ABSTRACT
Background: Designing a valid and reliable questionnaire that allows a fair evaluation of sexual knowledge and attitudes and develop a proper sexual educational program is necessary
Objective: The present study was designed to develop and psychometric evaluation of the sexual knowledge and attitudes scale for premarital couples
Materials and Methods: An exploratory mixed method study was conducted in two phases; in the first, in order to develop a questionnaire an item pool was generated on sexual knowledge and attitudes through focus group discussions and individual interviews. In the second phase, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were examined. For this purpose, face validity, content validity as well as construct validity were conducted. Reliability was assessed by the Cronbach's alpha coefficient to assess internal consistency and test-retest reliability
Results: In the first phase an item pool with 88 questions was generated [sexual knowledge 45 items and sexual attitudes 43 items]. In the second phase, the number of final items reduced to 33 and 34 items of sexual knowledge and sexual attitudes respectively, through exploratory factor analysis [EFA]. Five factors for sexual knowledge and six factors for sexual attitudes identified by EFA. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for two sections was 0.84 and 0.81 respectively. The test- retest correlations for sexual knowledge and sexual attitude was 0.74 and 0.82 respectively
Conclusion: The findings suggest that the Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale for Premarital Couples is a valid and reliable instrument. Further studies are needed to establish stronger psychometric properties for the questionnaire
ABSTRACT
Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the 9th lunar month. The duration of fasting varies from 13 to 18 hrs per day. Fasting individuals abstain from drinking liquids and eating foods. Many pregnant women and gynecologists are concerned about the possible complications associated with fasting and effects on fetal health. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Ramadan fasting on neonatal birth weight. The current historical cohort study was performed on pregnant women attending maternity hospitals in Kashan in 2008. Two fasting and non?fasting groups were compared. Multiple pregnancies and gestational age less than 37 weeks were considered as the exclusion criteria. In fasting and nonfasting groups, age, parity, gestational age, body mass index [BMI], mother's occupation, prenatal care attendance and intended or unintended pregnancy were matched. For the statistical analysis of the data, covariance analysis and SPSS v16.0 were used. In this study, 293 cases were evaluated among whom 31.7% did notfast. In the two groups, the mean age, gestational age, parity and weight gain during pregnancy were not significantly different. The mean birth weight was 3338 g [ +/- 498 g] and 3343 g [ +/- 339 g] in fasting and non?fasting groups respectively. The results showed that the mean birth weight of the neonates in fasting and non?fasting groups was not significantly different [P=0. 931]. The results of this study indicated that there is no significant relationship between the neonatal birth weight and maternal fasting during pregnancy. Therefore we declare that fasting for pregnant women who receive prenatal care has no effects on neonatal birth weight
ABSTRACT
Preterm birth is the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity; so, prevention of preterm labor is a priority in health care. This study aimed to determine relationship between house works with preterm labor. In this case-control study, 150 term pregnant women [control group] and 150 preterm pregnant women [case group] delivered in Izadi hospital in Qom were selected in 2008-2009. The data were collected using the "physical activity in pregnancy" scale. Data were analyzed using the Chi-squared test, t-test, and logistic regression. The P-value less than 0.05 was considered as significant level and the adjusted OR was reported for all variables. We used the SPSS- 16 for analyzing the data. According to the findings, there was no significant relationship between house work regarding duration and severity of activity in pregnancy with preterm labor. There was no relationship between house work in pregnancy and preterm labor. Further studies are recommended
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Work , Pregnancy , Case-Control StudiesABSTRACT
Ecstasy [methylendioxymethamphetamine] is a stimulant drug that has various side effects on nerve system, cardiovascular and immune system. This substance affects body tissues and can cause their death. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the effects of ecstasy on liver tissues in Wistar rats. Fifty Wistar rats, ranging 5-6 weeks of age, were divided into five groups [n=10] including control, sham, experimental 1, 2 and 3. In the experimental groups, the animals were injected with the consecutive doses of ecstasy [2, 4 and 8 mg/kg, I.P, for two weeks]. The sham group received normal saline and the control group had no injection. Animals were sacrificed 12 hours after the latest injection of ecstasy. Liver tissues sections were provided and stained by hematoxylin-eosin to investigate the histopathological changes. Hepatocytes cells significantly decreased in experiment groups as compared with the control and sham groups [p<0.05]. This decrease was more severe with higher doses. The results showed that numbers of kuppfer cells and liver weight were increased and the degree of changes depended on the dose. According to the results, ecstasy might cause damages on liver tissue in higher and consecutive doses. So, this study suggests more attention on using of these kinds of drugs
ABSTRACT
To assess quality of life in pregnant women. This was a cross-sectional study of 600 pregnant women receiving prenatal care in health centers of Kashan University of Medical Science. The Short Form 36 Health Survey [SF-36] was used to assess quality of life. The lowest perceived well-being was role limitation due to physical problems 56.23 +/- 18.77 and vitality 56.40 +/- 18.07. The results indicated that women's scores on the SF-36 were correlated with age, gestational age, gravidity, education, income, wanted and unwanted pregnancy and satisfaction with life [P<0.05]. To improve guality of life in pregnant women it is important to improve background conditions for women