the Cronbach's coefficient alpha and Kuder-Richardson coefficients in the second step get to the Cronbach's coefficient alpha 93% that final validity was acceptable. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS Inc. Released 2007. SPSS for Windows, Version 16.0. (Chicago, SPSS Inc.).
The results of this study showed that the mean and standard deviation of age of the employees were 37.16 ± 7.1 years and their working history was 12.4 ± 7.7 years. A total of 256 participants (35.8%) considered the current evaluation as inappropriate or completely inappropriate performance assessment, 303 participants (42.4%) almost appropriate, 155 participants (21.7%) suitable or perfectly suitable. About 47.9% of participants rated the best period of evaluation yearly, and 552 participants (77.3%) of the statistical society were considered assessment in the presence of the employee appropriate.
The results of this study indicate that the attitude of more than 50% of employees was positive about the annual performance assessment.

Postpartum depression is a serious problem that may have negative effects on mother and family mental health. Considering that several theories have been proposed to explain the epidemiologic and demographic factors associated with the postpartum depression, the aim of this study was to identify the factors related to postpartum depression in Kashan. In this cross-sectional study, 50% of all health centers in Kashan were randomly selected during 2007-8. All of 204 mothers referred during 2-3 months of postpartum with minimum literacy (primary education) showed willingness to complete the questionnaire which included two parts: demographic and psychosocial questions and BDI (Beck Depression Inventory). Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, CI, OR, and logistic regression. Seventy-seven (37.7%) out of 204 mothers referred to Kashan health centers experienced postpartum depression (0.31-0.44). There was a statistically significant relationship between seven demographic and psychosocial factors and postpartum depression, in logistic regression (P<0.001), three factors (husband's appropriate behavior, intimate relationship with family, and no prior history of depression) were remained in the model. The findings indicated that the mentioned factors can reduce the incidence of postpartum depression. According to the results, factors including husband's appropriate behavior, intimate relationship with family and no prior history of depression may reduce the incidence of postpartum depression.

The main mission of any hospital in a health care system is to promote care quality for patients and to meet their needs and expectations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of hospital services from the viewpoint of patients admitted to Kashan educational hospitals. In this cross-sectional study, 390 patients admitted to Kashan educational hospitals were selected based on the stratified sampling and their points of view were evaluated using SERVQUAL questionnaire during 2008-9. The quality attributes of the questionnaire consisted of seven dimensions (e.g. physician's empathy, physician's availability, the reliability of physician performance, nurse's responsibility, nurse's empathy, drugs management and tangibility of services). Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed using content validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.93), respectively. The data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. The mean age of the respondents was 45.72±18.36 years and 54.1% of subjects were men. There was a significant difference among the mean of seven dimension scores and the total quality dimension. Moreover, a significant difference was observed in the quality score mean of different dimensions among hospitals. The highest and lowest means of quality score were for physician's empathy (3.97±0.75) and tangibility of the services (3.76±0.58), respectively. From the patient's viewpoint, educational hospitals have made good progress in providing hospital services; however, different quality scores among quality dimensions in any hospital signify that the health care administrators should pay more attention on the quality improvement programs to improve patient's satisfaction.