[Exploring relevant components to apply nursing care models]

The first step of developing a proper model for delivering nursing care in hospitals will be identifying relevant components to apply a model. The aim of this study was identify relevant components to apply nursing care models in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences training hospitals. This study was a qualitative research which was conducted by using content analysis approach. Participants were 6 faculty members and nurse managers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences selected by purposeful sampling frame. Data gathered via semi-structured interviews and analyzed by thematic analysis. In this study, extracted themes included caring based on client satisfaction, nurses' knowledge and skills, importance of cooperative care, quantity and expertise of nurses, efficient supervision on nurses' performance, and strategies of health system in higher level. These themes were categorized in three dimensions including structure, process and outcome. Findings of this study would be used for developing a nursing care models in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences hospitals in future research

[Ostomy patient's quality of life: a qualitative study]

Therapeutic procedures cure diseases and also affect quality of life. Therefore, we can measure quality of life in order to assess impacts of disease and therapeutic procedures. To identifying client problems, it is necessary to assess quality of life dimensions such as physical, spiritual, economic and social aspects. In this regard, researchers conducted a qualitative research to explore quality of life and its dimensions in ostomy patients referred to Iranian ostomy association. In this qualitative study, 14 patients were interviewed about their quality of life dimensions. Interviews were analyzed using content analysis method. The main themes emerging from this study included physical problems related to colostomy, colostomy and psychological conditions, colostomy and sociofamilial relationships, colostomy and economic difficulties, colostomy and nutrition, colostomy and physical activity, colostomy and travel, colostomy and religious issues and colostomy, and sexual problems. The findings of the study showed challenges in quality of life of patients with ostomy. The results can be used by health care providers to create a supporting environment leading to promoting quality of life of patients

[Criteria of marrying couples for mate selection in Tehran]

Considering the impact of family health on psychosocial health of community which itself depends on successful marriage with the basis of proper criteria for mate selection, and regarding our population that mostly consists of the youth and subsequent significant growing marriage and divorce rate, this study was conducted to identify the prioritized mate-selection criterion of marrying couples in Tehran. The total of 252 marrying couples referriing to urban health centers affiliated to Tehran university of medical sciences were randomly selected via a multi-stage sampling method. Data were collected by a questionnaire validated by content validity and made reliable by Cronbach's alpha. It consisted of 3 distinct parts, including demographics [15 questions], family characteristics, appearance, emotional, socioeconomical and sociocultural status [44 questions] and one open question. A six-rate scale was designed for the questions from 0 [no importance] to 5 [very important]. The first priorities included honesty [Mean=98.37%], loyalty [Mean=97.88%], understanding [Mean=96.45%], appropriate manner [Mean=96.26%], no addiction [Mean=95.86%], assertiveness [either at work or in life] [Mean= 94.10%] and serenity [Mean= 92.95%]. The last priorities for mate selection were fellow-citizenship [Mean=43.83%], prosperity [Mean=43.81%] and colleagueship [Mean=39.48%]. It is concluded that psychological health is the most important topic through the mate-selection criterion, whereas the cultural and religious subjects are the least important ones

[Using time deiries in research]

Biographers and historians have long considered diary documents as of major importance for telling history. More recently, sociologists have taken seriously the idea of using personal documents to construct pictures of social reality from people. They have used time diary as a tool for recording behavior. Time diary is a method of self-report that can be designed as structured or semi structured. In this article, the importance of time dairy as a method of collecting data is assessed. Then, the methods of designing, recording and analyzing are discussed

Introducing a new scale for activities of daily living

Activities of daily living [ADLs] are basic tasks of everyday life. When people are unable to perform these activities, they need help either from other human beings or mechanical devices or both for coping. Although persons of all ages may have problems in performing ADLs, disabilities are much higher in the elderly than others. Planning for health centers should be based on the needs of people. Measurement of activities of daily living is critical because they have been found to be significant predictors of society needs. In this article, some instruments of ADLs have been reviewed and discussed. Then, the [Independency Scale of Activities of Daily Living] [ISADL] with a new design has been presented

Research tool translation and cross-cultural adaptation

Data collection is one of the important stages of research requiring valid and reliable instruments. Most of the time, researchers try to design questionnaires or translate valid and reliable instruments. In medical studies, researchers need to use translated instruments. The important issue in this regard is to consider some facts and the process that keeps the original concept and meaning of a questionnaire. In this way using questionnaires at different societies with different cultures would be useful There are different methods to translate questionnaires with cross-cultural adaptation but, in Iran little evidence exists in this regard. In this article, a guideline for translation is presented. Stages of translation with cross-cultural adaptation include preparation, forward translation, reconciliation of forward translation, back translation of reconciliation, back translation review, cognitive debriefing and finalization, proofreading and final report, each discussed in detail

[Survey correlation between quality of life and disease and demographic variables of diabetic patients referred to Tehran hospitals in 2004]

Nowadays diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases, with an increasing incidence and prevalence in Iran and world wide. Improvement quality of life and health status are important factors for self management behaviors of diabetic patients. These behavior play an important role in prevention of acute and chronic complications of diabetes. This study has been conducted to evaluate correlation between quality of life and disease and demographic variables of diabetic patients. In this cross-sectional study participants were selected from diabetes clinics of four general hospitals of medical sciences universities in Tehran using convenience sampling. The demographic and disease characteristics questionnaire and also the short form health survey [SF-36] scale were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistic tests with SPSS software, windows version. 131 diabetic patients were participated in this study, 60.3% of subjects were female, 39.7% male with an average age of 47.3 +/- 12.7 years. The range of mean of quality of life scores in different domains varied from 46.2 +/- 13 for general health perceptions to 64.1 +/- 26.6 for physical functioning. There was a significant difference between age and physical functioning and role limitations due to emotional problem dimensions. There were significant differences between quality of life different, dimensions scores and variables of sex, educational level, type of diabetes and type of treatment. The statistical tests did not reveal significant correlations between other variables and quality of life different dimensions scores. The findings of this study showed that diabetes decreases the quality of life in diabetic patients. Difference between the results of this study- in comparison with other studies- indicates inversions cultural aspects of these diabetic patients. Cultural factors in the management of diabetes for improvement quality of life of such diabetic patients need to be considered

[Relationship between computer user involvement, computer attitude and computer anxiety in community health centers]

Use of computer has been increased during the recent years. There are numerous factors affecting computer use in different organizations, while user's involvement is among the most common influencing issues. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between computer user involvement and computer attitude and anxiety in community health centers. It was a descriptive study. Totally, 319 nurses and staff working in community health centers were included. Data were collected using a questionnaire composed of 3 parts: computer users' involvement, attitude towards the computer, and computer anxiety. Results showed that most of the respondents, 86.8%, were women and 11.6% were men. Most of the male candidates [42.9%] aged 45-54 years while most of the females [42.1%] aged 35-44 years. Users' involvement induce a positive attitude towards the computer [p<0.0001]. Indeed, users' involvement could increase positive attitude toward computer for patient care and patient confidentiality and can reduce computer anxiety [p<0.05]. Results have revealed that in the pretest analysis, most of the subjects had a moderate attitude and knowledge, however, following the education, most of the cases acquired suitable attitude and knowledge [p<0.001], while the differences among controls were not statistically significant. For providing successful implementation and development of computerized information systems, user's involvement is an important issue. Therefore, this factor should be considered by managers

Factor analysis of construct validity: a review of nursing articles

Use of valid and reliable instruments is the important way for collecting data in quantitative researches. This study was conducted to examine the extent of factor analysis use for specifying construct validity of instruments in quantitative research papers published in an internationally recognized journal. An internationally recognized journal, Nursing Research, was chosen for the review. All articles published in 2003 in this journal were reviewed. Only quantitative research articles that used instruments in need of construct validity verification were included. Each article was completely reviewed to identify the methods of instrument validation. Among 55 research articles, 40 [73%] were quantitative. Among these 40 articles, 8 articles [20%] were dealing with developing an instrument and one article was a meta-analysis and these 9 articles were excluded. Of the other 31 articles, only 4 [12.9%] used a method for specifying the construct validity of the instrument in the study and 2 [6.5%] used factor analysis for establishing construct validity of the instrument. Although factor analysis is a well recognized method in establishing the construct validity but its use is much less than expected

[Marriage criteria of brides in Tehran]

Marriage is the first and the most important stage in family cycle through which humans mate with their partners. The success of other stages mainly depends on this stage. Mate selection is a difficult decision, which plays a primary role for having a happy life; otherwise, divorce will result. Proper mate selection criteria lead to family stability and physical as well as psychological health and bring about development and better child education with resulting human convenience. This descriptive study was conducted to assess criteria of bribes living in Tehran for selecting their spouses in 2005. 252 women were selected from urban health and medical centers affiliated to Tehran, Shaheed Beheshti and Iran Medical Universities by multistage sampling. A 6- point rating questionnaire in 3 parts including demographic characteristics, mate selection criteria [based on familial, physical, psychological, socioeconomic, and religion as well as cultural conditions] and an open-ended question was used for data collection. Face and content validity methods were used to validate the tool and its reliability was measured by Cronbach Alpha. Findings showed that genuineness [%66.4], sincerity [%95.6], sociability [%67.9], belief in equality of men and women [%65.1] were the most important criteria for women in mate selection. With respect to the importance of mate selection criteria in the stability of families, it seems that couples should learn more about them

[Problems of main caregivers of Alzheimer patients referring to Alzheimer association in Tehran]

One of the most important challenges in today's societies is the increase of alzheimer patients. Caring these people is also an important matter for health system. Care givers perform most of their caring responsibilities and face with many problems to meet their needs in terms of their cognitive and behavioral problems. This descriptive study was conducted to determine the problems of main caregivers of alzheimer patients referring to Alzheimer Association in Tehran. 100 main caregivers were selected by census. Data collection tool was a questionnaire validated by content validity. Its reliability was measured by internal consistency [d = 0.96] and test-retest [d=0.96] methods. Findings of the study showed that mean ages of caregivers and patients were 58 and 81.53 respectively. 66% of caregivers were female and 34% were male. Mean duration of the disease was 4.2 years [SD = 2.7]. The average hour of providing care was 10.84. Most of the caregivers complained of sleep problems [63%], fatigue [63%] and severe burden [68%]. Most of them expressed communication problems with patients [74%], communication problems with families [65%], house keeping problems [60%], social relationship problems [64%], educational problems [43.3%] and occupational problems [55.3%]. Regarding economical problems, most of them, [55%] had them moderately. With respect to the increase of alzheimer patients in our society, health workers should devise programs to reduce care givers' problems for preventing bum out and decreasing burden of caregivers

[Research designs in puplished nursing articles]

Research is considered as a basis for decision-making in nursing care. Thus, it has always been emphasized in clinical and theoretical courses. Research is different in design. Each method has specific characteristics. There are a lot of articles in Persian and English with different methods. The aim of this study was to assess nursing research designs and methods of data collection in published nursing articles. This study was a review of 339 published articles in the journal of Advanced nursing in 2001. Findings showed that of 339 articles, 38.05% of the designs was quantitative, 31,85% qualitative, 25.07% review articles and 5.02% quantitative - qualitative. In addition, in most quantitative studies, questionnaires were used for data collection. On the other hand in qualitative studies, different methods such as interview, focus group, observation and taking notes were applied for collecting data. In recent years, quantitative and quantitative - qualitative research designs have been increasingly applied by nursing researches and qualitative and review articles have been less published in the journal

[Clients' Satisfaction with services at urban health centers in Arak]

Background: Health systems constantly try to improve their services to better satisfy clients' needs. One of the ways for evaluating service delivery is to ask from receipients. Satisfying clients' health needs by providing services at health centers is essential and evaluting their satsfaction with these services can improve quality care and develop future planning

Purpose: This descristive study was conducted to determine clients' satisfaction with services in urban health centers in terms of practitioners' performance, pharmacy, dentistry, and personnel behavior as well as communication

Method: In this study, 285 clients were chosen by nonprobablility sampling method. Data collection instrument was a questionnaire with 38 questions, including 11 demographic and 27 medical services satisfaction questions. It was validated by content validity and its reliabity was achieved by test-retest method

Findings: Most of the clients [%80.6] had high satisfaction with practitioners [mean = 26.72 +/- 2.54], and %75 with pharmacy and dental services [mean = 17.83 +/- 2.52]. On the other hand, %63.9 had an averge satisfaction with injection and dressing services [mean = 24.69 +/- 4.42]. The majority of clients [%77.8] were satisfeed with the behavior of personnel [from doorman to doctors], %80.6 with pharmacy, %6 1.1 with injection and dressing unit, and %75 with dintistry services. Therefore, satisfaction with clincal staff was more than other personnel

Conclusion: Results showed that the majority of subjects [%63.2] had high level of satisfaction with medical services and %36.8 had an average level of satisfaction. The results can show that provision of the services has a good quality from the clients' point of view. As a matter of fact, more comprehensive studies in this regard are recommended

Subjective computer training: development of a scale

There have been many changes to information systems in the last decade. Changes in information systems require users to constantly up-date their computer knowledge and skills. Computer training is a critical issue for any user because it offers great capabilities for the users. This papers discuses the meaning of subjective computer training and its role on computer training. The results of the study show that Subjective Computer Training Scale [SCTS] is reliable and valid. The existence of a reliable and valid scale of computer training makes assessment possible and should have implications in all organization such as community health centers and hospitals