Exploring drivers of women's well-being in hospitals: mapping the landscape.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The workplace plays a key role in impacting the health and well-being of employees at various levels, including physical, psychological, and social aspects of health. This study aims to identify the drivers of a healthy environment that promotes the well-being of women employed in hospitals. MATERIALS & METHODS: This qualitative study used purposive sampling to recruit a total of 48 working women across a diverse range of participants with different job categories and socio-demographic statuses. These include clinical health (e.g., nurse, head nurse, practical nurse, supervisor, physicians); allied health (e.g., diagnostic services); public health (e.g., health promotion specialists); and administrative (e.g., hospital managers). Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using content analysis by creating codes, sub-themes, and themes. RESULTS: Content analysis resulted in 31 key codes, that generated 12 sub-themes and 4 key themes. These include Advancing women's health through collaborative leadership; a Psychologically safe environment for women; Thriving for positive social connections; and Advancing holistic health for women. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Hospital managers and leaders play a pivotal role in creating supportive workplaces for women. They can significantly assist in prioritizing their psychological and social health through personalized approaches tailored to women's needs, positioning them as co-designers of their health and well-being.

Correlation of Work Fatigue and Mental Workload in Train Drivers: A Cross-sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that train drivers experience a high level of fatigue and mental workload. The present study aimed to assess overall, physical, and mental fatigue levels and their correlations with the mental workload in the metro train operation. Study Design: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: This study was conducted on all 1194 train drivers in the Tehran Metro. The train drivers completed the Samn-Perelli Fatigue Scale and the Fatigue Assessment Scales at the beginning and end of the shift. In addition, they completed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index in the middle and at the end of the shift. Correlation and regression analyses were performed on the data to test the study hypothesis. RESULTS: Overall, physical, and mental fatigue levels increased significantly at the end of the shift compared to the onset of the shift (P<0.001). The mental workload and related dimensions were significantly increased at the end of the shift compared to the middle of the shift (P<0.001). Mental demand was the most important workload problem among the train drivers. The highest correlation was found between overall workload and time pressure (R=0.68, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The mental workload had a significant correlation with work fatigue in the train drivers. Control measures should be focused on the mental workload and related dimensions, especially mental demand and time pressure.

Determining the characteristics of a mental supportive workplace according to female hospital staff in one of Tehran hospitals: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Health-care workers are exposed to complex types of health and safety hazards. A high percentage of hospital staff in Iran are women, who in addition to heavy and stressful hospital work, also carry the burden of the family roles. It is in these circumstances that creating a supportive environment for women is of particular importance. Accordingly, this study is designed to determine the characteristics of a mental supporting work environment in the workplace from the perspective of female hospital staff. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was performed by a qualitative method and content analysis approach. Sampling was purposive and 26 women working in different wards of this hospital were included in the study. In this study, women with maximum diversity in terms of age, work experience, and employment ward were selected. The main method of data collection in this study was a semi-structured interview. Interview texts were extracted and divided into meaningful units. To validate and confirm the results plus accuracy of the research, the criterion of data validity or data credibility, admissibility, data accuracy, verifiability, reliability, and transferability were used. RESULTS: Through the data analysis, 58 primary concepts with the same features were classified into 10 subcategories. Then, based on common features at a more abstract level, they were converted into four main categories including job stressors, women's stress management, providing women's psychological-job satisfaction, and women's work-life balance. CONCLUSION: Creating supportive work environments for women, especially those operating in workplaces such as hospitals, which brings a lot of work pressure and workload for them, can be an important policy for organizations and hospital work environments.

Psychosocial issues and sleep quality among seafarers: a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Seafarers, especially those working for a prolonged period of time, are exposed to a high number of social, psychological and physical stressors including irregular working hours. AIM: This study aims to identify important aspects of Asian seafarers' psychosocial wellbeing and quality of sleep that could affect safety and health of the seafarers in long voyage tankers. METHODS: In this mixed method study, psychological health issues were investigated through semi-structured interviews with 17 Asian male seafarers. Participants were selected through purposive sampling. In the quantitative phase, 179 seafarers completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) on sleep quality. RESULTS: From the interviews, three categories consisting of six themes emerged, including sleep abnormalities, inevitable stressors, and lack of social communication. The majority of the seafarers believed that their quality of sleep was affected by their physical work environment and by issues raised by their families. As reasons for stress at sea, they mentioned the nature of the occupation and the psychosocial work environment. Most participants pointed out that lack of social communications had adverse effects on both their work lives on board and their private lives at home. In the quantitative phase, the response rate was 81.4%. Mean PSQI index was 5.9 (SD 2.6 and range from 2 to 14). Sleep impairment was higher in academic than non-academic individuals (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Sleep abnormalities and lack of social communication should be considered as modifiable risk factors for seafarers' psychosocial well-being at sea.

The components of workplace violence against nurses from the perspective of women working in a hospital in Tehran: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Based on the World Health Organization (WHO), workplace violence can affect events where employees are abused, attacked or threatened in their workplace, and it also has some consequences such as safety, welfare, and health. Like other types of violence, workplace violence and aggression are an increasing phenomenon. Moreover, workplace violence not only disrupts interpersonal and organizational relationships, but it also impairs the persons self-esteem and affects their physical and mental health and well-being. Thus, this study aimed to explain the components of workplace violence against nurses from the perspective of women working in a hospital in Tehran, which was conducted through the qualitative method and content analysis. METHODS: In this study Purposive sampling included 21 female nurses who were working in different wards of the hospital. Also, female nurses were selected with maximum diversity in terms of work experience, age, and the wards they were working in. in this study the semi-structured interview was the main method of data collection. The interview transcriptions were extracted and then divided into meaningful units. For strengthening and confirming the results and accuracy of the research, the author used the data acceptability, credibility, accuracy, validity, believability, verifiability, reliability, and transferability. RESULTS: During the data analysis process of this study, the first 15 classes with the same characteristics were put together and then divided into 6 classes. Afterwards, based on the common features at a more abstract level, they were converted into 2 themes. Based on the findings, violence against women in the workplace occurs at two levels, that namely interpersonal violence and organizational coercion. CONCLUSION: Therefore, it is necessary for managers to commit to lay the groundwork for reducing violence in the hospital, as well as barriers to report these cases especially the hospital managers and officials should create awareness on workplace among the staff, patient and visitors and must ensure stringent actions to prevent it.

Application of the theory of planned behavior in the design and implementation of a behavior-based safety plan in the workplace.

BACKGROUND: Many accidents in industries occur due to unsafe practices and unsafe conditions. Occupational accidents endanger the health of workers and impose excessive costs on the employers. This study was designed and conducted to evaluate and implement a behavior-based safety approach in an industrial workplace based on the theory of planned behavior. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a quasi-experimental study performed on 90 supervisors of an industrial workplace. Behavior-based safety interventions were performed based on the components of the theory of planned behavior using nine strategies of health education and health promotion, including skills training, participation, and social support. The data collection tool consisted of a researcher-made questionnaire that was answered by the supervisors before and 6 months after the intervention. The collected data were evaluated using SPSS 22 software. The significance level was considered 0.05. RESULTS: The results showed that the constructs of subjective norms, attitude, and perceived control of behavior predict the safe behavior of supervisors. After behavior-based safety interventions, significant changes were observed in subjective norms, intention, attitude, and perceived control of behavior (P < 0.001) compared to before the intervention. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed the improvement of safe behavior of supervisors in the workplace due to behavioral-based safety interventions using the theory of planned behavior. Accordingly, this theory can be used as a suitable theoretical framework for designing and implementing interventions to promote safe behaviors of employees in the workplace.

Scientometric Study on Non-communicable Diseases in Iran: A Review Article.

BACKGROUND: Non-Communicable disease (NCDs) is a killer of people that needs to urgent actions across the world. Scientific evidence is the critical arm for effective interventions. Therefore, we aimed to quantify the trend of four main NCDs' scientific publication in a 17-yr period, and reflect international collaboration. METHODS: This scientometric study on four main NCDs; cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases were carried out through the narrative review in international databases of Scopus from 2000 to 2016. In this way, the number of articles, citations, and international collaboration were assessed, and the frequently used terms on noncommunicable diseases were mapped by VOSviewer software. RESULTS: Over the 17 years, 25827 articles about four main NCDs by Iran indexed in Scopus have increasing trend steadily. However, chronic obstructive respiratory publications have slow trend. The number of articles, citations, and h index of cancer-related publications was higher than the others. Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic respiratory diseases scientometrics indicators state in next positions, respectively. The most collaborative country was USA in the four areas, and there was not seen region countries' collaboration in top ten levels. The frequently used terms in NCDs' articles in order were diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Iran provides appropriate face of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases publications in the mirror of NCDs' scientometry. However, there is need for more effort in chronic respiratory diseases researches, and strengthen collaboration with regional countries.

Factors affecting health-promoting lifestyle profile in Iranian male seafarers working on tankers.

BACKGROUND: Seafaring is a risky occupation that is associated with a high incidence of lifestyle-related diseases. The present study was carried out to examine health promotion behaviour and its associated factors in seafarers of the National Iranian Tanker Company. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed on 200 Iranian male seafarers in 2015. A self-administered socio-demographic and Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) questionnaire was completed. One-way analysis of variance was used to identify significant differences among the various departments. The t-test was utilised to compare the HPLP-II scores according to the demographic variables. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to assess the association between demographic variables and the overall HPLP-II score, in addition to the six health-promoting lifestyle subscale scores. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 35.93 ± 9.51 years. Most of the seafarers were categorised as having a moderate (32%) or good lifestyle (61.5%). The mean lifestyle score was 136.14 ± 19.90, with the subscale spiritual growth showing the highest score (26.16 ± 5.03) and the subscale exercise behaviour showing the lowest score (19.95 ± 4.23). The lowest score for nutrition was found among the seafarers working in the engine department (engine: 20.41 ± 4.50, deck: 23.52 ± 4.97, and galley: 24.83 ± 4.64) (p < 0.05). Working in the engine department was found to have a significant negative effect on the nutrition score (B = -3.57, p < 0.05). Moreover, educational level was found to have a significant positive effect on spiritual growth (B = 2.97, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that health-related issues in this occupation, especially workers in the engine room, are a matter of concern.

Pattern of some risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and liver enzymes among Iranian seafarers.

Background: Little information is available on the trend in cardiovascular risk factors and hepatic enzymes in Iranian seafarers. The present study aimed at assessing the pattern of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, elevated serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) in Iranian seafarers during 2010 to 2014. Methods: Data on cardiovascular risk factors and hepatic enzymes were extracted from seafarers' annual health examination of National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) of 2010, 2012, and 2014. The repeated measure ANOVA was used to compare continuous variables across 3 years. Categorical data were analyzed using Chi-square test. Over weight was defined as BMI (Body Mass Index) >25 kg/m2; obesity was defined as BMI>=30 kg/m2; hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP)> 140 mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure (DBP)> 90 mmHg, or a history of antihypertensive drug use. Diabetes (DM) was defined as fasting blood sugar (FBS) > 110 mg/dl, or having a history of oral hypoglycemic agents; and elevated SGOT and SGPT were defined as SGOT > 40 U/L and SGPT > 40 U/L, respectively. Results: The BMI mean±SD values of Iranian seafarers were 24.81±3.07 kg/m2, 25.51±2.96 kg/m2, and 25.96 ± 3.02 kg/m2 in 2010, 2012, and 2014, respectively. A significant difference was observed in BMI over the study period. The mean of systolic and diastolic blood pressure did not significantly increase over time. The SGOT and SGPT means were not significantly different from 2010 to 2014. The prevalence of overweight increased significantly from 46.7% to 60.9% over the study period; however, the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, elevated SGOT, and elevated SGPT did not change significantly. Conclusion: The current survey showed that the obesity problem has increased among Iranian seafarers working on tankers, which is a concerning problem because obesity has negative effects on seafarers' health.

Prevalence and associated factors of cardio-metabolic risk factors in Iranian seafarers.

BACKGROUND: Since Iran's economy is based on the sale of petroleum products, seafaring is considered a crucial job. Little research has been done on issues related to seafarers' health in Iranian maritime industry. The present study investigated the prevalence and associated factors of cardio-metabolic risk factors in seafarers of National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed on 234 Iranian male seafarers of NITC in 2015. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) was diagnosed according to the reports of National Committee of Obesity. Three main blood parameters (of elevated total cholesterol, elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and elevated very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and general obesity were included as additional cardio-metabolic risk factors. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 36.0 ± 10.3 years. The prevalence of MetS was 14.9%. The common cardio-metabolic risk factors were excess weight (51.1%), abdominal obesity (38.5%), and smoking (27.8%) among Iranian seafarers. In multivariate analysis, age (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01-1.09) and body mass index (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.01-1.27) were associated with the increase in hypertension risk. CONCLUSIONS: Our finding showed that the current prevalence of MetS among Iranian male seafarers working on tankers can affect negatively their health and career at sea.

The safety of non-incineration waste disposal devices in four hospitals of Tehran.

BACKGROUND: The safe management of hospital waste is a challenge in many developing countries. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions and the microbial disinfectant safety in non-incineration waste disposal devices. METHODS: VOC emissions and microbial infections were measured in four non-incineration waste disposal devices including: autoclave with and without a shredder, dry heat system, and hydroclave. Using NIOSH and US EPA-TO14 guidelines, the concentration and potential risk of VOCs in emitted gases from four devices were assessed. ProSpore2 biological indicators were used to assess the microbial analysis of waste residue. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in the type and concentration of VOCs and microbial infection of residues in the four devices. Emissions from the autoclave with a shredder had the highest concentration of benzene, ethyl benzene, xylene, and BTEX, and emissions from the hydroclave had the highest concentration of toluene. The highest level of microbial infection was observed in the residues of the autoclave without a shredder. CONCLUSIONS: There is an increased need for proper regulation and control of non-incinerator devices and for monitoring and proper handling of these devices in developing countries.

Heat Stress Level among Construction Workers.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the level of heat stress to construction workers using Thermal Work Limit (TWL) and Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) indices and by measuring Urine Specific Gravity (USG) among construction workers in Iran and comparing the appropriateness of these indices for measuring heat stress in Iran climate. METHODS: This comparative and experimental study was conducted during September 2012 in Baghe Ketabe Tehran, one of the large size construction sites in Tehran City, Iran. Sixty participants were randomly selected in two groups (exposed to sun and non-exposed) among the construction workers in a construction campus with similar work type, climate and diet. TWL and WBGT and USG were measured in two consequent days and at the beginning, mid and end of the work shift, for both groups. RESULTS: The mean WBGT index was 22.6 ± 0.9 °C for control group and 27.5 ± 1.2 °C for exposure group, the mean TWL index measure was 215.8 ± 5.2 W/m(2) for control group and 144 ± 9.8 W/m(2) for exposure group and the mean USG was 1.0213 ± 0.0054 in control group and 1.026 ± 0.005 in exposure group. There was a significant difference in TWL, WBGT and USG between exposed and non-exposed group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: workers were at an allowed level of heat stress. TWL, WBGT and USG measures were significantly correlated; however as TWL level enabled classification based on required intervention, it had some merit over WBGT index.