Agreement between heart failure patients and their primary caregivers on symptom assessment

Background: To decrease the readmission rate of heart failure [HF] patients, patients and their caregivers [CGs] should participate in symptoms assessment. This study aimed to assess the agreement between HF patients and their CGs on symptoms assessment

Methods: Using a correlational design, 100 HF patients with their CGs [100 dyads] were recruited from Department of Cardiology, Iranshahr, during August-December 2014. Data were collected using modified Heart Failure Symptom Survey [HFSS].Pearson and intra-class correlation coefficients [ICC] were used to analyze the degree of agreement within HF dyads, using SPSS16. The level of significance was set at 0.05

Results: The most frequent and severe symptom assessed equally by partners was shortness of breath [SOB]. Dyads had a good agreement on assessment of extremity swelling [r=0.87, P

Conclusion: Most of the HF dyad members did not agree with each other on the assessment of symptoms. Knowledge, skills and ability of each dyad in HF symptoms assessment should be included in the patients' discharge planning and nurses must modify their misunderstanding or inability

effect of life skills training in group and behavior change on affective health of people addicted to methamphetamine crystal

Although various medical and psychological interventions have been used to treat addiction, addiction particularly methamphetamine addiction as a social, health and medical issues is still jeopardizing the human community. This study is aimed at determining the impact of teaching life skills and changing behavior on the emotional well-being of the individuals addicted to crystal methamphetamine. This study was carried out using before-after plan with participation of 28 crystal methamphetamine addicts. In addition to receiving medical treatment, the intervention group patients obtained necessary trainings required for developing life skill and changing behavior during 15 sessions, whilst the control group received only the routine pharmacotherapy treatments and primary interventions. Then pretest and posttest scores of the two groups were compared. The mean score on emotional well-being by the intervention group is lower than that in control group after treatment [10.71<18.78] which was statistically significant. The history of dependence on methamphetamine, age, education, the times of quits, and the marital status had no impact on the extent of the influence of teaching life skills and behavior changes on the individuals' emotional well-being. Notwithstanding that addiction could influence various aspects of mental and emotional health of dependent people, teaching life skills and behavioral changes may lead to enhancement in their emotional well-being. Hence it is necessary to encourage these individuals to participate in group sessions of changing behavior and teaching life skills

prevalence of asthma among the students [7-18 years old] in Tehran during 2002-2003

Asthma is one of the most common problems of childhood, responsible for a significant proportion of abstinence from school because of chronic illness. This study was carried out among the school-aged children [7-18 years] in Tehran schools during 2002-2003, in order to determine the frequency of asthma. According to the recommendation of WHO [World Health Organization], we designed a questionnaire, containing 8 standard questions, and the students were given necessary information to complete the questionnaires. The pre-high and high schools students completed the questionnaires but the parents of primary school students completed them on their behalf. The prevalence of asthma was 35.4% in Tehran; this prevalence was higher in the boys [37.1%], as compared to the girls [33.5%]. The prevalence of this disease has been estimated about 39.5% in pre-high schools, 35.4% in high schools and 31.6% in primary students. Based on this survey, the most common clinical manifestations of asthma were: prolonged cough lasting more than 10 days [22.4%], and exercise-induced wheezing or dyspnea [16.9%], followed by repeated dyspnea or wheezing [6.4%].The prevalence of asthma is high among the students of Tehran schools and it needs more careful screening programs along with additional information to the patients and parents about the disease