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Introduction: Gathering information about quality of life is an essential step in designing more effective treatments and also helps developing better supportive and rehabilitation programs.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional to investigate the relation between cancer characteristics and quality of life in patients under chemotherapy, 200 patients with different types of cancers were selected by simple sampling method. The data were collected through interview, reviewing patients’ files and patients’ self-reports. The data were collected by a questionnaire consisted of three parts: part one, demographic characteristics part two, questions about cancer type, stage and duration, pain, acceptance or refusal of cancer by patient, decrease or loss of organs’ function and degree of fatigue, and part three, designed to investigate different aspects of quality of life, including questions about general appearance, physical activity, occupational status, social function and sleep. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used.

Results: The results showed that quality of life in majority of the subjects (66%) was moderate. There was a meaningful relationship between some of cancer characteristics like type of cancer (p=0.007), intensity of pain (p=0.007), decrease or loss of organs’ function (p=0.001) and degree of fatigue (p=0.0) with quality of life, but there was no meaningful correlation between acceptance or refusal of disease, duration of disease from diagnosis time and stage of cancer with quality of life.

Conclusion: It seems that there is a relationship between some cancer characteristics and quality of life. Attention must be paid to these aspects to improve quality of life in cancer patients.

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Background & Aim: Despite the advancement of medical science, readmission of the heart failure patient remains a serous problem. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of continuous care and educational intervention on the rate of readmissions, refers to physician, and health costs in patients discharged from hospital.
Methods & Materials: This study was a randomized clinical trial in which 110 patients were studied. The participants were allocated in two experimental and control groups. Data were gathered using questionnaires. Home visits were carried out in the experimental group during six months. At the end of the intervention, the rate of readmissions, referrals, and health care costs were compared in the two groups. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, Fisher&aposs exact test, and Chi-square test.
Results: Results indicated that the rate of readmissions (1.65±1.01 vs. 2.74±1.07, respectively), and refers to physicians (2.73±1.24 vs. 3.32±0.94, respectively) were lower in the experiment group than the control group (P<0.05) after the intervention. The average health care cost in the intervention group (2494000±172150 Rials) did not differ significantly with the control group (2736800±167360 Rials) (P>0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the nursing interventions such as home visits are effective in lowering readmissions and refers to physicians in patients with heart failure. It seems that home visits are necessary in promoting the patients health. 

 

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Background & Objective: Labor pain management is one of the most important procedures of midwifery cares. Acupressure, a non-pharmacological method of labor pain relief, is an available, easy to use, inexpensive, and without side effect method of pain relief. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of LI-4 acupressure on labor pain in women during first stage of labor.

Methods & Materials: A single blind randomized clinical trial study was carried out on 83 primipara women. The inclusion criteria were singleton pregnancy in 38-42 weeks of gestation, cephalic presentation, and spontaneous uterine contractions. Participants were divided into three groups including acupressure group, touch group, and the usual care (control group). The intensity of labor pain was measured using visual analog scale with the rating from 0-100 mm immediately, 30 minutes, and one hour after the intervention during the first stage of labor. Data were analyzed using statistical tests of ANOVA, Chi-square, and Exact chi-square.

Results: Findings indicated that acupressure group had lower labor pain in the active phase of the first stage of labor immediately after intervention than the other groups (P=0.026).

Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that LI4 acupressure reduced the intensity of labor pain in the first stage of labor without any side effects to mother and infant. This procedure can be used as a simple, safe and inexpensive method to relief labor pain.

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Background & Aim: Infants are very sensitive and special attention is needed to take care of their physical and mental health. Some studies showed that massage by parents can improve infants&apos sleep quality. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of massage with sunflower oil or sesame oil on infants&apos crying and sleep times.

Methods & Materials: This triple-blinded clinical trial was conducted on 120 infants who were 10-15 days old, full-term, single, exclusively breastfed and with no history of hospitalization. The infants were assigned randomly into three groups of sunflower oil massage, sesame oil massage and massage with no oils. Mothers administered 15 minutes of massage to their infants twice per day (morning and afternoon) for 28 days. Times of crying and sleep were measured by a parents&apos information form at baseline, and at the end of the first, second, third, and fourth weeks of the study. Data were analyzed using the repeated measures ANOVA.

Result: Within four weeks of following, decreasing pattern of infants crying time was not significant (P=0.18) however, the mean of crying time between the three groups was significant (P=0.007). The interaction effect of crying time and groups was not significant (P=0.18). Increasing pattern of infant sleep time was statistically significant in the fourth weeks of the following (P<0.001) however, the mean of sleep time between three groups was not significant (P<0.56). The interaction effect of sleeping time and groups was not significant (P<0.10).

Conclusion: Since there were not statistical significant differences between the infants&apos crying and sleep times between the three groups, and despite the fact that increasing pattern of infants sleep time is a normal pattern, it is not possible to have a proper conclusion.

 

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Background & Aim: Breast milk provides many healthy nutrients to infants. Support provided by health care provider has positive effects on duration of breastfeeding. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of telephone counseling on continuity and duration of breastfeeding among primiparus women.

Methods & Materials: This clinical trial was conducted on 140 primiparus women referred to the selected health centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2010. The participants were randlomly allocated into two equal groups (each: 70 indviduals). The participants in the intervention group received telephone counseling by one of the researchers. The control group received routine care. Data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics and a breastfeeding check list. Exclusive breastfeeding rates were recorded one and three months after childbirth in both groups. Also, the continuity and duration of exclusive breastfeeding were recored three months after childbirth in both groups. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test, Fisher&aposs exact test, standard logistic regression and linear regression in the SPSS-16 and the Win Pepi.

Results: The average duration of exclusive breastfeeding in the intervention group (8.05±3.99) was significantly more than the control group (6.23±4.03) (P=0.008). In the third month of delivery, continuity of exclusive breastfeeding in the intervention group was more than the control group (P=0.03). Results also showed that telephone counseling was effective in the duration of exclusive breastfeeding (P=0.02).

Conclusion: Telephone counseling was effective in continuity and duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Using this inexpensive and easy method can help to increase exclusive breastfeeding, especially in primiparus women.

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Background & Aim: Job stress can interfere with endocrine function and result in dysfunctional menstrual bleeding patterns. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between job stress with menstrual bleeding pattern among midwives.

Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 150 midwives working in hospitals and health centers of Mashhad using two-stage sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics, Karazek Job Content, a daily diary for menstrual periods to record duration and interval of periods, and the Higham Chart for recording the bleeding amount. The diary was completed for three menstrual periods. Collected data were analyzed using independent t-student, one way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, Chi-squared test, correlation test and linear regression in the SPSS-14.

Results: The findings showed that 21.3% of the midwives reported mild job stress, 19.3% had moderate stress and 59.3% reported severe job stress. Mean of the duration of the periods was 7.06 days, the mean interval of the periods was 27.9 days and the mean amount of bleeding was 79.72 cc. There was a significant relationship between job stress and the duration and interval of periods (P<0.001). There was not any significant relationship between job stress with the amount of bleeding.

Conclusion: Our study showed that job stress was related to menstrual bleeding patterns among midwives. It is necessary introduce strategies to decrease job stress and provide professional support for midwives.

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Background & Aim: Gestational diabetes mellitus is the most common medical disorder during pregnancy that has many negative psychosomatic effects on the pregnant women and their fetus. According to existing studies, the role of counseling and husband’s support in gestational diabetes has been less studied, so the present study aimed to determine the effect of couples' supportive counseling on self-care behavior in women with insulin-treated gestational diabetes.
Methods & Materials: In this randomized clinical trial, 64 pregnant women (26-30 weeks of gestation) with gestational diabetes referred to the diabetes clinic of Umm al-Banin Hospital in Mashhad in 2018-2019 were divided into the intervention or control groups using the 4-way blocking method. For the women and their husbands in the intervention group, couples' supportive counseling was conducted by the researcher in the form of three one-hour sessions with one week interval. A diabetes self-care questionnaire was completed in two stages, before and four weeks after the intervention for both groups, and data were analyzed by independent t-test and paired t test using the SPSS software version 16.
Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in pre-intervention self-care scores (P>0.05). After the intervention, the difference between the mean of self-care scores before and after the intervention in the intervention group was 12.09±7.56 and in the control group was 0.00±3.60, which a significant increase was observed in the self-care score for the intervention group compared to the control group (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Couples' supportive counseling helps to promote self-care behavior in patients with gestational diabetes and can be used as an effective method to reduce the adverse consequences of gestational diabetes.
Clinical trial registry: IRCT20181002041202N1
 

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Background & Aim: Clinical decision-making is an essential part of the nursing profession. The nursing profession is based on ethical principles. Due to their commitment to patients, morally courageous nurses ignore occupational risks threatening their own lives.  The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between moral courage of nurses and their participation in clinical decision-making.
Methods & Materials: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019. The study population was nurses working in the CCU and ICU of Shahid Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center. The sample size was 195 people. The data was collected using the Sekerka’s Moral Courage Scale, and the Participation in Decision Activities Questionnaire (PDAQ). Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient through the SPSS software version 19.
Results: The mean scores of moral courage and PDAQ in nurses were 90.38 ± 11.48 and 117.24±39.42, respectively. A positive correlation was found between moral courage and participation in clinical decision-makings (r=0.397, P<0.001).
Conclusion: The results showed that moral courage has pride of place in the nursing profession that can encourage nurses to actively participate in clinical decision making. Therefore, professional ethics courses are suggested to be organized to improve decision-making and clinical ethical performance of nursing students and nurses.
 

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Diabetes is one of the most challenging chronic conditions, necessitating continuous and complex management efforts that impacts all aspects of an individual's life (1). Those living with diabetes often experience many social and psychological challenges alongside the disease, ultimately affecting the disease management (2). Addressing and managing these psychological challenges in individuals with diabetes are crucial for optimal disease management and the prevention of serious consequences (3). This issue necessitates the design and implementation of interventions to manage the psychological consequences of diabetes.
Storytelling has emerged as a therapeutic approach utilized in social projects, health promotion, disease prevention, coping with grief, and other concerns (4). Therapeutic storytelling aims to explore the psychological problems experienced by individuals through creative narratives, using problem-solving skills, and providing narrative-based alternatives (5).
Stories serve as a means of expressing viewpoints, revealing emotions, sharing experiences, and transferring information. By engaging in storytelling activities whether through oral or written narratives individuals can absorb valuable lessons, gaining insights into effective problem-solving strategies and emotional expression
Storytelling serve as a means of expressing opinions, revealing emotions, sharing experiences, and transferring information (6). By engaging in storytelling activities whether through oral or written narratives individuals (7)