The Effect of an Educational Intervention on Health Literacy and the Adoption of Nutritional Preventive Behaviors Related to Osteoporosis Among Iranian Health Volunteers.

OBJECTIVES: Given the increase in osteoporosis among health volunteers and the effect of health literacy on the adoption of nutritional preventive behaviors, this study aimed to determine the effects of an educational intervention on health literacy and the adoption of nutritional preventive behaviors related to osteoporosis among health volunteers. METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental, interventional study of health volunteers conducted in 2020. In this study, 140 subjects (70 in both intervention and control groups) were selected using the random multi-stage sampling method. An educational intervention was conducted using the Telegram application, and educational messages were sent to the health volunteers in the intervention group across 6 sessions. Data were collected via a demographic questionnaire, the Health Literacy for Iranian Adults survey, and a nutritional performance questionnaire, which were completed before and 3 months after the intervention. The data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 23. RESULTS: Before the intervention, there were no significant differences in the mean scores for health literacy variables and the adoption of nutritional preventive behaviors between the intervention and control groups (p>0.05). After the intervention, there was a significant change in the mean scores for health literacy and the adoption of preventive behaviors in the intervention group (p<0.05) as opposed to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions aimed at increasing health literacy are effective for promoting the adoption of preventive and healthy nutritional behaviors related to osteoporosis.

Health-Promoting Lifestyle: A Considerable Contributing Factor to Quality of Life in Patients With Hypertension.

Aim: Investigating the relationship between health promoting behaviors and quality of life in patients with hypertension. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, health-promoting behaviors and quality of life in patients with hypertension were assessed in a cardiology clinic of a university hospital in an urban area of Iran. The sample consisted of 93 patients with hypertension who were recruited using a convenience sampling method. Demographic data, Health Promoting Lifestyle Behaviors Profile (HPLP II) and World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaires were used to gather data. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21. Results: The mean score of health promoting behaviors was moderate (2.51 ± 0.47) with highest and lowest scores in nutritional (2.80 ± 0.52) and physical activity (1.78 ± 0.62) dimension, respectively. There was a statistically significant relationship between health-promoting behaviors and quality of life. The relationship between health-promoting behaviors and quality of life had the highest power in psychological health dimension (ß = 5.353, P < .001) and lowest power in the environmental dimension (ß = 0.365, P < .001). Conclusion: Improving quality of life of patients requires paying attention to educational interventions for creating changes in the lifestyle to improve all aspects of quality of life.

Quality of Life in Different Chronic Diseases and Its Related Factors.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) is an important tool for evaluating the effect of a disease as well as effects of treatment interventions. The present study is aimed to investigate QoL of the patients with various prevalent chronic diseases in Iran. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 625 patients with one of the prevalent chronic diseases were assessed. Participants were recruited via convenient sampling method in special clinics of chronic diseases in three educational hospitals in Qazvin, Iran, from May to December 2016. Data were collected using WHOQOL-BREF and demographic questionnaire through interview. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression method. RESULTS: Significant difference in QoL scores was found in different chronic disease; patients with diabetes and hypertension had higher scores and patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had the lowest scores. Multivariate analysis showed that age, economic status, and type of disease were among the significant variables in predicting the QoL of the patients with chronic diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Some patients, such as those with asthma and COPD, had less QoL than other patients and should be prioritized while planning for the promotion of healthcare services. Due to the negative effects of economic status on QoL, the financial support programs should be among the major priorities of the patients' QoL improvement programs.

Prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among pregnant women: A cross sectional study in Qazvin Province, Iran.

INTRODUCTION: Food insecurity is associated with adverse health consequences in women, especially pregnant ones. Present study is aimed to investigate prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among pregnant women. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 394 pregnant women in Qazvin during November 2016-May 2017. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) was used to assess food insecurity among pregnant women. Besides, the relationship of demographic, midwifery and socioeconomic factors was investigated using Chi-squared and logistic regression tests. Then, the obtained data were analyzed in Stata-12 software at the significance level of 0.05. FINDINGS: Nearly 44% of the participants had food insecurity. In multivariate analysis, only husbands' unemployment and unwanted pregnancy were associated with food insecurity; thus, the chance of food insecurity among women with unemployed husband was higher than the women with employed husband by 4.7 times [OR (95% CI) = 4.69(1.64, 13.42)]. Furthermore, the probability of food insecurity among the participants with unwanted pregnancy was twice more than those with wanted pregnancy [OR (95% CI) = 2.07(1.14, 3.74)]. CONCLUSION: Unemployed husband and unwanted pregnancy are related to food insecurity among pregnant women. Nevertheless, due to the nature of this study, it was not possible to clearly specify the path of such a relationship. To reduce food insecurity among pregnant women, it is essential to take all the necessary measures for providing financial supports for pregnant women through different ways in order to reduce the stress and worries caused by financial burden of pregnancy, and to improve nutrition quality and eating behaviours among pregnant women.

The relationship between food security and quality of life among pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: Household food insecurity through influencing the quality and sufficiency of nutrition can have considerable effects on individuals' health. Previous studies have shown the relationship between household food insecurity and quality of life among adults, infants, and people of minority ethnicity. However, no studies have been conducted on household food insecurity and quality of life among pregnant women. This study aimed to investigate the effect of food insecurity on quality of life among pregnant women in Qazvin city, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted between May 2017 and November 2017 on 394 pregnant women. A random cluster sampling method was used to select eight urban health and medical centers from four geographical regions of Qazvin city, Iran. In the selected centers, pregnant women were recruited using eligibility inclusion criteria. Data was collected using the SF-36 Health-related Quality of Life, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale and a demographic questionnaire for recording the women's gestational and demographic information through interviews. Descriptive and inferential statistics including Chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni post-hoc test and multiple linear regression were used for data analysis. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Food insecurity was reported in 43.9% of the pregnant women. Overall pregnant women's quality of life had the highest score (Mean ± SD) in the domain of 'social performance' (76.4 ± 21) and the lowest one in the domain of 'role limitation due to physical reasons' (60.5 ± 43). Pregnant women with food insecurity had the lowest score in role limitation due to physical reasons domain of quality of life (68.6 ± 40.4, 61.3 ± 45.5 & 51.3 ± 47.7 respectively for mild, moderate and sever food insecurity). The results of multiple linear regression showed that one unit reduction of household food security significantly decreased the total quality of life score by 5.2 score (95% CI: -9.7, - 0.7) among the mild food insecure group, 10.8 score (95% CI: -17.1, - 4.6) among the moderate food insecure group and 14.1 score (95% CI: -19.7, - 8.5) among the sever food insecure group. CONCLUSIONS: Screening of the household food security status during the primary prenatal care can identify high-risk pregnant women to improve the quantity and quality of their diet. Moreover multi-level actions including policy-making, supplying resources, and providing appropriate services are needed to ensure that pregnant women have access to high-quality foods.