Journal of Hayat

Self-concept and influential factors on it in the street children aged 6-12 years

N Salmani-Barough

Children are the biggest national investment that a society can make. With increased child population so too have their problems increased, amongst which are the increased incidence of street children, which as a result has endangered their health. This research is a descriptive and cross sectional study towards determining the effective factors on the self-concept of street children aged 6-12 years who were referred to the Khajouye Kermani culture house of Tehran in 1380. In this regard, 140 street children between the ages of 6-12 were chosen. The method was a 4-part questionnaire which included personal, family and societal information and questions related to the self- concept of the children. The data was collected by interviews with the children. In accordance with the average and the deviation criteria achieved, the level of self-concept was divided into four groups, extremely negative, negative, positive and extremely positive. The results showed that half of the subjects (50%) had very negative concepts of themselves and only 2.2% of them had a very positive self- concept levels. Therefore the street children had a very low self- concept level. Also as concerns the factors affecting self- concept was also a meaningful relationship between self- concept and some factors such as gender, education, level of income, duration of work, level of happiness within the family, counseling, reaction to the child's mistakes, having necessities for the home, adequate nutrition and clothing, having street friends before work (P<0.05). Therefore street children are at risk as regards their mental and physical development because they suffer from low self- concept levels and require special attention. Because of the vast responsibilities nurses can play an important role to improve of the health of these children.

Patients and nurses opinions about the reasons for fear related to coronary angiography

Z Parsa-Yekta

Fear is an undesirable feeling which most of the time results in physiological changes and can affect on the cardiovascular function of the patient. This research is a cross-sectional descriptive study that describes the congruency opinions between 91 patients /nurses about the reasons for patients’ fear related to coronary angiography in two affiliated hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The tools which were used included: questionnaire for study and recognition of patient and nurses demographic characteristics, a check list containing thirty probable reasons for patients’ fear which were filled out by patients and nurses, and a scale for analysis of the reasons for fear which were filled out by patients, descriptive statistics indicators, sign test, and t-test were applied in order to analyze the data, by SPSS software. The results showed that patients’ and nurses’ ideas about the reasons for fear before angiography are similar in two cases and only in one case after the operation. Among the thirty probable reasons which were mentioned for patients’ fear, seventeen cases caused less fear after angiography and two cases caused more fear after that. In the comparison between the intensity of fear caused by other reasons no insignificant result was observed. The comparison of intensity of fear showed that the intensity of patients’ fear after angiography is less than before (p= 0.005). According to these cases it may be concluded that because of the different reasons for patients’ fear concerning angiography, nurses need to pay more attention to patients’ fear. It is also suggested that an assessment tool be used in order to assess issues relating to patients, level of care and training related to coronary angiography.

Prevalence of unintended pregnancy and pertinent factors in women with positive pregnancy test

A Rezaipour

Unintended pregnancy is a world wide problem that affects women, their families, and society. From a total of 175 million pregnancies per year 75 million of them are unintended. This cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine prevalence of unintended pregnancies and pertinent factors and suggests an appropriate solution. A sample of 400 women who were seeking pregnancy tests in laboratories of hospitals affiliated of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, at the obstetric and gynecologic ward, and who had positive tests were selected by the Poisson random sampling method. Women who were found to have diseases such as hydatidiform mole were excluded. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Pregnancy intention was measured using NSFG 2001 questionnaire. Descriptive and analytic tests (chi-square, Fisher exact, t-test) were used to analyze the data. Prevalence of unintended pregnancy was 47.5%, of whom 36.3% hadn’t used contraception methods. Fear of side effects (66.7%) was the most prevalent reason of not using contraception. The main reason for unintended pregnancy was economical problems (42.6%). 63.7% of women with unintended pregnancy had used one of contraceptive method but 86.8% of users had used that method in an incorrect way. Also the results indicated that the age of women, educational status, number of children, husband’s age and education were associated with contraceptive use. The results indicated that prevalence of unintended pregnancy is high and the contraceptive methods weren't used or were used incorrectly by most of them (91.6%). This may show the necessity of training women about contraceptive methods and side effects of unintended pregnancy. Due to the important role of health care providers they should be trained to give such consultation to women.

Comparative study between behavioral patterns of sibling of children suffering from chronic diseases and healthy children

S Samiei

This research is a descriptive-analytical study conducted with the aim of examining and comparing adjusted behaviors of children (brothers and sisters) suffering from a chronic disease, referred to treatment centers with the siblings of the healthy children of the same age, in Tehran. The research sample was a group of 300 children along with a pair of parents. They were divided into groups of 150 siblings suffering from a chronic disease and 150 siblings who were healthy. For sample-taking of the children suffering from chronic disease parents of the children referring to hospitals or hospitalized in wards, who had the required qualifications were also studied through simple random selection. In order to select healthy children and their parents, the parents of the children referring to specified treatment centers for receiving medication and clinical treatment were selected as the control group, through the simple random sampling method. The basis of research comprised of a questionnaire comprising of two parts. The 1st part consisted of demographic particulars and the 2nd part constituted the form of questions put to the child's parents, whose form was prepared on the basis of the standardized child behavior checklist in accordance with Achen Bach's parents’ report. The form consisted of two parts: one concerning social merit (6 questions on activities, social relations and studying performance of the child) while the other related to behavioral problems of the child (102 questions in relation to social problems, anti-social behavior, aggressive behavior, difficulty in concentration, physical complaints, anxiety, depression, isolation disorder in thinking, sexual problems and miscellaneous matters). The results in relation to the research objectives point out that there is by p<0.001 and p< 0.005 and in a sensible manner, the behavioral problems of the siblings suffering from a chronic disease as compared with healthy siblings are more and their social merit is less.

Mother’s opinions concerning the importance of and their satisfaction with support received in the labor and delivery rooms

T Mirmawlai

Childbirth is one of the most stressful situations in a woman's life. In order for a woman to adjust to the stress of delivery and to make it a happy experience for her, she should be supported with adequate information as well as emotionally and physically. This research was undertaken to analyze the opinion of mothers concerning the importance of and their satisfaction with information, physical and emotional support received in the labor and delivery rooms. In this descriptive-analytic study 400 post-partum mothers from 10 various training hospitals in city of Tehran in the year 2000 were randomly selected and interviewed by questionnaire in the post-delivery ward. Results showed that most of the mothers placed great importance on physical, informational, and emotional support, respectively. They had received inadequate physical and informational support and relatively adequate emotional support. But most of them were satisfied with the informational, emotional and physical support, respectively. There was no significant association between the level of satisfaction of the mothers with these three types of support and their importance but there was a significant association with the way that support was received. (P<0.05). Complete satisfaction with the support offered, despite their inadequacy or limitations, may be due to the fact that mothers are unaware of their rights and have few expectations or may be due to the time of conducting the interview (just before discharge). The lack of any relation between the demographic variables and the value of importance in the different areas of support shows that these are basic needs and all should be equally provided. In order to increase satisfaction, support and care should be provided to mothers in the best possible fashion. Finally, regarding the presence of midwifery students and their teachers in teaching hospitals, they should be made directly responsible for the reformation of the hospital system, preparation of hospital charts and their organization.

Aggression in children

Z Daneshvar-Ameri

Links between violence, aggression, and mental illness are well documented. Despite this association, our current understanding of the factors for and optimal treatment of aggression remains limited. This lack of knowledge is alarming because nurses, particularly pediatric nurses who treat aggressive children, are frequent targets of patient aggression. Consequently, the aim of this article is to provide information regarding the concept of aggression in child patients, assessment of violent behavior, implementation of interventional treatment and a review of medical, psychological and social strategies which assist in the understanding of aggression and its clinical intervention. However, the etiology of aggression for the most part still remains a mystery.

Comparing the lifestyles of first and final term female BS nursing students

N Salmani Barough

Consideration of the lifestyles of nursing students, because of the fact that they are at the age where their choice of lifestyle can influence their entire lives, is of vital importance. On the other hand nursing students are conveyors of health information and are responsible for guiding others towards the way of life therefore they themselves need to be appropriate models for those in need of help and the society as a whole. This study is a descriptive research, whose aim is comparing the lifestyle of first and final term female BS nursing students. This investigation was undertaken in Nursing and Midwifery schools of Tehran Medical Science Universities, by sampling 139 students in their first term and 159 students in their final term. The factors of life style under examination were nutrition, exercise, smoking, safety precautions and stress management. The method of data collection was questionnaires that consisted of demographic and life style particularities. Research findings showed that 37.4% of the first term students had moderate nutrition and 49.9% had good nutrition. As concerns physical exercise (37.4%) and (41.1%) of the first and final term students had moderate physical exercise respectively. Research findings also showed that none of the students of either two groups smoked cigarettes. As relates to safety precautions results showed that 37.2% first term students and 35% in final terms students had moderate behavior. In stress management (36.5%) first term students and (32.9) last term students had good behavior. In general (40%) of the samples in their first term had moderate lifestyles while (32.8%) in their last term had very good lifestyles. "t" Statistical test showed no significant difference between the two groups. Research findings showed that nursing education and training in no way influenced life style and that other factors were influential but they require further study.

Survey on physical and Psychic complications of wife abuse on women

T Shahriary

Nowadays violence can be widely observed in many societies and one of these cases is domestic violence, the effect of which can be seen both on individuals and the society as a whole. If domestic violence persists it can result in divorce and in the long run may even result in murder, the effect of which both on the individual and the society is obvious. Disorder, homelessness and orphaned children are the disgraceful results of violence. This Research is a descriptive study on physical and Psychic complications of wife abuse on women who were referred to the Tehran legal medical authorities. The methods for gathering data were a questionnaire of personal information of both husband and wife, check list form consisting of 12 physical injuries and a standard test B K to measure the level of depression and self-esteem. The result of this research shows that the most prevalent physical and Psychic problem existent among women suffering from physical abuse from their husbands were as follows: physical injury and extreme fatigue (99%) severe depression (43%) and low self-esteem (65%).