Journal of Community Health Research
Volume:8 Issue: 3, Jul-Sep 2019

Students are predisposed to loss of general health due to the special circumstances of the education period. Considering that they constitute a significant proportion of the population, their general health status can be considered as a good basis to plan for their general health. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the general health status in students of Yazd University of Medical Sciences.
 

In this descriptive study, 272 students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in 2016 were selected by stratified random sampling method. Data collection instrument was a three-section questionnaire including demographic characteristics, lifestyle-related habits, a standard health questionnaire, and a general health questionnaire (GHQ)-28. After data collection was done, the data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16, descriptive and Independent T-test and one-way ANOVAs.

Findings of the study showed that 54.4% of students had a non-favorable general health status. The general health status of the students was not significantly associated with gender, education level, parents’ education level and residence status (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant difference in the variable of smoking. (p = 0.03), and this difference was more pronounced in the areas related to depression.

Regarding the negative effects of the students' depression and smoking on their general health status,  it seems that the general health of the students can be improved by providing consulting services and designing and implementing preventive action.

Firefighting is one of the occupations that require high physical and aerobic power due to the nature of the job and the physical demands of this profession. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship among Work ability index (WAI), mental workload, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and their effective factors in firefighters.

 This study was a cross-sectional study, which was carried out on 250 firefighters in Tehran. Data were collected using WAI, NASA-TLX and Body Discomfort Chart (BDC). Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, linear regression, Pearson correlation and Spearman tests.

The mean and standard deviation of the total WAI score was 38.85±1.17. Also, the highest amount of mental workload was devoted to the physical load dimension (93.49±8.93). Meanwhile, the total mental load was also 70.07 ± 6.58. The results showed that the WAI is increased by 0.14 by augmentation of one unit at the academic level of firefighters (P = 0.03). The most common discomfort was reported in the lower (20%) and upper (16.8%) regions of the back. The total WAI relationship with total mental workload was positive and insignificant (P>0.05). There was a significant and reverse association between WAI and discomfort in wrist, leg and ankle.

Despite the low rate of MSDs, even mild symptoms of musculoskeletal pain should be considered. Given the high level of mental workload, improving physical, psychosocial and social working conditions is important in increasing the ability of employees and augmenting the ability of their occupational activity.

Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers and it is mostly caused by ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the factors affecting skin cancer preventive behaviors in medical sciences students who are responsible for the future health of the community.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 150 students who were selected by the simple random sampling method. The data were collected by translating the questionnaire based on the extended parallel process model and were analyzed using SPSS-18 software. Moreover, data coding was analyzed using appropriate nonparametric statistical tests.

The mean age of participants was 22.01 ± 5.24, more than half of whom (57.3%) used sunscreen as a self-protective behavior against the sunlight. The perceived severity construct had the highest score among the constructs. Among the background variables, gender had a significant statistical difference with the constructs of fear and behavioral intention, and preventive behaviors and economic status variable in the perceived response efficacy construct. Among the model constructs, the behavioral intention was the strongest behavioral predictor of skin cancer prevention.

Considering the correlation between self-efficacy and behavior as well as the correlation between the perceived response efficacy and behavioral intentions, it seems necessary to plan in this field in order to increase protective behaviors against sunlight and skin cancer prevention by removing existing barriers including cultural issues.

It is generally accepted that cutaneous leishmaniasis is an important health problem in the world which is caused by leishmaniasis protozoan. This disease is also considered as a health problem in some regions of Iran including Bushehr province. The present study investigated the geographical dispersion and epidemiological characteristics of subjects with the cutaneous leishmaniasis in this province during 2011-2015.

In this cross-sectional and analytical study, the epidemiologic data including the age, gender, residential area, and counties with this disease was analyzed and collected from 663 patients who were followed up and treated during 2011 to 2015.

422 (63.7%) of studied people were residents of urban areas and 241 (36.3%) lived in rural areas. 59.4% (394 people) were male and 40.6% (269) were female. The mean age of subjects was 21.91± 17.01 (ranging from 1 to 80 years). Kangan County with an average 5-year incidence of 17.72 per a hundred thousand people had the highest incidence, but Tangestan County with the incidence of 8.47 per a hundred thousand people had the lowest average incidence. Based on GIS results, Jam County, which was not recognized as the focus of this disease in the past, has been considered as a new focus of disease in recent years.

The geographic information system (GIS) is an effective tool for the organization of diseases and health data. The crisis can be identified and controlled by taking proper measures with the discovery of spatial accumulation of diseases.

Recently, the health care sector has been moved towards establishing non-governmental organizations (NGOs); since collaborative approaches are more in these organizations and they provide better services. Hospitals and charity clinics are part of NGO's. These organizations are affected by collaborative management. This collaboration has been conducted in a variety of ways, requiring the investigation of a study with the aim of providing a management pattern of health benefactors’ collaboration in medical sciences universities of Iran..

This is a qualitative and Delphi study conducted in 2017. The study population was all of 13 universities out of 57 universities of medical sciences in Iran which the questionnaire was sent. To obtain experts’ opinion and consensus, using Delphi technique, a questionnaire with initial classifications and subclasses was electronically sent to the social deputy of the universities of medical sciences for three times. Eventually, out of the 13 universities, 10 people collaborated in the Delphi model. The sample of all 13 medical sciences universities in the country that participated in this study was divided into type 1, type 2 and type 3. In order to ensure the consistency of the experts, their responses were analyzed by Kendall correlation analysis in 5 phases, including1. Investigating documents, 2. Determining the type and defining components, 3. Questionnaire results and data collection by using descriptive statistics and excel software, 4. Delphi technique, 5. Suggested pattern. SPSS and Excel software were used to analyze the data.

The findings of this study showed that the factors affecting the participation of the benefactors in the medical sciences universities of Iran include: holding meetings in the beginning of the academic year of the universities, holding meetings in special timeframe, and using benefactors’ financial resources in the research field. The results of Kendall coefficient indicate that by completing the response process from the first to the third stage, the agreement and community opinions were received and analyzed as acceptable, so that the Kendall coefficient was 61% in the first stage. By improving the questionnaire in the second stage, the Kendall coefficient reached 86%, and in the third stage of validation increased to 91%.

According to the results, the factors affecting the organization of health benefactors in medical universities of the country include: 1. Charity hospitals 2. Activated beds, 3. Charity organizations in cities, 4. A new approach to communicate with the university, and 5. Medical and research priorities in benefactors’ collaboration in the university medical sciences that explain an appropriate collaborative management pattern. The management pattern of collaboration can be used to improve the management of health benefactors’ collaboration in Iran Universities of Medical Sciences, and the highest priority to improve its performance depends on the organization and guidance among its members.

Respiratory disorders are common problems in farmers which have a high mortality rate in Yazd city. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare respiratory parameters as well as the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in three age groups in farmers and non-farmers.

This case-control study was conducted on 300 farmers and 300 non-farmers in Yazd. Questionnaires including cognitive knowledge and symptoms of respiratory diseases were completed for all participants and lung function tests were also performed. Data were analyzed using T-student, Chi square test or Fisher's exact test.

Spirometric results showed a significant reduction in respiratory capacity in the farmer group compared to non-farmer. In all three age groups, the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in farmers were higher than non-farmer groups and as the age increased, the prevalence of symptoms also increased. In the age group over 55, the risk of cough, phlegm, dyspnea and wheezing were 17,10/ 78,3/58 and 6/61 times more than non-farmers respectively which were statistically significant at 95% confidence interval P value < (0.05). Among the symptoms of respiratory, cough had the highest and shortness of breath had the lowest prevalence.
Discussion and

Regarding the prevention of high prevalence of respiratory disorders in farmers, the mechanization of agricultural practices, the promotion of health awareness of farmers by health professionals, appropriate implementation of training programs by the health department and assistance of Jihad-e-Agriculture are necessary

In the age of globalization, development and progress are a multidimensional and complex problem that is not measured by economic measures alone, and various issues related to people's welfare, governance, attention to the planet and the environment, the participation of various groups also considered. In this study, we tried to investigate this issue in several aspects of Iran's global situation. This study was descriptive and data collection was done by documentary study method. In this study, we have tried to study various global databases, studies and global reports, the status of Iran in the fields of environment, children education, health, economic inequality and gender divide. Studies have shown that inequality in income and wealth, although the situation in Iran is better than the Persian Gulf countries but more inequality than other parts of the world, including the United States and Western Europe. In terms of health, among the fifty major causes of death, Iran is ranked first and fourth in global terms due to road accidents and illicit drug use. At the same time, mortality from liver cancer, skin cancer, epilepsy, cervical cancer, kidney cancer and cancer are in a good condition compared to other countries in the world. In the field of education, the state of Iran in primary education, the exclusion of children from primary education, the guarantee of equal access for women and men to higher education and the eradication of gender inequality in participating in education is a good situation than in other parts of the world, but in The number of preschool years and pre-school education has been weaker than many other countries. In the field of environmental protection in Iran, it has a bad record. Based on various indicators such as air quality, water, health, heavy metals, biodiversity, forest protection, fisheries, climate and energy, air pollutants, water resources, Iran has poor ranking in the world. In the context of the gender gap, Iran has ranked poorly in 140 out of 144 countries with indicators of opportunity and economic participation, education, health and life and political rehabilitation