effect of telephone counseling and education on breast cancer screening in family caregivers of breast cancer patients

Background: Breast cancer is the most common form of malignancy among females. Family history is a key risk factor for breast cancer. Breast cancer screening practices are vital in patients with family history of breast cancer. Telephone counseling and education may be appropriate for improved breast cancer screening. This study was done to determine family caregiver patients' knowledge of risk factors for breast cancer and practice of breast cancer screening and also to assess the effect of telephone counseling and education on mammography screening

Methods: This study was a community-based trial. The participants of the study were 90 caregivers who were randomly divided into an experimental group, telephone counseling and education, and a control group. The intervention group received counseling and education phone calls. A three-section questionnaire was responded and filled out through telephone interviews with the participants. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS18, using descriptive and inferential statistics

Results: The results showed that 88.9% of the participants did not know when to do breast self-exam [BSE]. Mammography was performed by the participants before and after the telephone counseling in intervention group [P<0.00], which were 13.3% and 77.8% respectively]. Moreover, the major cause of failure to participate in mammography was lack of enough knowledge in 73.3% of the participants

Conclusion: This study concluded that knowledge and practice on breast cancer screening in family caregiver of breast cancer patients was low. Telephone counseling and educating may provide a suitable technique for earlier detection of breast cancer in family caregivers of breast cancer patients and it can influence the decision making regarding mammography screening among 40-year-old or older women

Challenges faced by health care providers in dealing with Iranian women's fear of breast cancer

Background: Smoking is one of the leading causes of disease and death in the world. There is a growing trend of smoking in Iran, especially among youth and women. This study has been conducted to identify the factors related to smoking and solutions that can lead to its control in Tehran

Methods: This study was conducted qualitatively from August 2015 to August 2016 in Tehran. The data collection tool included cognitive interviews and deep, semi-structured interviews. The participants consisted of 7 men and 5 women who smoked cigarettes; they were selected through purposive sampling with maximum diversity and snowball technique which continued until data saturation. The data was analyzed through qualitative conventional content analysis

Results: Two main classes with 15 subclasses were extracted from the participants' responses. The causes of smoking and the solutions for its control are evaluated along these two classes. The subclasses include factors like being accustomed to smoking, considering smoking as a normal behavior, easy access to cigarettes, recreation and entertainment; lack of recreational facilities, way of relaxing, increasing the price of cigarettes, the importance of making cigarettes scarce, and cultural and individual volition

Conclusion: Being accustomed to smoking and considering it as an entertainment are the most important causes of smoking, and the importance of creating an anti-smoking culture and individual volition have been introduced as the most important solutions for controlling smoking in Tehran. Furthermore, it seems that reducing the public access to cigarette through various ways such as increasing the price, reducing the imports, the decline in production and supply, as well as creating a culture against smoking can reduce the amount of smoking considerably

Mothers' experiences with premature neonates about kangaroo care: qualitative approaches

Premature neonates admitted in NICU besides being separated from their mothers are prone to inevitably painful and stressful situations. Kangaroo care is the most effective method to get rid of this separation and its negative consequences. This study was performed to determine the experiences of mothers having premature neonates concerning Kangaroo care. The present study is a qualitative research in which focus group discussion method is used for data collection. Research society consisted of mothers having premature neonates Research group reread and categorized the qualitative findings. Contents of interviews were analyzed using the conventional interpretation approach introduced by Dicklman Method. Through content analysis of information emerged two major categories including mothers' experiences about advantages of kangaroo care in interaction with neonate, and, feeling of physical-mental healthiness of neonate. Executive obstacles of kangaroo care from mothers' standpoint were also discussed, which will be subsequently presented. According to the obtained results, it seems vital to highlight kangaroo care as a safe and effective clinical care-taking treatment in nursery of premature neonates in all hospitals. Nurses shall provide all mothers with the needed instructions for holding the premature and lower-weight neonate properly on their chests and shall promote their knowledge level concerning positive effects of kangaroo care including induction of tranquil sleep, optimization of physiological conditions of neonate, and removal of suckling obstacles

[ viewpoints of students in yazd university of medical sciences on selection of adviser faculties]

Introduction: Professors have important responsibilities in education and training of students, among them advising students for overcoming some preventable problems leading to educational failure is of a great importance. This study was performed with the purpose of surveying the viewpoints of students in Yazd University of Medical Sciences on the process of selecting supervisor professors and the scope of advisers' duties and assigning supervised students

Methods: This descriptive study was performed on 385 students in Yazd University of Medical Sciences selected by random stratified sampling. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software. Statistical significant level was considered as p<0.05

Results: The most important item in selecting the adviser for each student was having common academic field [40.3%]. In assigning students for each adviser smaller number of students was mentioned as the most important item [53%]. Most of the subjects [48.8%] agreed with selection of adviser by head of faculty and selection of supervised students by the adviser him/herself. Attention to the academic statue of students and solving educational problems of students were major duties of advisers according to the majority of students [96.4%]

Conclusion: According to the results, it is suggested that advisers be selected by head of faculties and attention to having common field of study with the supervised student, the adviser's own opinion and assigning smaller number of students for each adviser is highly necessary?