ABSTRACT
Background: Since hand hygiene is a key strategy for infection control, considering appropriate instrument for evaluating health care providers' hand hygiene is essential. In this study, translation process and evaluating reliability and validity of hand hygiene questionnaire [HHQ] is described
Methods: HHQ was translated into Persian with combined method. In this cross-sectional study, the questionnaire was given to 60 nursing students in sixth semester. The internal consistency, test-re-test reliability, convergent construct validity of the questionnaire were measured. The data were analyzed by SPSS software, 16th version
Results: The cronbach's alpha of HHQ was 0.80. Intra class correlation coefficient ranged from 0.70-0.85 and standard error of measurement was low. There were no significant statistical differences between test and retest. Also convergent construct validity of HHQ was optimal
Conclusion: The results indicated that validity and reliability of HHQ-Persian version were appropriate and satisfactory. It can be used for nursing students; however, for other health care providers further evaluation is essential
ABSTRACT
Background: The purpose of this study was to examine symptoms of acute coronary syndrom [ACS] with resect to sex differences
Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was performed on patients older than 20 years with ACS who were hospitalized at cardiac wards. Sampling was performed through stratified sampling on the basis of sex. Five hundred male and female patients met all eligiblity criteria. The questionnaire included demographic, disease characteristics, and the Iranian version of the accompanying symptom checklist. Data collection completed over one year. SPSS version 21 was used for data analyses by using Chi-square test, independent t test and Multiple logistic regression. The level of significance was specified at 0.05
Results: Men reported tiredness [77.2%], weakness [72.4%], diaphoresis [70.0%] and anxiety [83.6%] as their most frequent symptoms. For women, the most frequently chosen symptoms were anxiety [94.8%], tiredness [90.0%], palpitation [85.2%], and weakness [82.8%]. Statistically significant differences were observed between women and men with regard to symptoms. Multiple logistic regression indicated that sex was the most important explanatory variable, which is independently associated with different symptoms
Conclusion: According to the results, significant differences were observed between women and men regarding ACS symptoms. The major implication of this investigation is the need for accurate cardiac assessment according to sex. Further research should investigate the nature and consequences of sex differences in language use of initial presentation with coronary symptoms, through the referral process
ABSTRACT
Pain can detrimentally affect physical functioning, psychological well-being and social interaction. Various attitudinal factors may be associated with inadequate pain control. Hence, studies should be undertaken to gain a better understanding of association between pain control attitudes and use of analgesics and cancer pain intensity. This study aimed to determine relationship between pain control attitudes and use of analgesics and pain intensity in cancer patients with pain. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 200 cancer patients who underwent chemotherapy or radiotherapy and experienced pain in previous 24 hours. The pain control attitudes, use of analgesics, worrisome about using analgesics and physical and psychological impacts of pain were measured using questionnaires. The cancer pain intensity was measured using the visual analogue scale. Validity and reliability of the instruments were evaluated. Data were analyzed using independent t-test and ANOVA. About 58% of patients agreed that they would wait before asking for help. Beside, the findings indicated that willing to tolerate pain and perceived control over pain were associated with the time and frequency of taking analgesic and pain intensity in previous 24 hours and last week. Also concerns about addiction to pain-relieving medications were related to the analgesic type and pain intensity within last week [P=0.03], and fear of injection was related to analgesic use and pain intensity within last week [P<0.001]. Many cancer patients had attitudes which could interfere with pain relieving. Suggestions are made for developing patient education programs, accessing effective cancer pain controls and decision making for cancer pain relief