ABSTRACT
Objective (s): Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination could be influenced by attitude towards the vaccine. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of adult attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: First, an item pool was generated by reviewing existing resources. Then content and face validity was examined. In the next stage, the structural validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) of the questionnaire was examined in t wo distinct samples among 505 Iranian adults. Finally, the attitude was assessed among two samples. The internal consistency of the instrument was estimated by calculating Cronbach's alpha. Results: The initial questionnaire consisted of 38 items that after examining the content and face validity, a number of items was removed and corrections were applied to the remaining items. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed a three factor solution (emphasis on the need for corona vaccine, no need for corona vaccine and emphasis on the side effects of corona vaccine) including 13 items that jointly explained about 52% of variance observed. Similarly, the results obtained from confirmatory factor analysis indicate a good fit for the data. The fit indexes were as follows: (X2 /df =2.15, GFI=0.91, CFI=0.95, NFI=0.91, NNFI=0.94, SRMR=0.068, RMSEA=0.076). The reliability of the questionnaire as assessed by the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.853 for the scale and ranged from 0.68-0.74 for its dimensions. Finally, the mean attitude score of the participants was 64.1 out of 100 points. Conclusion: Considering the validity and reliability of the attitude assessment questionnaire regarding the COVID-19 vaccination in adults, this questionnaire could be used for measuring attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination. © 2022, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
On 30 October 2020, an earthquake of M-w 6.9 hit the Aegean coasts of Turkey and Greece. The epicentre was some 14 km northeast of Avlakia on Samos Island, and 25 km southwest of Seferihisar, Turkey, triggering also a tsunami. The event has been followed by >4,000 aftershocks up to M-w 5.2 The Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) has immediately gathered a team to conduct a hybrid reconnaissance study, bringing together remote and field investigation techniques. The mission took place between 16 November and 17 December, inclusive of three sets of field study carried out by the field crews for building damage assessment in the affected areas in Turkey and Greece under the coordination of the remote team. The mission also aimed to assess the viability of alternative data sources for an appraisal of the future viability of hybrid missions. This paper summarises the mission setup and findings, and discusses the benefits of and difficulties encountered during this hybrid reconnaissance activity.
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Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the quantitative pattern of brain waves with post-traumatic growth dimensions in patients admitted due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). Post-traumatic growth is the mental experience of positive psychological changes caused by the individual as a result of coping with challenging situations. Materials and Methods: In this study, 66 individuals with COVID-19 who were admitted to Baharloo Hospital in Tehran as a stressful event were selected by convenience sampling and completed a post-traumatic growth inventory (PTGI) and their brain waves in rest were recorded. Results: The results showed that brain components are a good predictor of post-traumatic growth dimensions. Alpha-parietal, F3-Sensorimotor Rhythm (F3-SMR) and alpha asymmetry predicted new possibilities component, alpha-F3 and alpha asymmetry predicted relating to others component, F4-SMR predicted spiritual change component and alpha asymmetry significantly predicted the total post-traumatic growth score. Also, Quantitative Electroencephalogram (QEEG) components did not significantly predict the appreciation of life and personal strength component. Conclusion: According to the results, it can be said that more objective instruments such as Electroencephalogram )EEG( have good predictive power in complex psychological and multidimensional cases such as post-traumatic growth. The results of this study confirm the hypothesis that post-traumatic growth may reflect a process of active struggle to achieve new goals and perspectives. Accordingly, especially the more guided dimensions of post-traumatic growth (e.g., the new possibilities dimension) may be associated with the asymmetry of the frontal lobe of the brain. In contrast, the dimensions of appreciation of life and personal strength were not predicted by the brain component;these two components were slightly more than the others and may lead to more / less neural network activity in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) that is more observable. © 2022 African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review.All rights reserved.
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Background: Adoption of protective health behaviors is extremely important to prevent the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the influencing factors on adopting preventive behaviors during COVID-19 using health belief model (HBM) among the urban population in Maragheh, a city from North West of Iran. Methods: We investigated 383 people via an online questionnaire from December 5 to 11, 2020. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed with an experts' panel of 10 health professionals, and its reliability was 0.74 through Cronbach's alpha. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze data. Results: The self-efficacy (17.1 +/- 2.5) and perceived benefits (5.7 +/- 0.5) were evaluated at a high level. The health behavior was also appraised with a high mean score (21.2 +/- 3.2). Among the components of the health belief model, perceived risk, self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers, and among demographic variables, gender and marital status were the predictors of protective behaviors against COVID-19. Conclusions: Self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived risk increased the incidence of protective behavior by 69% and 30%, respectively, and perceived barriers decreased it by 0.07%. Strengthening the ability to adopt protective behaviors and improving the public's perception of the effectiveness of these behaviors can be useful.
ABSTRACT
Background: The awareness of people’s health knowledge and behavior on COVID-19 has helped education and health promotion policies, and examination of people’s opinions on governance measures against this disease will guide policymakers in making more decisions and responsiveness. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate people’s knowledge and behaviors toward COVID-19 and their views on adopted public policies against this disease in Maragheh, a city in the Northwest of Iran. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional, analytical study that was done in urban areas of Maragheh from 13 November to 20 De-cember 2020. The sample size was estimated at 672 participants, and the sampling method was stratified random. The data collec-tion instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire that consisted of four sections: demographic information, health behaviors, respondent’s knowledge of COVID-19, and their viewpoints on adopted public policies against this disease and was shared online. The one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression were used to analyze data with SPSS version 23. Results: The mean scores of people’s knowledge (6.42 ± 1.2) out of 9 and health behaviors (34.8 ± 3.9) of 36 were moderate. The majority of respondents had high levels of knowledge and also behavior about keeping the physical distance (98.5%) and proper handwashing (97.9%). Knowledge (β = 0.23) and male (β =-0.27) were the predictors of health behaviors (p < 0.001, F = 12.47). The investigation of myths on COVID-19 indicated that 17% and 41.1% of the respondents believed that alcohol consumption and using garlic and herbal drinks are effective in the prevention and 57.7% of them believed that holding the breath for 10 seconds is a sign of being healthy. People’s views on the COVID-19 control policies were assessed to be at the medium level (48.2 ± 7.5) of 65. The most effective policies against COVID-19 from the people’s opinions consisted of lockdown policies (96.4%), schools’ closure (95.9%), and constraints on intercity trips (91.3%). Conclusions: It seems necessary to strengthen measures on health knowledge promotion and implementation of health education interventions on protective behaviors of COVID-19 in such a way that right beliefs are replaced with wrong ones. Based on positive public opinions on Lockdown interventions, re-applying these policies is recommended to get the cities out of the high-risk situa-tion. © 2021, Author(s).