Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) suffer from impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to determine the level of HRQoL, sense of coherence (SOC), and self-efficacy (SE) in a sample of SCD patients, and to explore predictors of their physical and mental HRQoL. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 83 SCD patients of one university hospital. The data of the study was collected through Persian versions of the Short-Form Health Survey SF-36 (RAND 36-item), the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-13), and the Sickle Cell Self-Efficacy Scale (SCSES). The mean age of the patients was 26.34 ± 8.19 years old. Patients' mean scores for the Physical Component Summary (PCS), Mental Component Summary (MCS), SOC, and SCSES were 40.57 ± 17.18 (range: 0-100), 50.44 ± 17.95 (range: 0-100), 52.40 ± 15.35 (range: 13-91), 26.40 ± 6.96 (range: 9-45), respectively. Regression models showed that the level of the patients' SOC, was the main predictor of the MCS (β = 0.37, p < 0.001). However, the level of the patients' SE was the main predictor of the PCS (β = 0.30, p = 0.004). Also, "blood transfusion history" in patients was a common predictor for both the PCS (β =  - 0.28, p = 0.008) and the MCS (β =  - 0.29, p = 0.003). These results can assist nurses and clinicians to plan clinical interventions for SCD patients by focusing on increasing the level of the SOC and SE and improving SCD patients' HRQoL. Furthermore, measuring the level of the SOC and self-efficacy as screening tests are useful to find patients with a greater risk of impaired HRQoL.

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is among the most common causes of death in almost all countries across the world. Awareness of risk factors for the management and prevention of the disease can reduce complications and mortality rates. This study was conducted with the aim to investigate the mortality and potential risk factors of myocardial infarction (MI) as well as their relationships in patients who were admitted to one university hospital in the North of Iran from 2014 to 2018.

METHODS: This study had retrospective descriptive design. Using a checklist, all necessary information was extracted from 5-year medical records data of MI patients in the university hospital from 2014 to 2018 (n = 564). The data analysis was performed in SPSS software using descriptive statistics and two binary logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS: The results showed that the mean age of the patients was 62.78 +/- 13.38 years, and most of them were men (66.3%). The patients' mortality was 18.6% in a 5-year analysis. However, the number of mortalities was higher in the women (P = 0.001). Descriptive analysis showed that the most common risk factors of the disease in both genders were hypertension (46.6%), diabetes mellitus (DM) (38.5%), hyperlipidemia (24.1%), smoking (20%), and family history of CVDs (18.8%), respectively. However, the results of the adjusted regression model showed that the odds ratio (OR) of the patients' mortality increased in diabetic MI patients (OR: 2.33; 95%CI: 1.42-3.81; P = 0.001), but this ratio decreased in MI patients with a history of hyperlipidemia (OR: 0.23; 95%CI: 0.11-0.44; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Based on the results, individual- and population-based prevention strategies by focusing on hypertension and diabetes are recommended in our health programs. Surprisingly, the mortality rate of MI patients was lower among those with a history of hyperlipidemia. There are different hypotheses for the cause of this. Therefore, laboratory studies with animal models and prospective cohorts are suggested for future studies.

Background: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a novel Coronavirus which transmits from person to person throughout the world. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of nurses' caring for patients with COVID-2019 in the context of the healthcare system of Iran.

Methods: This is a phenomenological study with 13 participant nurses (6 men and 7 women) who were caring for COVID-19 patients in one of the university hospitals in Southeast of Iran. Qualitative data were analysed by the seven steps of Colaizzi's method.

Results: Participants reported around a five-month history of caring for COVID-19 patients. After analysis, 597 codes, 16 categories, four sub-themes, and one theme were extracted. "Caring from self-sacrifice to avoidance" was the main theme of the study with sub-themes of "Anxiety Chain", "Manifestation of Humanitarian Caring", "Ethical Challenges", and "Challenges of Overcoming Crisis".

Conclusions: Nurses explained their caring experiences with patients on a continuum from humanitarian caring and self-sacrifice to caring avoidance. Because of the multi-sources of psychological stress and ethical challenges together with this infection, healthcare managers should plan for holistic regular psychological support services, prevention of job inequalities, and do strategic planning for access to enough resources in the healthcare system.

Background: Cancer is one of the most common diseases and it has many physical and psychological consequences. Women with cancer are more likely to suffer from sexual dysfunction (SD) than healthy women.

Objective: To estimate the overall prevalence of SD in women with cancer.

Materials and Methods: The international databases Google Scholar, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for related articles without any time limitation. The keywords "Neoplasia", "Tumor", "Cancer", "Malignancy", "Female Sexual Function Index", "FSFI", and "female sexual dysfunction" along with their combinations were used in the search. Inconsistencies in the data were examined using the I² test. The data were analyzed using the meta-analysis method and the random-effects model in the Stata software.

Results: The analysis of 24 articles with a sample size of 5483 women showed that the prevalence of SD in women with cancer was 66% (95% CI: 59-74%). The highest and lowest prevalence were in Africa and Europe, respectively (75%; 95% CI: 66-83% vs. 43%; 95% CI: 26-60%, respectively). There was no relationship between the prevalence of SD and the mean age of the women, sample size, yr of publication, or quality of articles.

Conclusion: SD is highly prevalent in women with cancer. African and American women with cancer have a higher average SD prevalence than Asian and European ones.

‘Cancer control and early detection’ is one of the priority programs of the World Health Organization. This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of educational intervention, based on the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), on awareness and early detection behaviours of breast cancer (BC) in women. The eligible women were randomly selected through electronic health records, and divided into the intervention (IG) (n = 45) and control groups (CG) (n = 45). Data were collected in three phases: baseline (T1), immediately (T2) and two-month (T3) after the PMT-based intervention using four questionnaires of Demographic-Clinical Information, Awareness of BC Warning Signs, Awareness of BC Early Detection Behaviours and Modified Early Cancer Detection Behaviours – BC version. Results showed that the PMT-based education influenced the awareness and behaviours of participants in the IG group compared with the CG over time (p < 0.001). The mean and standard deviation of variables improved in the IG in comparison to the CG from T1 to T3: ‘awareness of BC warning signs’ [IG: (T1: 68.50 ± 5.47) to (T3: 89.40 ± 3.50)] [CG: (T1: 69.70 ± 5.87) to (T3: 67.40 ± 2.42)], ‘awareness of early detection behaviours’ [IG: (T1: 78.65 ± 4.47) to (T3: 89.55 ± 4.74)] [CG: (T1: 79.20 ± 5.45) to (T3: 84.10 ± 2.89)] and ‘protection behaviours’ [IG: (T1: 65.01 ± 23.99) to (T3: 98.15 ± 12.20)] [CG: (T1: 56.94 ± 20.85) to (T3: 57.68 ± 21.01)]. Thus, women in this context should be motivated and empowered towards protective health behaviours for early detection of BC. It is suggested that healthcare providers develop PMT-based programs for BC early detection in women in different settings of the community.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses prescribe medication for patients in many countries. However, there is still no evidence on the legitimacy of nurse prescribing roles in the healthcare system of Iran. This qualitative study with 30 experts was conducted to explore the experiences regarding the expanding role of prescribing medication by the ICU nurses. Data were collected through 31 individual semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the conventional content analysis method by MAXQDA 10. One major theme, "applicability of prescribing medication by ICU nurses", together with three sub-themes of "facilitators", "potential risks of nurse prescribing" and "the professional pathway", emerged. The use of successful global experiences, patient-oriented healthcare system policies, current culture and positive professional position of nurses, physician shortage, and high capacity of ICU nurses appeared as facilitators to perform the new role in our context. For the expansion of the new role, different professional pathways such as discussion with physicians and special groups with conflicts of interests, training qualified nurses in this area, and gradual development were proposed by the participants. The next step of the research is to prepare a set of standards for the prescription of medication by the ICU nurses in our context.

BACKGROUND: Horne healthcare guidelines emphasize the engagement of family caregivers of heart failure (HF) patients in patient care at home. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim to explore the deep experiences of home care team members regarding the needs of family caregivers of HF patients in home healthcare services in Iran.

METHODS: The present qualitative study was performed with a conventional content analysis approach. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 23 participants who were recruited through purposive sampling. The Data were analyzed using the Graneheim and Lundman method for conventional content analysis in MAXQDA Software.

RESULTS: The participants included 14 women and 9 men with the mean age of 46.21 +/- 11.44 years. After analyzing the interviews, 3 main categories and 15 subcategories were extracted. The main categories were "family caregiver's unmet needs" (with 5 subcategories), "Empowering Informal Caregivers" (with 3 subcategories), and "access to a standard home healthcare system" (with 7 subcategories).

CONCLUSION: Deep understanding of the needs of family caregivers of HF patients in home health care services increases the quality of services, the quality of life (QOL) of the family, and prevents patients' hospital readmissions. Moreover, it will contribute to our next project of the home healthcare guideline for HF patients in the health care system of Iran. Identifying the training needs of caregivers within the home health care services has an important role in the designing of education strategies in policy making programs at the level of the Ministry of Health or planning at lower levels of the health network.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with a stronger sense of coherence (SOC) often show healthier behaviors. As parents, especially mothers, are behavioral role models for their children, this study aimed to explore the role of the mothers' SOC in prediction of the risk of dental caries in a sample of children aged 11-12 years old.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with 173 mother-child pairs enrolled by multi-stage sampling from four public schools in Torbat-e-Heydarieh, Iran. The data were obtained, using a demographic-health information sheet and the SOC-13 scale. Dental examinations of children were performed using the decay, missing and filled teeth index for primary (dmft) and permanent teeth (DMFT). Poisson regression analyses estimated the role of the mothers' SOC in predicting the relative risk (RR) of children's dental caries.

RESULTS: Mean dmft and DMFT were 3.4 ± 3.1 and 2.7 ± 2.9 respectively (medium severity). After controlling for demographic and health variables in regression models, greater maternal SOC indicated a protective effect against dental caries in primary (RR: 0.96; 95% CI:0.96-0-97) and permanent teeth (RR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.95-0.97) of their children.

CONCLUSIONS: With greater maternal SOC, the risk of children's dental caries decreased. Whilst this relationship was not as strong as in previous studies in other countries, it can be a platform for further research and perhaps planning to identify children who are at a greater risk of dental caries before starting dental examinations in schools.

PURPOSE: This study was aimed at exploring the type and role of relationships between sexual function, sense of coherence (SOC), and well-being in a sample of Iranian breast cancer survivors.

METHODS: In this cross-sectional study with correlational design, data were collected from 181 survivors by consecutive sampling. They answered demographic and clinical information sheet, the SOC scale, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), and the Health Index (HI). The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.

RESULTS: The mean age of survivors was 47.04 ± 9.05 years. Most survivors were menopausal (51.9%) and underwent mastectomy (69.1%), and 12 months or more had passed since their treatment ended (71.2%). Sexual function was positively correlated with the level of SOC (r = 0.20) and the HI (r = 0.33). Also, there was a positive correlation between the level of SOC and the HI (r = 0.51). The results of logistic regression analyses showed the protective role of the SOC (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92-0.97) and the HI (OR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.79-0.96) for women's sexual function. According to these results, the mediating role of the SOC was assessed between the variables of the HI and the FSFI. The SOC revealed a complete mediating effect in this relationship.

CONCLUSIONS: The mediator role of the SOC between survivors' well-being and their sexual function helps nurses and clinicians to understand how the SOC can be used as a screening test to detect survivors who are at risk of sexual problems and to plan for salutogenic interventions.