Risk-Taking Behaviors Considering Internet Gaming Disorder among Iranian University Students: A Latent Class Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Dangerous behaviors adversely affect the health of adolescents and young adults. This study aimed to identify the subgroups of college students based on the parameters of risky behavior and analyze the impact of demographic factors and internet gaming disorder (IGD) belonging to each class. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: The study was conducted on 1355 students through a multi-stage random sampling method in 2020. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data, and all students completed 1294 sets of questionnaires. The data were analyzed using t test and latent class analysis (LCA) through SPSS and PROC LCA in SAS 9.2 software. RESULTS: Three latent classes have been identified as low-risk (75%), tobacco smoker (8%), and high-risk (17%). There was a high possibility of risky behavior in the third class. Marital status (being single) (OR = 2.28, 95% CI: 1.19-4.37), unemployment (having no job) along with education (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.04-2.33), and IGD (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.04-1.09) increased the risk of inclusion in the tobacco smoker class. Moreover, unemployment (having no job) along with education (OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.11-1.84) increased the chance of being in the high-risk class. CONCLUSION: According to the findings of this study, 25% of the students were tobacco smokers or were in the high-risk class. The results of this study may help develop and evaluate preventive strategies that simultaneously take into account different behaviors.

Community Health Workers' Role in Preventing and Controlling the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background. From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2019 in Iran, the Iranian health system, following its mission, began planning with the goal of pandemic prevention and control. Various steps were taken, and the program of National Mobilization against COVID-19 was devised to provide services for individuals in the community, mainly the sick and vulnerable, and promote people's knowledge and skills regarding the crisis. Given the role of Community Health Workers (Behvarzes and Moragheb-e-Salamats) in preventing and controlling infectious diseases, this study was carried out to investigate their role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The census method was used to study 30034 Behvarzes and 22573 Moragheb-e-Salamats working in medical universities. The required data were extracted using the integrated health system and the portal of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education's Primary Health Network Management Center and were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical methods. Results. More than 78 million people were screened during the first step of the national mobilization against COVID-19, more than 42 million during the second step, and more than 59 million during the third step. In addition, by the end of the fourth step of the national mobilization, 4,278,899 people who had come into close contact were screened. According to the health system's report, these community health workers had injected 28,073,777 vaccines since the implementation of the fifth step (until 04.09.2021) Conclusion. Considering the facilities and capabilities of primary health care networks in providing prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services, the activity of the primary health network management center and all affiliated units in the implementation of the National Mobilization against COVID-19 program has been significant since the beginning of this pandemic. Inadequacies in healthcare human resources, financial resources, and training planning should all be considered.

Effective factors in people's preventive behaviors during covid-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-synthesis.

BACKGROUND: The overwhelming outbreak of covid-19 has forced governments all over the world to consider different measures to face this challenging situation. A vitally important element to the declining transmission of viruses is changing behaviors based on reliable information. This study was designed and implemented to identify factors affecting the preventive behaviors during the covid-19 pandemic. METHODS: This thematic synthesis was carried out in order to create a set of central themes that summarize all of the issues raised in the articles reviewed in this study. We used PRISMA 2020 guidelines to direct this systematic review and meta synthesis. The process of analyzing data includes three different stages: 1) creating codes; 2) production of descriptive themes; 3) and finally, the creation of analytical themes. The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist was used to evaluate the articles' quality. RESULTS: Five central themes emerged from 8 included articles, (1) Social factors (subthemes: environmental context, political leadership, multimedia), (2) Cultural factors (subthemes: national culture, religious culture, the family beliefs, work culture, foreign culture), (3) Economic factors (subthemes: economic situation of the individual, the government supports, infrastructures), (4) Personal factors (subthemes: people experiences, cognitive ability, physical factors, different motivational level, sense of responsibility, risk management, and self-management skills), and (5) Knowledge and Education factors (subthemes: access to information, skill training). Furthermore, SRQR items that were weakly reported were "researcher characteristics and reflexivity", "Sampling strategy", "Data collection methods", "Data analysis", and "techniques to enhance trustworthiness. CONCLUSION: Health policymakers and other public health officials in various countries can use the factors listed to develop appropriate, evidence-based policies. They should investigate behavioral characteristics in their community based on their abilities, and then design and implement appropriate executive actions.