Journal of

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Background and Aim: Head louse, pediculosis capitis, is a major health problem in the world. Head louse infestation is still common in many countries including Iran. It causes serious health problems in many communities particularly among the school-age children. The aim of this study was to determine the major factors in an outbreak of pediculosis capitis in students of Bahar in 2011. 

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Background and Aim: The World Federation for Medical Education developed standards for medical education and recommended medical schools to encourage their students to take active responsibility for their self-learning, and prepare them for lifelong learning. The purpose of this study was to compare the viewpoints of medical students about the effectiveness of their participation in two methods of teaching-learning process, group discussion versus lecture. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed between the years 2011-2013 during which 19 one-month courses of dermatology for medical students were presented. In each course, attended by 5-7 students, 16 sessions of dermatology theory classes were planned. The first four sessions were completely presented by medical tutors and the next 12 sessions involved active student participation, 6 presented as group discussions and 6 aslecture presentation. At the end of each course the students’ perspective were asked by using a questionnaire evaluating the effectiveness of each method. Results: From 102 students that participated in this study the following results were attained: 94 students (92.15%) considered group discussion more efficient than conference presentation (2 students [1.96%]), 5 (4.9%) reported both methods were efficient and 1 student (0.98%) said that none of these two methods were useful. The reasons that students preferred group discussion were: studying the subject matters before class and mental readiness, active participation of all students, learning at a higher degree and better durability of the subject in mind, expression of key points by the medical teacher, restatement of subject matters and enthusiasm of the class in group discussion. Conclusion: Group discussion is a valuable technique in teaching-learning process which requires active participation of all students, leading to deeper understanding of the subject matters, self-learning and more attention to key points, it also makes the class more lively.

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Background and Aim: Hirsutism as a clinical presentation of hyperandrogenism has a negative impact on the mental health and quality of life. Therefore, determination of its prevalence and associated factors in communities are important. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hirsutism and its associated factors in dormitory students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences in Semana, Iran.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all of the female students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences dormitory were given a questionnaire which consists of three parts. The first two sections was designed to collect the demographic data and medical history including past medical history, drug history, menstrual condition and familial history of hirsutism. The third section included the grading scale of Ferrimen-Gallwey, that contains images of various parts of the body and hair growth. Participants were asked to determine their hair growth on the pictures. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) version 19. Chi squared test was used for comparison of proportions in different groups.

Results: From 330 participants, 119 students (36.1%) complained from hirsutism. 105 (31.8%) patients had mild and 14 (4.3%) students had moderate hirsutism. There was a significant correlation between hirsutism and irregular menstrual cycles, positive familial history of hirsutism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, polycystic ovary, hypothyroidism, use of danazol, and hoarseness (P<0.05).

Conclusion: This study showed a high prevalence of hirsutism in dormitory students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences. More clinical evaluation is suggested to determine various forms of hirsutism and the underlying conditions.

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Background and Aim: Body image is one of the main factors of self efficacy. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between body image and self-efficacy among female students in Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 408 female students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in 2017 with a stratified sampling method. To gather data, we used Multidimensional Body Self-Relation Questionnaire (MBSRQ) and general self-efficacy questionnaire and recorded demographic variables. Data were analyzed with SPSS-21 software using Pearson correlation and linear regression tests.

Results: The dimensions of body areas satisfaction and illness orientation were evaluated at relatively desirable and moderate levels, respectively. Students' self-efficacy was also estimated at 60.05% of the mean score of the maximum achievable score at the moderate level. The results of regression analysis showed that the dimensions of the illness orientation, overweight preoccupation, fitness orientation, self-classified weight and appearance evaluation predicted the self-efficacy among the female students. In total, different dimensions of body image explained 14.1% of the variance of self-efficacy.

Conclusion: We suggest providing training packages about body image dimensions improvement to enhance the self-efficacy of university female students.

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Background and Aim: Cosmetic surgery is performed to change the appearance of people and improve their
self-esteem and according to the available reports, Iran ranked first in cosmetic surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the socio-cultural attitudes about cosmetic surgery and its related factors among female students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 340 female students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in 2017 with a stratified sampling method. To gather data, we used socio-cultural attitudes questionnaire and recorded demographic variables. Data were analyzed with SPSS 24 software using t-test, ANOVA and linear regression tests.

Results: The age group of 21-30 years were the most frequent participants (56.7%). Most of the students were medical students (24.4%). They often received information about cosmetic surgery via the internet (63.2%). There were significant statistical relationships between social and cultural attitudes with the field of study and father's job (P<0.05). The results of regression analysis showed that the variables of the father's job and body mass index evaluation predicted the social and cultural attitudes.

Conclusion: It is recommended to conduct similar studies other universities of the country and compare them with the findings of this research.