ABSTRACT
Due to symptoms and its complications, menopause influences the mental, psychological and physical health, social performance and familial relationships. Because of the undesirable side effects of hormone replacement therapy, tendency and desire toward alternative treatments in relieving menopausal symptoms have increased. Among the alternative therapies are herbs and among those, herbs with phytoestrogens are more preferable. Red clover is a rich source of phytoestrogens. The present study investigated the effect of red clover on quality of life in postmenopausal women. In a randomized, triple-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 72 menopausal women who at least obtained 15 scores in Kupperman Menopausal Index, after two weeks of monitoring, were randomly allocated to receive either placebo or 45 mg of red clover isoflavones for eight weeks. Before the treatment and at the end of the study, menopause-specific quality of life questionnaire [MENQOL] was completed in the two groups. A total of 55 women completed the study, 28 subjects in red clover and 27 in placebo group. Mean score of total quality of life [p < 0.001 in both groups], mean score of quality of life in vasomotor domain [p < 0.001 in both groups], psycho-social domain [p < 0.001 in red clover and p = 0.02 in placebo group] and physical domain [p < 0.001 red clover and p = 0.01 placebo group] significantly reduced compared to the baseline values. However, the differences between two groups were significant neither for total quality of life nor for its domains. Red clover had no side effects and all the subjects in the red clover group were satisfied with the prescribed administration. In the present study, the effect of red clover supplementation on menopausal women's quality of life showed no difference with the placebo. Further clinical trials are recommended.
ABSTRACT
None of the contraceptive methods are fully side-effect free. One of the side effects that commonly causes discontinuation is mood changes and depression. The present study aimed to compare the depression between contraceptive methods including low-dose estrogen [LD] combined pills, condom and intrauterine devices [IUD]. In a cross-sectional study, 216 women were selected through systematic random sampling from 10 health care center sin Isfahan in 2011. Beck Depression Inventory II was used and individual productivity characteristics were asked. Validity and reliability of Beck depression inventory have been repeatedly confirmed in Iran. Content validity the productivity characteristics questionnaire was confirmed and its reliability was measured through Cronbach's alpha correlation coefficient [calculated as 0.71]. ANOVA, covariance analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Depression was observed in 47.8% of participants; however, there was no difference between mean score of depression in the users of three contraceptive methods. The findings of this study showed that depression is not correlated with family planning type and fear of depression should not be an obstacle to choose between these methods. Depression is a multifactor issue. This study showed that type of family planning method in itself cannot be the cause of depression and family planners and consultants should consider this.
ABSTRACT
There are situations in every woman's life that impressively affect her whole life. Pregnancy is one of those situations. Pregnancy period is usually accompanied with positive emotions for the women and their families. Sometimes depression during pregnancy disturbs daily activities, acceptance of new roles, pregnant woman´s life responsibilities and pregnancy consequences. The goal of this study was to investigate the association between depression during pregnancy and preterm labor consequences and some personal characteristics. This was a cohort study in which the data were collected through cross-sectional method. Primarily, 10 health care centers in Isfahan were randomly selected. The subjects included 378 pregnant women selected based on the number of the pregnant women under the coverage of each health center. The data collection tool was a questionnaire which was filled in two phases. The first phase was during pregnancy and included both personal characteristics and Beck Depression Inventory II and the second phase was after delivery and included the subjects' pregnancy age at the time of delivery. Content validity and Cranach's alpha were employed for validity and reliability of the questionnaires, respectively. Prevalence of depression in the population studied was 26.7%. The results showed that there were significant association between depression during pregnancy and preterm labor [p < 0.001], the education of pregnant women [p < 0.001] and their spouses' education [p = 0.001], the pregnant women's occupation [p = 0.04] and their spouses' occupation [p = 0.009]. There was no significant association between depression during pregnancy and the women' age of pregnancy. The findings of the study showed a relationship between depression during pregnancy and preterm labor. Therefore, mental health counselors and programmers are suggested to have some educational programs about psychiatric health for midwives and the personnel who provide health care services for pregnant women.
ABSTRACT
Reproductive health is an important health topic. There are many challenges in reproductive health and it is necessary to train experts to manage them. The aim of this study was to define the tasks of Master of Science [MSc] graduates in reproductive health through comprehensive needs assessment to establish the course. The study comprised of three steps. In the first step, through literature review, the draft and basic fields of main tasks were defined. In the second step, by establishing a focus group of 10 experts, the tasks were extracted on the basis of the country's needs. In the third step, a Delphi study was carried out among 51 experts who were selected to finalize the list of tasks and their priorities using three criteria of "importance", "feasibility" and "availability". 57 tasks were extracted with regard to the four main functions of management and planning, education, consultation, and screening in reproduction age of men and women. According to Delphi's results and their priorities, 45 tasks were important and feasible but not available, and they were higher-priority tasks. The tasks extracted are consistent with the framework of reproductive health provided by the World Health Organization [WHO] and the American Guideline of Educational Planning. However, considering the differences of problems in Iran comparing with other countries, the list is not exactly similar to any list prepared for other countries. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the results of this research in university curriculums.