ABSTRACT
Introduction: Breakfast consumption has a lot of beneficial effects on nutritional status and cognitive activities of school-aged children's. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of social cognitive theory–based education on schoolchildren breakfast eating behaviors.Methods:Two schools with similar socio-demographic characteristics were selected from 20 public primary schools of Ilamcity (west of Iran) and randomly assigned as intervention or control school. Fifty school children from 3rd, 4thand 5thgrades of each school participated in this study.Educational intervention was performed during 6-weeks and was focused on enhancing the self-efficacy, social support and self-regulation mediators to promote theschool children’s breakfast consumption. Data were collected at baseline and 8-weeks after intervention using a 57-item questionnaire and a breakfast food diary and analyzed using Nutritionist IV food processor software and IBM SPSS statistics data editor.Results:The findings showed that mean scores of all Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs as well as breakfast eating behaviors in intervention group significantly increasedat 8-weeks after intervention (p < 0.05). Also, there was a significant increase in mean score of knowledge in control group at 8 weeks follow-up (p < 0.05). Moreover, the results showed that mean scores of energy and all measured macro and micronutrientsintakes significantly increased at follow-up in intervention group (p < 0.05). Also, there were significant increases in mean scores of energy, zinc, calcium and vitamin D intakes in control group at 8-weeks follow-up (p < 0.05). Conclusions:The findings of the present study showed thatsocial cognitive theory is an effective framework to planning and implementation of the educational intervention to promotion of male schoolchildren’s breakfast consumption.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Various factors affect dental caries and impact the patterns of dental care. A few studies have been conducted to identify these factors from the perspectives of students. This study aimed to explore factors influencing dental caries from students' perspectives
Methods: A qualitative design using content analysis approach was conducted to collect the perspectives of 18 Iranian students who were studying in 8 guidance schools. They were chosen through purposive sampling. Semi- structured private interviews and focus groups were held for data gathering. The tape-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using an inductive content analysis approach. In order to support the validity and rigor of the data, different trustworthiness criteria such as acceptability, confirm ability and transferability were considered
Results: During data analysis, four main categories were developed: [difficult conditions of care], [disability in caring], [uncontrollability of dental caries] and [intangible sense of the factors causing dental caries]. The participants more emphasized their own experiences about having insufficient dental-oral care, not paying attention to oral health, dental fear and the lack of both knowledge and competency regarding this issue
Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed factors influencing dental caries from students' perspectives and emphasized the roles of individual, parent, dentist and community in this respect
The findings of this study can be considered to be a valuable basis to design oral health interventions. However, more studies are required to improve our understanding of dental fear and denote barriers and social beliefs pertinent to oral health in different groups of students
ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Evidences suggest that relaxation therapy may improve psychological outcomes in heart patients. We evaluated the effect of progressive muscular relaxation (PMR) training in decreasing anxiety and improving quality of life among anxious patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Method: This study was an open uncontrolled trial. The sample included 110 anxious patients referred to the cardiac rehabilitation clinic of Tehran Heart Center, Tehran, Iran, during six weeks after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Patients were allocated to receive both exercise training and lifestyle education plus relaxation therapy (relaxation group; n=55) or only exercise training beside lifestyle education (control group or the recipient of usual care group; n=55). Duration of the relaxation therapy was 6 wk and in the case of usual care was 8 wk. Both the groups were followed up one month after completion of intervention. Anxiety and quality of life in the two treatment groups were compared. Results: There were no signifi cant differences in overall QOL, state anxiety and trait anxiety scores between the two groups before intervention. Signifififi cant reductions in state anxiety (P<0.01) and trait anxiety (P<0.01) levels were observed in relaxation group after intervention compared to control group. Women had high state anxiety and a low quality of life than men in the two groups before intervention. After intervention, there was no difference between men and women in the relaxation group. Interpretation & conclusions: Our fi ndings show that progressive muscular relaxation training may be an effective therapy for improving psychological health and quality of life in anxious heart patients.