ABSTRACT
Psychosocial factor is considered as intermediate social determinant of health, because it has powerful effects on health especially in women. Hence deeper understanding of the mental-health process needed for its promotion. The aim of this study was to explore women's experience of the mental-health problem and related action-interactions activities to design the appropriate interventions. In-depth interviews with women 18-65 years were analyzed according to the grounded theory method. The selection of Participants was based on purposeful and theoretical sampling. In this study, a substantive theory was generated; explaining how female with the mental-health problem handled their main concern, which was identified as their effort to achieve comfort [core variable]. The other six categories are elements in this process. Daily stress as a trigger, satisfaction is the end point, marriage is the key point and action-interaction activities in this process are strengthening human essence, Developing life skills and help seeking. Better understanding the mental-health process might be useful to design the interventional program among women with mental-health problems
ABSTRACT
Community-based health programs [CBHPs] with participatory approaches has been recognized as an important tool in health promotion. The goal of this study was to understand the nature of participation practice in CBHP and to use the data to advocate for more participation-friendly policies in the community, academy and funding organizations. In this qualitative study, 13 CBHPs, which were active for last 5 years have been assessed using semi-structural in-depth interviews with programs principal and managers and focus group discussions with volunteers and service users. Data analysis was based on the deductive-inductive content analysis considering the participatory approaches in these programs. The results show that, the main category of participation was divided to community participation and intersectional collaboration. The community participation level was very different from "main," "advisory" or "supporting" level. The process of recruitment of volunteers by the governmental organization was centralized and in non-governmental organizations was quite different. According to respondents opinion, financial and spiritual incentives especially tangible rewards, e.g., learning skills or capacity building were useful for engaging and maintaining volunteers' participation. For intersectional collaboration, strong and dedicated partners, supportive policy environment are critical. It seems that maintaining partnership in CBHP takes considerable time, financial support, knowledge development and capacity building
ABSTRACT
Mental disorders are known to be an important cause of disabilities worldwide. Despite their importance, about two thirds of mentally ill people do not seek treatment, probably because of the mental health system's inability to decrease the negative side effects of the interaction with the mental health services. The World Health Organization has suggested the concept of responsiveness as a way to better understand the active interaction between the health system and the population. This study aimed to explore the expectations of mental health service users and providers. Six focus group discussions were carried in Tehran, the capital of Iran. In total, seventy-four participants comprising twenty-one health providers and fifty-three users of mental health system were interviewed. Interviews were analyzed through content analysis. The coding was synchronized between the researchers through two discussion sessions to ensure the credibility of the findings. The results were then discussed with two senior researchers to strengthen plausibility. Five common domains among all groups were identified: accessibility, quality of interpersonal relationships, adequate infrastructure, participation in decisions, and continuity of care. The importance of cultural appropriateness of care was only raised by service users as an expectation of an ideal mental health service. Both users and providers identified the most relevant expectations from the mental health care system in Iran. More flexible community mental health services which are responsive to users' experiences may contribute to improving the process of care for mental health patients
ABSTRACT
Several systems have been proposed to rank academic institutions worldwide. We aimed to introduce a new method of Health Research System [HRS] evaluation in Iran. In this cross-sectional study, a specific questionnaire has been used to assess stewardship, capacity building, and knowledge production through annual evaluations of HRS in Iran. This article has explored the results of the 5-year evaluation [2003 - 2008] and aims to introduce this method to other developing countries. According to our study, in the stewardship axes, all medical science universities designed strategic plans by 2008 and 70% of the approved projects were based on priorities. In the domain of capacity building, the trend in the number of arranged workshops and held congresses is ascending. In the domain of knowledge production, the number of Iranian biomedical research articles increased from 2996 in 2003 to 8816 in 2008.The proportion of ISI Web of Science/Pub Med indexed articles per academic members also increased from 0.09 to 0.33. We conclude that HRS evaluation in Iran has supported knowledge production and has strengthened evidence-based policy making. The adapted ranking system for evaluation of medical research activities is an effective strategy for HRS promotion
Subject(s)
Biomedical Research , Surveys and Questionnaires , Cross-Sectional StudiesABSTRACT
More than 20% of Iranian population is in 10-19 years old age group; absolutely their health and progress have an important role in socio-economical future of country. According to results of different researches, their knowledge among nutrition is not adequate. So, this study was conducted to evaluate opinions of adolescence about nutritional habits and believes. in this qualitative study, data gathering conducted through 8 Focus Group Discussion [FGD]. 6-11 participants were selected according their gender and educational level in each group. Although the majority of participants agreed with the importance of nutrition on health, they mostly tend to use modern and publicized fast foods. Most female and male participants mentioned that there is difference between diet selection of girls or boys. They believed that girls had more attention to diet selection and taste and health of foods than gluttony and carelessly of boys. Adolescence knowledge to problem derived from unsafe nutritional habits were insufficient. It is remarkable that youth participation in scheduling have a great influence in their health program promotion