[Prevalence of postpartum depression and its relation to some psychosocial factors in mothers referred to health centers of Kashan during 2007-8]

Postpartum depression is a serious problem that may have negative effects on mother and family mental health. Considering that several theories have been proposed to explain the epidemiologic and demographic factors associated with the postpartum depression, the aim of this study was to identify the factors related to postpartum depression in Kashan. In this cross-sectional study, 50% of all health centers in Kashan were randomly selected during 2007-8. All of 204 mothers referred during 2-3 months of postpartum with minimum literacy [primary education] showed willingness to complete the questionnaire which included two parts: demographic and psychosocial questions and BDI [Beck Depression Inventory]. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, CI, OR, and logistic regression. Seventy-seven [37.7%] out of 204 mothers referred to Kashan health centers experienced postpartum depression [0.31-0.44]. There was a statistically significant relationship between seven demographic and psychosocial factors and postpartum depression, in logistic regression [P<0.001], three factors [husband's appropriate behavior, intimate relationship with family, and no prior history of depression] were remained in the model. The findings indicated that the mentioned factors can reduce the incidence of postpartum depression. According to the results, factors including husband's appropriate behavior, intimate relationship with family and no prior history of depression may reduce the incidence of postpartum depression

[ quality of hospital services in Kashan educational hospitals during 2008-9: the patients' viewpoint]

The main mission of any hospital in a health care system is to promote care quality for patients and to meet their needs and expectations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of hospital services from the viewpoint of patients admitted to Kashan educational hospitals. In this cross-sectional study, 390 patients admitted to Kashan educational hospitals were selected based on the stratified sampling and their points of view were evaluated using SERVQUAL questionnaire during 2008-9. The quality attributes of the questionnaire consisted of seven dimensions [e.g. physician's empathy, physician's availability, the reliability of physician performance, nurse's responsibility, nurse's empathy, drugs management and tangibility of services]. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed using content validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficient [0.93], respectively. The data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. The mean age of the respondents was 45.72 +/- 18.36 years and 54.1% of subjects were men. There was a significant difference among the mean of seven dimension scores and the total quality dimension. Moreover, a significant difference was observed in the quality score mean of different dimensions among hospitals. The highest and lowest means of quality score were for physician's empathy [3.97 +/- 0.75] and tangibility of the services [3.76 +/- 0.58], respectively. From the patients' viewpoint, educational hospitals have made good progress in providing hospital services; however, different quality scores among quality dimensions in any hospital signify that the health care administrators should pay more attention on the quality improvement programs to improve patients' satisfaction