analysis of health research system evaluation in medical sciences universities

Based on Iran by 2025 defined vision, we must to receive the first grade of science position in south western Asian region. Thus we need to have a comprehensive evaluation program. A comprehensive WHO Health Research System Analysis [HRSA]- based evaluation system was developed to evaluate the HRS in Iran. This article has explored the results of the five-year evaluation [2003-2008] and aims to introduce this method to other developing countries. Here we explore the results of research performance evaluation from 2002 to 2010 and by comparing the results with previous available information, we reveal the probable role of this method in research promotion and proposed approach to facilitate and expedite achieving the prospects for goals of health research based on the visions of Iran by 2025. All of the indicators of stewardship and capacity building axes are received to their predefined levels. Moreover all of the medical science university research policies are based on their strategic plannings which are extracted from national visions of Iran by 2025. Most of the predefined goals in knowledge production domain had a significant grow trend but for more growth for commitments they should be closely follow. We developed an HRS-based comprehensive evaluation program to our national vision as well as our regional and international research competition

Health research evaluation and its role on knowledge production

Knowledge production and evaluation are two important functions of health research system [HRS]. In this article, we aimed to reveal the correlation between evaluation of health research organizations and health knowledge production promotion. A comprehensive evaluation system was developed to evaluate the academic performance of national medical science universities on an annual basis. It assess following domains; stewardship, capacity building and knowledge production. Measurable indicators for each domain were assigned, a 'research profile' for each department was provided. In this study, we compared the results of annually national Health Research System evaluation findings during 2005-2008. The number of scientific articles has been increased from 4672 to 8816 during 2005 to 2008. It is mentionable that, the number of articles which has been published in indexed data bases has risen too. This fact could be related to directed policy for more international publication of scientific articles from Iran. The proportion of total articles to the number of academic members was 1.14 in 2008, comparing to 0.84 in 2005. It means that this proportion have increased about twice [0.7 Vs 0.45] during mentioned time. Moreover, other scientific products such as authored books based on domestic researches and cited articles in textbooks have increased according to special attention to knowledge production by policy makers. We conclude that Health System Research evaluation could be used as a mean for implementing policies and promoting knowledge production

Community mobilization for youth health promotion: a lesson learned from Iran

More than 36% of the total population of Iran consists of young people aged 15 to 25 yr. Recent studies show that this age group has the highest rate of serious health problems. Youth participatory studies on youth health priority have shown that mental health is one of the most important priorities in youth health. Aim to assessing the mental health needs of youth we conducted a peer group based multidisciplinary study. To conduct a multi disciplinary approach through involving youth for finding their mental health needs and their suggestion for solving them, we designed a qualitative approach based on grounded theory. To data collection, we used a semi-structured guide questionnaire. Sixteen focus group discussions were conducted by trained peers with youth aged 15-25 years. According to FGDs results, most of youth health needs concern with their interpersonal communications skills particularly with their parents'; they had some problems with their parental expectations meet; life skills; self-expression and problem solving process. They were extremely interested in participatory approach in which they involved in assessment and determination of their health problems also in designing health programs. Success of program shows empowering the community through capacity building and notice to peer group-based interventions to critical enhancing in various aspects of youth health is the most effective method to needs assessment and community mobilization for better health

effectiveness of educational intervention in the health promotion in elderly people

More than 8% of Iran's populations are elderly. The greatest challenge in this generation is improvement of health and quality of life. So we decided to perform an interventional study with the aim of promoting the health of the elderly. This study was a community interventional in Ekbatan Complex. Subjects were elderly. At first, need assessment was done with the participation of 200 elderly by questionnaire. Based on the need assessment, we designed the educational interventions in different fields such as nutrition, mental health, and exercise and then, we compared the results. One hundred elderly participated as interventional group. There were 86% women and 24% of men. Almost 59% were in the 60-69 age group. More than 1/4 of the subjects were university graduates. Pre and post interventional groups were matched in age, education and gender. Regarding nutrition, second priority food in women aged 60-69 was rice and after the intervention, it was changed to vegetables [P=0.05] but in other age groups and in the men's groups no difference were noted. Aerobic exercises in women has increased after the intervention [P=0.01]. With regards to mental health, life satisfaction among women under study has increased from 68% to 90% after the intervention [P=0.01]. Feeling happy most of the time has increased from 53% to 83% in women aged 60-69 [P=0.01] and in men from 64% to 83% [P=0.05] respectively. Policymakers should design long-term educational programs to promote the elderly lifestyles