RESUMEN
Background: The novelty of the study is to measure self-perceived social health of Iranians as one of the main dimensions of health
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in all provinces of Iran in September 2014 with 10500 participants to measure self-perceived social health on a scale from 33 to 165 arranged in three areas; family, friends and relatives, and community. Area of "family" was measure in a range from 6 to 30; area of "friends and relatives" was from 9 to 45; and area of "community" was from 19 to 95. The psychometrics of scale was examined in separate previous study
Results: From a total of 10500 participants, 10244 fulfilled questionnaire [Response rate= 97.6%]. 49.2% of participants were male. Mean of the total social health score was 99.91; area of "family" was 22; area of "friends and relatives" was 27.6; and area of "community" was 51.2. The main factors negatively influences on social health were low house size, unemployment, being divorced or widow and being at the age of 18-30. There was no significant relationship between social health score and educational level
Conclusion: It is magnificently attained that standardized social health rate in the present study was 3.9% lower than the rate has been estimated in comparison to similar previously conducted study in three big cities of Iran, two years earlier. Area of "community" is also the main accountant for this drop. To continue monitoring the social health of Iranians, we recommend conducting the next rounds every 3-5 years
RESUMEN
Cancers are one of the most important public health issues and the third leading cause of mortality after cardiovascular diseases and injuries in Iran. The most common cancers reported in the recent years have been included skin, stomach, breast, colon, bladder, leukemia, and esophagus respectively. Control of cancer as one of the three main health system priorities of Iran, needs a specific roadmap and clear task definition for involved organizations. This study provides stakeholder analysis include determining the roles of Ministry of Health and Medical Education as the custodian of the national health and the duties of other beneficiary organizations to reduce the risk of cancer for cooperation with a scientific approach and systematic methodology. This health system research project was performed by participation of Social Determinants of Health Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Office of the Non-Communicable Diseases of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and other stakeholders in 2013. At first, the strategic committee was established and the stakeholders were identified and analyzed. Then the quantitative data were collected by searching in national database concern incidence, prevalence, and burden of all types of cancers. At the last with the qualitative approach, a systematic review of the studies, documents and reports was conducted as well as conversing for the national strategic plans of Iran and other countries and the experts' views regarding management of the cancer risk factors. In practice, role and responsibilities of each stakeholder were practically analyzed. Then the risk factors identified and the effective evidence-based interventions were determined for each cancer and finally the role of the Ministry of Health were set as the responsible or co-worker and also the role of the other organizations separately clarified in each case
RESUMEN
Background: Social health is important to be assessed as a dimension of health. In this study we tried to determine areas and sub-areas of children social health indicators
Methods: In a structured way, we reviewed the main social health databases and documents since 1995, both Iranian and international were reviewed to develop conceptual framework and to extract indicators
Results: According to reviewed documents, indicators of social health were categorized into four groups. In first category indicators are related to system capacities such as facilities and institutions, financial, and human resources. Social system functions are classified as group two. The main subcategories of social health functions are policy development and enforcement, social marketing, community organizing, coalition building and collaboration, education, case management, screening, surveillance, and investigation. In group three, named as social factors, the main determined areas are life skills, early child development, family functioning, and social networks. Indicators related to social outcomes are categorized as group four. The main related positive social outcomes are social wellbeing and happiness and the main negative outcomes are physical health outcome [injuries, infectious diseases, etc.], mental health outcomes, development and learning outcomes, risky behaviors, academic outcomes, and legal outcomes
Conclusion: Our recommended model develops a conceptual framework for child social health indicators. This framework and extracted indicators can be used to compare different populations to assess inequity for evidence based policy making and to implement proper interventions
RESUMEN
Background: Happiness as one of the main positive health indicators has drawn more attention in recent years among policy makers and health system managers. There are few studies performed to measure happiness in population-based settings in Iran. In response to this need, our study tends to assess Iranians subjective happiness in Tehran, Capital city of Iran.
Materials and Methods: Present study was conducted in Tehran, Capital of Iran, with more than 7 Million populations in January 2013, using a two-step approach. In first step c conceptual framework of Iranians' happiness was developed. In the second phase of study, a survey recruiting 700 participants was conducted. Stratified cluster sampling method was employed. Participants were recruited from all the 22 municipal divisions of Tehran as strata, proportional to the population size and its gender and age distribution. Happiness was measure by a 40-item questionnaire with scores ranged among 40 to 200.
Results: Conceptual framework of Iranians' happiness based on reviewed documents and consensus building process was the product of first step. At second step, from a pool of 700 persons, 696 [97%] agreed to participate and filled out the questionnaire completely. The mean of happiness score was 143.9 [95% confidence interval, 142.5 to 145.4]. The results show that the happiness score of jobless people [135.1, 95%CI: 128.1-142.0] and widowed singles [126.6, 95%CI: 113.0-140.2] were significantly lower than other corresponding groups. There was no significant association between gender, age group, educational level as determinants and happiness.
Conclusion: Happiness level of Tehranians is somewhat higher than the moderate level. This finding is consistent with findings of other conducted studies in country. However, it is not consistent with some of international reports of happiness, For instance, Happy Planet Index. Due to inadequate information, it is necessary to conduct more research to measure subjective happiness and its determinants, specially, in a nation-wide approach.
RESUMEN
Social health as third dimension of health, along with physical and mental health, has drawn more attention in recent years among policy makers and health system managers. No other study, according to our review, has documented measuring individual-level social health in Iran. In response to this need, our study tends to assess Iranians self-rated social health through conducting a survey in 3 cities of Iran. We conducted a survey using cross sectional method in three cities of Iran [Tehran, Isfahan, Urmia] included people more than 18 years old. We use a random sample size of 800 people. The scale provides a total score of social health and three sub-scores. Total score was calculated by summing all 33 items, so the range was between 33 to 165, considering that higher score indicating better social health. Psychometric parameters of scale were acceptable. To interpret scores, respondents were categorized into five ordered groups as quintiles for amount of social health. To compare social health scores in different demographic groups multiple linear regression was employed to interpret association between demographic variables and social health score. From a pool of 800 persons, 794 [99%] agreed to participate and filled out the questionnaire completely. The mean of self-rated social health score was 105.0 [95% confidence interval, 103.8 to 106.2]. 50% of participants had medium level of social health. Social health score was higher for those who live in Uremia as a small city in comparison with big cities-Tehran and Isfahan [p<0.001] and was lower for unemployed people [p=0.029]. There was no association between social health score and other factors such as sex, age and educational level [p>0.05]. This study may be considered as the first step in evidence-based policy-making in the field of social health in Iran. Certainly, it is necessary to conduct more studies to measure social health and its determinants in a nation-wide approach
RESUMEN
Unintentional injury is a leading threat to children's health. Some human factors have been determined as predictor of unintentional injury. Association between Health-Related Quality of Life [HRQOL] as a human factor an unintentional injuries is unclear. The objective of study is to examine the association between HRQOL and unintentional injuries among primary school children. This study was a cross-sectional conducted in Ahwaz, a city in Iran. Overall, 3375 children aged 6-10 years were randomly selected from primary school. HRQOL was measured by 56 items taken from seven domains of Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research Academic Medical Center [TNO AZL] child quality of life [TACQOL] parent form. Parents were interviewed to collect information about incidence, cause and a brief description of injury within the past 12 months prior to the study. The response rate was 3375 of 3792 [98%]. There was a significant trend for increasing occurrence of injury with decreasing of HRQOL score [P<0.001]. Adjusted OR for injury was significantly higher in very low [2.38, 95% CI: 1.45-3.86], low [2.18, 95% CI: 1.34-3.56], and medium [1.73, 95% CI: 1.06-2.83] HRQOL groups compared to reference group [very high HRQOL]. The median of total HRQOL [P<0.001] and all its domains [P=0.017] [except autonomous functioning] was lower in injured group compared to uninjured one. This study found an association between HRQOL and unintentional injury among primary school children. This is a preliminary finding and further investigations with a well-defined analytical design are needed