Health-promoting lifestyle and its determining factors among students of public and private universities in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Health-promoting lifestyle is one of the fundamental health-related components. The aim of this study was to determine the status of the health-promoting lifestyle and its determining factors among students of public and private medical universities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study conducted in 2018, 1000 students from different public and private universities of medical sciences were selected by a multi-stage, stratified random sampling procedure and were studied using health-promoting lifestyle, self-efficacy, and well-being questionnaires. Data were analyzed using t-test, Chi-square, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and backward regression model. RESULTS: The health-promoting lifestyle was relatively acceptable in 775 people (77.5%); 649 (64.9%) had low self-efficacy, and 560 students (56%) had abnormal health conditions. The mean scores of health-promoting lifestyle, self-efficacy, and well-being in all students were 130.74 ± 22.14, 51.19 ± 12.66, and 15.22 ± 5.43, respectively. There were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of most aspects of health-promoting lifestyle, self-efficacy, and well-being in public and private universities. There was a statistically significant relationship between well-being (r = 0.08, P = 0.02) and self-efficacy (r = -0.19, P < 0.001) with health-promoting lifestyle. CONCLUSION: Students' well-being, self-efficacy, and physical activities of students were not at an acceptable level. Moreover, the health-promoting lifestyle of students was moderate. Implementing of health-related educational, developmental, and psycho-social programs for promotion and encouraging students to promote healthy behaviors is necessary.

Investigating the factors influencing students' academic enthusiasm for a shift of paradigm among education managers shaping academic pedagogy.

BACKGROUND: Education managers are among the most important determinants of a university's academic pedagogy and plans to improve the quality of education. To improve the quality of education and academic enthusiasm of students in a medical university, it might be necessary to improve the university's pedagogy paradigm through people who shape this pedagogy. This study aimed to investigate the factors that influence the academic enthusiasm of students in a medical university with the purpose of improving the university's pedagogy paradigm. METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive-correlational study was conducted on the students of Alborz University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2021-2022 (3180 students). The sample size was calculated to be 343 using Cochran's formula. The participants were recruited by stratified random sampling with respect to the proportion of students in different faculties, disciplines, and education levels. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed by one-sample t-test and confirmatory factor analysis using SMART-PLS and SPSS26. RESULTS: The developed model consisted of 3 dimensions (academic, individual and social), 10 components (teaching-learning environment, culture, extracurricular activities, facilities and equipment, attitude, knowledge, skill, classmate, family, relatives and friends) and 64 indicators. CONCLUSION: The developed model can help medical universities take a step towards improving the academic productivity and performance of their students and gain a competitive advantage in this respect.

Investigation E-health literacy and correlates factors among Alborz medical sciences students: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy is one of the goals of public health and the key challenge of health education in the 21st century. This study aimed to determine E-health literacy and correlates among medical sciences students in Karaj, Iran 2017. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on a thousand students of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. A multi-sectional questionnaire was used to collect data. The first section included age, major, marital status; educational grade, mother and father education, socioeconomic status, health status, membrane in social network and the second compromised a validated Persian version of the E-health literacy. We used t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare the mean of variables and for categorical variables x2 was used with SPSS version 19. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 25.5 ± 5.6 years, of which 65.3% were male. The medical students constituted the most number of participants (28.6%). Mean eHEALS score was 26.11 ± 6.6 years. There was a significant difference between female and male regarding E-health literacy (P = 0.04). Internet was the most commonly used sources for health information (67%), the majority of the students were members of one of the social networks (77.7%) that telegram and Instagram were among the most popular networks. CONCLUSION: Improving search skills and assessing of health resources in students, especially in medical and Para-medical sciences, is recommended. Social networks can be used as channels for the transmission of the health messages due to high usage among students.

Prevalence of Asthma Symptoms in 13-14-Year-Old Adolescents in Karaj.

Asthma is the most common chronic inflammatory respiratory disorder in children. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of asthma in 13-14-year-old adolescents in Karaj, Alborz province in Iran, using the international study of asthma and allergies in childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire. Totally 950 adolescents attending 40 schools located in 4 regions of Karaj city were enrolled in the survey. The Persian version of the ISAAC questionnaire was filled by 13-14-year-old students. Multi-stage clustered random sampling was used to divide the city of Karaj into four educational districts. Ever wheezing was reported in 22% of the individuals; 10.52% claimed to have wheeze in the last 12 months and 22.73% had during or after exercise. The experience of wheezing in the last 12 months was more prevalent among males (11.73% vs. 9.38%; p<0.05). However, having a history of asthma was higher among males (7.55% vs. 3.47%; p<0.05). History of hospitalization (60.8%), family history of asthma (49.4%), and history of food allergy (42.3%) were found to be the most frequent characteristics significantly associated with" ever wheezing" (p<0.05). The prevalence of wheezing in the last 12 months, as a major index of current asthma, was 10% which was close to the national average. However, nocturnal cough and exercise-induced wheezing were higher in Karaj compared to other cities of Iran; which could be related to the high level of air pollution in this industrial area.

Cultural adaptation and psychometric adequacy of the Persian version of the physical activity scale for the elderly (P-PASE).

OBJECTIVE: This cross sectional study was conducted to investigate cultural adaption and validation of the Persian version of the PASE among the elderly community dwellers in Iran. Out of 278 elderly people, 65% of them were female. After translation and cultural adaption, the PASE was evaluated with respect to the validity and reliability. Regarding the construct validity, the concurrent validity was assessed between the PASE and ADL, IADL, self-rated health, and TUG test. RESULTS: The mean score of P-PASE was equal to 153.73 ± 48.47. P-PASE scores were significantly and negatively correlated with TUG (r = - 0.691, P < 0.001) and age (r = - 791, P > 0.001), and were also significantly correlated with ADL (r = 0.775, P < 0.001), and IADL (r = 0.161, P < 0.001). The ICC was obtained as 0.92 (95% CI 0.90-0.94), 0.86 (95% CI 0.82-0.87), and 0.91 (95% CI 0.90-0.94) for the leisure time activity, household activity, and work-related activity scores, respectively. The Cronbachs̓ alpha coefficient was equal to 0.74, 0.74, and 0.79, respectively for leisure time activity, household activity, and work-related activity domains.