Hossein Rafiei

Comparison Between Effects of Home Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs Versus Usual Care on the Patients' Health Related Quality of Life After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft

Background & Aim: To compare home-based cardiac rehabilitation with usual care on the patients’ Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) after coronary artery bypass graft in patients with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Methods: In a randomized controlled clinical conducted from March 2013 to June 2013, 110 patients with CABG surgery were randomly assigned into two groups. While patients in group I, were received usual care and patients in group II, in addition to the usual care were received home-based cardiac rehabilitation programs. The 27-item MacNew Heart Disease HRQoL questionnaire was used to evaluate the patient’s HRQoL under and over 2 months after intervention. Results: At the time of 0, mean score of HRQoL was 67.86±7.5 and 64.76±8.4 in patients in group I and group II, respectively (P> 0.05). Although mean score of HRQoL in all patients in both groups increased two month after intervention, but this increase in patients in group II were higher than patients in group I (154.93±4.6 vs 134.20±8.2). This difference were statistically significant (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Quality of Life (QoL) can be considered as a quality indicator of health care systems. Results of present study showed that home-based cardiac rehabilitation program improved patients HRQoL after CABG surgery.

Sexual Self-concept and Its Relationship to Depression, Stress and Anxiety in Postmenopausal Women

Objectives Women in menopause have the more mood swings than before menopause. At the same time seem to sexual self-concept and sexual aspects of self-knowledge has a great impact on their mental health. This study aimed to investigate the sexual self-concept and its relationship to depression, stress and anxiety in postmenopausal womens. Methods In this descriptive correlation research, 300 of postmenopausal women referred to healthcare and medical treatment centers in Abadeh city were selected by convenience sampling method. The information in this study was collected by using questionnaires of multidimensional sexual self-concept and depression anxiety stress scale 21 (DASS-21). For data analysis, SPSS/17 software was used. Results The results showed the mean score positive sexual self-concept was 41.03 ± 8.66 and the average score of negative sexual self in womens was 110.32 ± 43.05. As well as scores of depression, stress, and anxiety, 35.67%, 32.33% and 37.67% respectively were in severe level. Positive and negative sexual self-concept scores with scores of stress, anxiety, and depression, of post-menopausal women in the confidence of 0.01, is significantly correlated (P < 0.05). Conclusions Being stress, anxiety, and depression in severe level and also a significant correlation between increased stress, anxiety and depression with negative and weak self-concept of womens, it is necessary to devote more careful attention to mental health issues of womens and have appropriate interventions.

Nursing Student Attitudes toward Euthanasia: A Cross-Sectional Study:

Background: Euthanasia is among the most common and controversial end-of-life care issues. Examining the attitudes of nursing students to this issue is important because they may well encounter these issues during the course of their clinical placements. Research aims: This study aims to examine the attitudes of a sample of Iranian nursing students towards euthanasia. Research design: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Participants and research context: Using convenience sampling, 382 Muslim nursing students were enrolled in this study. Methods: Data were collected using a demographic variables checklist and a self-administered questionnaire that included a definition of euthanasia and 11 closed questions that sought to record participants’ level of agreement with euthanasia based on a Likert scale. Ethical consideration: Consent for participation was implicit, indicated by the participants having returned the completed questionnaires. Participants were assured that their data would remain anonymous, be kept confidential and be stored safely. Findings: Of the 382 participants, 61.5% were female, and the remainder were male. The mean age was 62.6 ± 14.1 years (range: 32–91 years). In total, 34.2%, 41.6% and 24% of students reported a negative, neutral and positive attitude to euthanasia, respectively. Most students with clinical experience, and 38.5% of students with no clinical experience, indicated their agreement with active euthanasia. Discussion: There are a number of misconceptions among Iranian Muslim nursing students regarding the definition of euthanasia. Nonetheless, most students exhibit positive attitudes to euthanasia consistent with their clinical experiences. Conclusion: It is recommended to explore the factors that induced nursing students’ tendency to euthanasia.

The Use of Oxygen in the Treatment of Pressure Ulcers

Many vital processes of wound healing are oxygen-dependent, and therefore oxygen-based therapeutic strategies for damaged tissues should be based on an understanding of the area with anoxia, hypoxia, and normoxia. The authors discuss hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) for wound healing and its advantages, topical oxygen and topical hyperbaric oxygen (THBO), and transdermal continuous oxygen therapy (TCOT). The use of oxygen in the treatment of different chronic ulcers such as diabetic foot ulcers is very effective. Its application for patients with pressure ulcers requires further studies, although all the few studies on the effect of oxygen in the treatment of pressure ulcers indicated that this method will accelerate the healing process of pressure ulcers.