Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume:3 Issue: 5, May 2013

Educational failure is one of the most important problems in higher education institutes in Iran. This study was performed to investigate the factors affecting students’ academic failure in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 280 students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were studied in 2009. They were chosen using multiple cluster sampling. The students’ demographic characteristics and study information were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire. Data were analyzed with SPSS (15) software.

The most important factors affecting educational failure from students’ point of view were: curriculum (4.23 ± 0.63), factors related to educator (3.88 ± 0.55), learning environment (3.63 ± 0.62), family factors (3.53 ± 0.6), socioeconomic factors (3.45 ± 0.69). There is a significant relationship between attitudes of students in two sexes and educator (P = 0.03) and socioeconomic environment (P = 0.003). In addition, the results did not show a significant difference between attitudes of students with age, marital status and employment status (P > 0.05).

More attention to curriculum, factors related to educator and learning environment can prevent students’ educational failure, in addition to preventing loss of resources and contribute to develop a more effective educational system.

The higher prevalence rate of influenza A among adolescence emphasizes the importance of preventative strategies among this age group of population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preventive behaviors of high school students regarding type A influenza, in Shahrekord, Iran.

In this cross-sectional study, 313 high school students were enrolled. Preventive behaviors of influenza A was evaluated by components of the Health Belief Model (HBM), using a questionnaire which its reliability was verified through a pilot study (alpha score 0.8). Data analysis was done by descriptive statistics, independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Mean age of the students was 16.31 years. Knowledge, perceived severity and perceived barriers were in the modest level among the students. The highest scores were related to perceived susceptibility (75.4%) and perceived benefit (55.6%). Mass media was the main source of their information regarding influenza A.

Considering the findings of this study and the relation between HBM components and the preventive behaviors of students, it seems that using HBM could be useful in improving preventive behaviors of influenza A among the studied population.

Adult age is a sensitive period of human life and paying attention to the issues and needs of this stage is a social necessity. Regarding the specific needs of this period, considering the empowerment, dignity, and self-efficacy in the elders is very important too, which is frequently neglected. This study aims to determine the effect of family-based interventions on the elders’ empowerment with emphasis on self-efficacy, self-esteem, perceive threat, and quality of life of the elders in Isfahan.

In this semi-experimental study, 64 elderly people with the ability to perform routine and daily tasks without dependence on others and without systemic and restrictive diseases were chosen by available sampling method and were divided into two intervention and control groups. In intervention group, the model of family-based empowerment was trained and conducted in ten 45-minute sessions. The level of perceived threat, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and life quality in both groups were evaluated before and after intervention through a questionnaire. Chi Square, paired and independent t-test were used for statistical analysis.

Statistical test of paired t-test indicated that family-based empowerment model significantly increased the quality of life in intervention group compared with the control group (P < 0.01). Statistical test of independent t-test showed a significant difference in intervention and control groups after conducting the program in the score of the self-esteem (P < 0.001). Regarding self-efficiency, independent t-test did not show any significant difference between the two groups before intervention. Despite the increase of self-efficacy score after intervention, this difference was not significant (P = 0.076).

Regarding the findings of this research, we can conclude that it is possible to increase the level of self-efficacy, self-esteem, perceived threat, and finally quality of life of the elders and facilitate the way for healthy aging and being healthy in this period using family-based empowerment model regularly and consistently.

Appropriate understanding of women that certain physical, mental, social and psychological changes occur during menopause helps them with greater readiness to cope with these changes. In all training programs to identify and analyze perceptions of the subjects is a key component. The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge and attitude of women toward the menopause phenomenon.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 healthy and non-menopaused women aged 40–45 years. The stratified sampling method was used and participation in this study was based on obtaining informed consent. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire consisting of three parts: demographic information, questions to assess knowledge and attitude investigation questions.

The results showed that the average knowledge score of subjects was 63.57 ± 10.79, and their average attitude score was 61.21 ± 12.73. In this study, 8% of the subjects had poor knowledge, 68% had moderate knowledge and 38.5% had good knowledge. Meanwhile, 81.5% of the women had a positive attitude toward menopause. The correlation test showed that knowledge and attitude are meaningfully related to economic status and education level. But, the relationship between knowledge and attitudes of women under study was not significant.

Identifying the quality of women’s subjective perception of menopause has an essential role in the development of accurate and appropriate programs to promote women’s health during menopausal years.

Febrile convulsion is one of the most common problems in children aged 5 months to 6 years. The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of an educational program on mothers for prevention of febrile seizure in children.

In this clinical trial study, 88 mothers were chosen who were divided into intervention and control groups, randomly. Data of the control and intervention groups were collected in two stages, before intervention and 1 month after intervention, by a validated and reliable questionnaire. The intervention consisted of three educational sessions, each one lasting for 60 min. Data were analyzed using chi-square, t-test and paired t-test.

Age average of subjects in the intervention group and in the control group was 26.75 and 26.84 years, respectively. The results showed a significant increase in the knowledge (P < 0.001), attitude (P = 0.04) and practice (P = 0.01) in the intervention group 1 month after intervention compared with that before intervention, while such an increase was not seen in the control group.

This study confirmed the efficiency of educational interventions in improving mother’s knowledge, attitude and practice regarding prevention of febrile seizure in children.