Effect of self care education with and without telephone follow-up on the level of hope in renal dialysis patients: a single-blind randomized controlled clinical trial

Background: various strategies such as teaching self care to hemodialysis patients have been employed to increase the level of their hope. This study aimed at examining the effects of a telephone follow-up program on the level of hope in a self care education program

Methods: in this single-blind randomized controlled clinical trial, 75 hemodialysis patients, selected by convenient sampling, were randomly assigned to 3 groups [n=25 each] including a control, a self care education, or a self care education with telephone follow-up. The control group received the routine care. The self care education group received 5 instruction sessions. The telephone follow-up group had similar instructional sessions followed by telephone calls during the subsequent 2 months. Data, collected using demographic information list and Miller's hope questionnaire, were analyzed using Chi-Square, t-test, and one-way ANOVA followed by Scheffee test

Results: there was no significant difference among the scores of hope in the three groups before the intervention [P=0.40]. However, after the intervention, the level of hope in the self care education group and self care education plus telephone follow-up groups were significantly higher than that of the control group [P=0.001]. Moreover, the level of hope in the group with self care education plus telephone follow-up was significantly [P=0.001] more than that of the self care education group

Conclusion: our findings indicated that teaching followed by telephone follow-up was associated with higher levels of hope. Therefore, such a strategy may be employed to improve the quality of life of patients with renal dialysis

Prevalence of geographic tongue and its association with other cutaneous diseases in patients referred to the dermatology clinic of Tehran Razi Hospital in 1997

Geographic tongue is an inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology that affects the epithelium of the tongue. It has been associated with several cutaneous diseases. To determine the prevalence of geographic tongue and its association with other cutaneous diseases in patients referred to the dermatology clinic of Razi Hospital .A cross-sectional study was performed on all patients referred to one of the dermatology clinics of Razi Hospital between February 21 and March 18, 1996 to determine the prevalence of geographic tongue and other diseases. One-thousand and one-hundred and sixty referred patients were studied. The prevalence of geographic tongue was 6.2%. There was a statistically significant association between geographic tongue and seborrheic dermatitis [P=0.0053]. Geographic tongue is associated with some cutaneous diseases. Detection of these associations could be a clue to the etiology and pathogenesis of geographic tongue