مجله علوم مراقبتی نظامی
سال یازدهم شماره 2 (تابستان 1403)

Spouses of veterans indirectly suffer from the effects of war due to stress. They endure significant psychological pressures throughout their lives, highlighting the importance of spiritual self-protection in coping with life's challenges.

To examine how spirituality education affects the caregiving burden of spouses of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

This classical experimental study involved 30 participants, randomly assigned to intervention (15) and control (15) groups, conducted in 2023 among the wives of stress veterans after a wartime incident in Torbat Heydarieh city. The intervention group received six training sessions based on Mary White's self-care model, while the control group received standard counseling care. Data was collected through a self-reported care questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 21, employing paired t-tests, independent t-tests, and ANOVA, with a significance level set at 0.05.

The covariance test, after accounting for the pre-test effect, revealed a significant difference )P=0.007, Eta=0.24(, indicating that 24% of the reduction in care burden can be attributed to spiritual self-care.
Discussion and

The results indicate that spiritual self-care can alleviate the care burden on veterans' wives. This effective, low-cost approach enhances the quality of care for spouses of veterans while reducing their overall burden.

Resilience capacity is a key predictor in preventing and reducing professional stress, with emotional intelligence being one of the most important skills that fosters resilience.

This study aimed to assess the impact of emotional intelligence skills training on nurses’ care determination and mental resilience.

This semi-experimental study involved 64 nurses from Aja Hospital’s psychiatric departments, randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Pre-test and post-test assessments used Gamril and Ritchie’s assertiveness and Connor and Davidson’s resilience questionnaires. The intervention group received training in emotional intelligence, including practical exercises in workshops. Additionally, the
training was reinforced over six weeks with written materials distributed as educational pamphlets on emotional intelligence skills.

Before the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups in average assertiveness scores (P=0.35, individual response P=0.20) and resilience (P=0.10).However, after the intervention, a statistically significant difference emerged in average decisiveness scores and average resilience scores between the groups (P=0.01).

Incorporating emotional intelligence training into nursing programs enhances nurses’ resilience and emotional intelligence. Consequently, health system officials and planners should prioritize this training in their programs.

Widespread anxiety over coronavirus infection is exacerbated by a lack of information about Covid-19. Additionally, the pandemic, coupled with fears of illness and death, disrupts daily life and drives individuals to seek more information to alleviate their anxiety.

This study aimed to assess the impact of virtual training on the anxiety levels of family caregivers of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in selected Aja hospitals' Intensive Care Units.

In this quasi-experimental study, 62 family caregivers of COVID-19 patients from two randomly selected hospitals in Aja were divided into experimental (31 participants) and control (31 participants) groups. Caregivers in the experimental group received virtual training for 15 minutes daily over a week. The level of coronavirus anxiety was assessed using a questionnaire before and after the intervention. Data analysis employed analysis of variance to determine significance at P<0.05.

There were no significant differences in demographic characteristics between the experimental and control groups (P>0.05). Anxiety levels before the study were 25.90±4.14 for the experimental group and 24.22±4.73 for the control group, which was not statistically significant (P=0.143). After the intervention, anxiety levels dropped to 8.41±1.47 in the experimental group and 23.32±3.77 in the control group (P<0.001). In the post-test phase, the experimental group showed a significant decrease in caregiver anxiety (P< 0.001), while the control group did not exhibit a significant change
(P=0.029).

Given the elevated anxiety levels among family caregivers of COVID-19 patients, virtual training proved to be an effective strategy for alleviating their anxiety. This approach can be utilized by therapists and care staff to support these caregivers.

The length of patient stay in the emergency department is crucial for optimizing resource allocation, reducing costs, and enhancing operations.

This study aimed to predict patients’ length of stay in the emergency department using machine learning models.

This retrospective cohort study collected data from patients referred to the emergency room of a selected hospital in Tehran, including vital signs, diagnoses, and demographic information such as age and gender, during December 2022. After data preparation, ensemble models—Random Forest, Light GBM, Cat Boost, and Ada Boost—were employed to predict patients’ length of stay.

The study found that vital signs, age, and Emergency Severity Index level 1 significantly influence patient length of stay. The Cat Boost model, with an accuracy of 0.87, precision of 0.91, recall of 0.83, and F1-score of 0.87, outperformed other models in predictive performance.

This study demonstrated that ensemble models effectively predict emergency room patient length of stay, with Boosting methods outperforming Bagging methods.

Mental health is crucial for enhancing the quality of life in older adults.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and loneliness, considering the moderating role of religious orientation among the elderly in Karaj city.
Method and Materials: This descriptive cross-sectional study of 500 older adults in Karaj, Iran, was conducted in 2020 using cluster sampling. Data was gathered through a demographic checklist, questionnaires on COVID-19 anxiety, Allport and Ross Religious Orientation, and loneliness. Path analysis was employed to assess the moderating role of religious orientation in the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and loneliness.

The mean age of the elderly participants in the study was 70.82 ± 7.99 years. Most were male (n=275, 55%) and married (n=388, 67.6%). Significant correlations were found between psychological anxiety and loneliness, as well as between religious orientation and loneliness (p=0.000, β=-0.584). However, the results did not support a moderating role of religious orientation in the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and loneliness (p=0.999, β=0.000).

The current study did not support the moderating role of religiosity in the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and loneliness; however, further research is recommended to verify these findings.

Enhancing marital relations is the aim of numerous educational and therapeutic interventions for couples. By raising awareness, couples can improve their quality of life and mental health.

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of relationship enrichment on the quality of life and mental health of couples facing divorce in Kerman.

The study employed a semi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test measures, including a control group. The statistical population comprised couples seeking psychological services at Kerman city’s counseling centers, who were referred to judicial centers for divorce in 2022. A total of 30 participants (15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group) were selected through availability sampling. Data collection utilized quality of life and Goldberg mental health questionnaires, alongside an educational intervention. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and covariance analysis with SPSS version 24, considering a p-value of less than 0.05 as significant.

In the test group, the mean and standard deviation of mental health scores were 36.62±6.98 in the pre-test and 52.25±7.36 in the post-test. Similarly, the mean and standard deviation of quality of life scores in the test group were 38.5±5.55 in the pre-test and 43.25±7.23 in the post-test (P<0.01). The results of the covariance analysis indicated that relationship enrichment positively affected both the mental health and
quality of life of couples facing divorce (P< 0.01).

The findings of this research indicate that relationship enrichment training is an effective intervention for enhancing both the quality of life and mental health of couples facing divorce.

Stroke survivors with right hemisphere damage exhibit specific working memory deficits, often manifested as difficulty recognizing visual targets during monitoring.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on working memory in stroke patients with
hemineglect.

This experimental study involved 60 stroke patients with hemiplegia, who were randomly divided into two groups: 30 in the rTMS (experimental) group and 30 in the sham group. Both groups received treatment with rTMS at 0.9 frequency, three times a week for 10 minutes over 15 sessions. In the sham group, the rTMS device was turned off after 30 seconds, leading participants to believe they were receiving real treatment.

The results indicated a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test working memory components for both the experimental and sham groups (P≥0.05). Additionally, the post-test comparisons revealed significant differences between the experimental and sham groups in terms of correct answers, unanswered cases, and response time (P≥0.05). Moreover, within the experimental group, the difference between post-test and pre-test scores for correct answers and errors was also significant (P≥0.05).

This study provides preliminary evidence that rTMS effectively enhances working memory in stroke patients with hemineglect, contributing to the expanding research on non-invasive brain stimulation in neurorehabilitation and underscoring the necessity for further investigation.