Iranian nurses' perception of spirituality and spiritual care: a qualitative content analysis study.

The purpose of the present study was to explore nurses' perception about spirituality and spiritual care. A qualitative content analysis approach was conducted on 20 registered nurses interviewed using unstructured strategy in 2009. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) "meaning and purpose of work and life" including 'spiritualistic view to profession', 'commitment and professional responsibility', and 'positive attitude'; 2) "religious attitude" including 'God approval', 'spiritual reward', 'taking advice', 'inner belief in the Supreme Being', 'faith-based interactions and altruism'; 3) "transcendence-seeking" including 'need for respect' and 'personal-professional transcendence'.

Changing pattern of mortality trends in iran, South, South-west Asia and world, 1970-2010.

Background: Mortality refers to the death that occurs within a population. It is linked to many factors such as age, sex, race, occupation and social class. The incidence and prevalence of mortality could affect the population's standard of living and health care.

Public awareness of risk factors for cancer and its determinants in an Iranian population.

Cancer is increasingly being seen as a disease that is preventable and manageable. Knowledge often does constitute one element in the behavior change process. In addition, to promote the cancer prevention programs, data on level of knowledge among the target population are needed.

Spirituality: a key factor in coping among Iranians chronically affected by mustard gas in the disaster of war.

The present study aimed to explore the approach used by Iranians chronically affected by mustard gas in the disaster of war to cope with their chronic illness complications. A qualitative approach was adopted using content analysis of unstructured interviews carried out with 20 patients in a medical center in Tehran and an outpatient clinic in the North West of Iran. Two main themes that emerged from the study were "religious sentiment" and "patriotism".

Parental participation and mismanagement: a qualitative study of child care in Iran.

The purpose of this study was to explore parents' and nurses' experiences of parental participation in child care in hospitals in Iran. Using thematic analysis, the data were collected through interviewing 14 parents and 11 nurses from two pediatric hospitals. The results showed that four major themes emerged, including the necessity of a parent's presence, the unplanned and informal delegation of care to the parents (which itself had five subthemes: the parents as nurses, the delegation of care without sufficient and planned parental training, informal parent-to-parent support, the continuum of parents' willingness to participate, and the neglect of parents' needs), the inconsistency of care, and the parents as informal evaluators of care.

Nurses' experiences and perceptions of influencing barriers to postoperative pain management.

Unlabelled: Despite decades of research and the availability of effective analgesic approaches, many patients continue to experience moderate to severe pain after surgery. Greater research efforts are needed to identify the factors that impede effective pain management. Despite the fact that a variety of research and clinical studies on all aspects of pain have been conducted in many countries, the factors affecting pain management have not been completely identified.

Effect of dual-tasking on postural control in subjects with nonspecific low back pain.

Study Design: Three factors mixed-design with 1 between-subject and 2 within-subject factors.

Objective: To compare the main effects and interactions of postural and cognitive difficulty on quiet stance between subjects with and without nonspecific low back pain (LBP).

Summary Of Background Data: The interference between postural control and cognitive tasks depends on factors such as sensorimotor/cognitive integrity.

Ethical challenges in pain management post-surgery.

This qualitative study describes ethical challenges faced by Iranian nurses in the process of pain management in surgical units. To address this issue, semistructured interviews were conducted with 26 nurses working in surgery units in three large university hospitals in Tehran. An analysis of the transcripts revealed three main categories: institutional limitations; nurses' proximity to and involvement with pain and suffering; and nurses' fallibility.

The effect of severe zinc deficiency and zinc supplement on spatial learning and memory.

Zinc deficiency during pregnancy and during lactation has been shown to impair cognitive function and motor activity in offspring rats. In the present study, the effect of zinc deficiency and zinc supplement on spatial learning and memory in Morris Water Maze (MWM) and motor activity in open field were investigated. Pregnant rats after mating were divided to three groups.

Postnatal quality of life in women after normal vaginal delivery and caesarean section.

Background: Caesarean section might increase the incidence of surgical interventions and problems resulting from hospitalization and thus affecting quality of life in women after delivery. This study aimed to compare quality of life in women after normal delivery and caesarean section.

Methods: This was a prospective study.

Barriers to, and facilitators of post-operative pain management in Iranian nursing: a qualitative research study.

Background: Unrelieved post-operative pain continues to be a major clinical challenge, despite advances in management. Although nurses have embraced a crucial role in pain management, its extent is often limited in Iranian nursing practice.

Aim: To determine Iranian nurses' perceptions of the barriers and facilitators influencing their management of post-operative pain.

Penetrance of BRCA1/BRCA2 specific gene mutations in Iranian women with breast cancer.

Objective: To estimate the penetrance of breast cancer genes 1 and 2 BRCA1/BRCA2 specific gene mutations in Iranian women with breast cancer.

Methods: We conducted this study in the Department of Biostatistics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran between January and May 2008. The information was collected from the referral database of the Cancer Clinics, Day General Hospital, Tehran, Iran.

The effect of vitamin E on the treatment of menstrual migraine.

Background: Many women with migraine experience a change in migraine frequency associated with the menstrual cycle. This study was undertaken to study the effect of vitamin E as a prophylactic agent on women with menstrual migraine.

Material/method: During a placebo-controlled double-blinded trial, 72 women with menstrual migraine received placebo (identical in appearance to vitamin E) daily for five days, two days before to three days after menstruation for two cycles followed by a one-month wash-out and one vitamin E softgel (400 IU) daily for five days in the next two cycles.

Spiritual job satisfaction in an Iranian nursing context.

This article reports the results of a qualitative study that used a deep interview method. The aim was to gather lived experiences of clinical nurses employed at government-funded medical centres regarding the non-materialistic and spiritual aspects of the profession that have had an important impact on their job satisfaction. On analysing the participants' concepts of spiritual satisfaction, the following themes were extracted: spiritually pleasant feelings, patients as celestial gifts, spiritual commitment, spiritual penchant, spiritual rewards, and spiritual dilemmas.

Adverse drug reactions in patients in an Iranian department of internal medicine.

Purpose: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of hospital admission and inpatient morbidity. The department of internal medicine is not an exception to this issue. This study was performed to determine the nature and frequency of ADRs in an internal medicine ward in Iran.

The effect of iron and zinc dietary restriction of pregnant rats on physical growth of litters.

Evidence suggests that micronutrient deficiencies may be associated with problems in early growth. Iron (Fe) and Zinc (Zn) deficiency (D) are prevalent during gestation in low-income countries. For pregnant dams, adequate amount of these micronutrients are needed in the diet to ensure the capacity for increased physical growth.

Perceived competence and school adjustment of hearing impaired children in mainstream primary school settings.

Background: Although educational main streaming of children with special needs formally began in Iran since 1992 there is little information whether hearing impaired children feel competent in regular schools.

Methods: To determine the perceived competence and school adjustment of hearing impaired children in mainstream primary school settings, the self-perception profile was administered to 60 mainstreamed hard of hearing children and 60 classmates with normal hearing matched for gender by a single interviewer. The instrument comprised 28 items, 23 of which were similar to those of 'adapted test Image for children with cochlear implants' asking children about their feelings about their own cognitive, physical, socio-emotional and communication competence and school adjustment.

Interrater reliability of the Modified Modified Ashworth Scale (MMAS) for patients with wrist flexor muscle spasticity.

The measurement of spasticity is part of the neurological examination of patients with disorders of the central nervous system. Recently, the Modified Modified Ashworth Scale (MMAS) was developed for the characterization of muscle spasticity. The purpose of this study was to determine the interrater reliability of the MMAS in the assessment of wrist flexor muscle spasticity in adult patients after upper motoneuron lesions resulted in hemiplegia.

Serum selenium concentration in healthy children living in Tehran.

Introduction: Selenium is one of the essential trace elements which is more notified in children in recent years. Reliable age-specific reference values for selenium in children in Iran are not clear and are important for the identification of selenium deficiency and some other researches that is the aim of this study.

Methods: Serum samples of 216 healthy children were analyzed by using hydride generation and flame atomic absorption spectroscopy to measured selenium level.

The spectrum of barriers to and facilitators of research utilization in Iranian nursing.

Aim: The focus of the study is the identification of barriers to and facilitators of research utilization in nursing practice from the perspective of Iranian nurses.

Background: In Iran, research utilization is a new phenomenon thus our knowledge with regard to those factors that promote or discourage research use is limited. No overall picture of the state of research utilization in Iran therefore exists.

Prevalence and risk indicators of periodontal disease among high-school students in Tehran.

To identify the prevalence and risk indicators of periodontal disease in high-school students in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, the periodontal condition of 867 students aged 15-19 years was assessed using the community periodontal index of treatment needs (CPITN). The results showed that 88.7% of these students had less than perfect periodontal health.

The correlation between Modified Ashworth Scale scores and the new index of alpha motoneurones excitability in post-stroke patients.

The Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) is currently a widely used clinical scale to evaluate muscle spasticity. However, it lacks reliability and the validity, of the MAS as a clinical measure of muscle spasticity has been challenged. The aim of the present study was to examine the validity of the MAS in patients with wrist flexor spasticity after stroke by using the Hslope/Mslope (Hslp/Mslp) ratio as the new index of alpha motoneuron excitability.

Validation of a Persian-version of Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) in Iranians with knee injuries.

Objective: To adapt culturally and validate Persian-version of the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) in a sample of Iranians with knee injuries.

Methods: Cultural adaptation included providing of forward and backward translations, quality rating and pilot testing. A sample of 147 patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), meniscus and combined (ACL and meniscus) injuries was asked to complete two questionnaires including the KOOS and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36).