mansooreh yazdkhasti

 Unplanned pregnancy and its complications are a global problem that affects women, families, and the community.

 This study aimed to assess the relationship between pregnancy intention, pregnancy outcomes, postpartum depression, and maternal role adaptation in pregnant women referred to healthcare centers of Robat Karim City, Iran. 

 This cohort study was conducted on 240 pregnant women referred to the healthcare centers of Robat Karim in 2019. They were selected by the convenience sampling method. After completing the London questionnaire in the 26th week of gestation, the participants were equally divided into planned and unplanned pregnancy groups. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale and parenting sense of competency scale were completed 10 days and 30 days after delivery. The obtained data were presented by descriptive statistics and analyzed by the Chi-square and t test for comparison between two groups and structural equation model for assessing the relationship between variables.

The mean ± SD values of age, marital duration time, and gravidity number of participants were 30±7.1, 1.5±0.02, and 5, respectively. The results revealed a significant difference between the two groups concerning the mean score of postpartum depression and maternal competency, 10 and 30 days after delivery (P=0.001). The results of path analysis showed that pregnancy intention had a negative and significant effect on postpartum depression (B = -0.58, t value=-2.5), but a positive and significant impact on maternal competency (B = 0.39, t value=-2).
According to the determined amount of variance, the variable of intention to pregnancy predicts 33% of postpartum depression (R2=0.33). Also, two variables of pregnancy intention and postpartum depression predict 55% of maternal competency (R2=0.55). 

  Pregnancy intention had a significant effect on maternal depression and competency. It is recommended that pregnancy intention be screened during pregnancy, and also appropriate training and social support be provided for mothers with unplanned pregnancies.

Infertility stress can have a devastating impact on the lives of couples and influence their physical and psychological health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of group counseling on female stress and gender-role attitudes in infertile women. The present study is a randomized clinical trial conducted on 90 infertile women referred to Rooyesh Infertility Treatment Center in the city of Karaj, Iran. The convenience sampling method was used. Samples were divided into intervention and control groups through four-block random allocations. Accordingly, the intervention group received five-session group counselling and the control group only received routine care. Newton’s fertility problem inventory (FPI) and gender role questionnaire (GRQ) were used for collecting data before, after, and one month after the intervention. The significance level was set at 0.05. The result showed a significant relationship between gender role attitude and stress in infertile women (p=0.03) and indirect association between of them (r=0.13). And also repeated measures test indicated that length of time had affected the total scores of infertility stress (p<0.001) and gender role attitude scores (p=0.001) and there was a significant difference between the two groups in infertility stress scores (p<0.001) and gender role attitude scores (p=0.001). Group counseling can be used in stress reduction and also improved gender role attitude of infertile women.

We conducted a double-blind randomized placebo controlled trial to evaluate the impact of Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) on the bleeding and systemic manifestations of menstruation. A total of 90 students were randomly assigned to treatment or placebo group. Bleeding and systemic manifestations were evaluated with a menstrual pictogram and multidimensional verbal scale before and during 2 consecutive menstrual cycles respectively. Statistical tests showed that in both groups, the severity of the systemic symptoms associated with dysmenorrhea decreased significantly (P=0.001). Among the systemic symptoms, the mean severity of fatigue, the lethargy and nervous changes in the two groups decreased after the treatment, which was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding fatigue in the three cycles, but there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding lethargy in the first cycle (p=0.05) and the second cycle (p= 0.001) after the treatment. The present study showed that M. officinalis decreases the severity of the systemic signs associated with menstruation. It showed that the herb does not increase the severity of bleeding and the duration of menstruation. However, it reduces the mean total score of the severity of all the systemic symptoms associated with dysmenorrhea.

Developing maternal competence in first time mothers has a significant impact on neonate’s growth psychosocial development and neonates growth and psychological development. Social support can be an important element for becoming a new mother. We aimed to investigate how social support and maternal competence change during pregnancy and 4 months after it and examine the relationships among social support and maternal competence.
This longitudinal study was conducted on 100 first time mothers attending health centers in Alborz city, Alborz Province, between February 2015 and January 2016. Data were collected through perceived social support questionnaire that consisted of 12 questions and Parenting Sense of Competence Scale consisting of 17 items scored based on Likert’s scale. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 16. Repeated-measure test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used. P Maternal competence significantly reduced during the study (P=0.008), while perceived social support did not show any significant reduction (P=0.286). A direct relationship was found between social support and maternal competent six weeks after childbirth (r=0.19, P=0.049), and also social support and maternal competence sixteen weeks after childbirth (r=0.23, P=0.01).
Considering the reduction of maternal competency during the study, social support by healthcare providers may be helpful for the mothers’ transition to motherhood, and midwives must design specific interventions to promote the sense of maternal competence and perceived social support in first time mothers.

Measuring the quality of life among menopause women is one of the efficiency proofs in health education; hence, this study was conducted to determine the effect of structured educational program by support group on quality of life among menopause women.

In a single blind field study from August to December 2011 in Saadatmandy health care center of Robat Karim town, 110 menopause women meeting inclusion criteria were selected through convenience sampling method. After taking the consent form, they were randomly allocated to either of the control or support group (55 subjects in each group). The support group was divided into 6 groups (5 groups of 9 and a group of 10 subjects). The educational program was performed in predetermined days of the week and for 10 consecutive sessions of 120 minutes.The scores for quality of life level achieved before the educational program and a month after that were compared using Menopause specific quality of life questionnaire (MENQOL). No intervention was done in control group.

The execution of structured educational program by support group in intervention group indicated a statistically significant difference in quality of life level among menopause women (reduction of symptoms from 153.76±38.61 to 113.31±24.35, P<0.001). No significant change was found in quality of life scores achieved by control group.

Structured educational program by support group could be used as an appropriate strategy which helps menopause women to promote their health and encounter with menopause symptoms in a healthier manner and in conclusion promote their quality of life. This educational program could be applied in health intervention and health care programs in our country.