Background and Purpose: Absence from work, quitting job and turnover of nursing staff put a great burden on any health care system in terms of hiring, training and maintaining nurses. Studies suggest that those with higher job satisfaction are less likely to state being sick and indicate that there is a relationship between the nurses' job satisfaction and their tendency to quit or ask for a turn over. The study aims to determine the rate of absence from work and turnover among a group of nurses employed by a medical university in Tehran, Iran and to find any significant relationship between these factors and nurses' job satisfaction. Methods: 610 nurses with a master degree in nursing working at internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology wards, and intensive care unit (ICU) were enrolled. Data was gathered using the “Minnesota's Job Satisfaction Questionnaire”. Results: There were significant relationship between job satisfaction and 10 or more days of sick leave (ρ<0.047), times of having been reprimanded (ρ< 0.003), having been blamed due to choosing nursing as a career (ρ<0.031), the person who has blamed them (ρ<0.001), teamwork dividing method (ρ<0.001), spouse's job (ρ<0.05), and the reason for turnover (ρ<0.006). There was also a significant relationship between worklife quality and job satisfaction (ρ<0.000). Conclusion: Since there are significant relationships between some of the factors affecting job satisfaction and the rate of nurses' absences and turnovers, it is advised that the management pay substantial attention to improving these conditions in order to increase the efficacy of staff and therefore increase the patients' satisfaction and ensure the highest quality of service.

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Background and Purpose: Implementing the guidelines to prevent VAP has been shown to have a significant effect on reducing the incidence of VAP. Studies indicate that ICU staff have poor knowledge and low implementation rate of the standard preventive measures related to VAP. The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge of nurses in the intensive care unit in University hospitals of Sari. Methods: Nurses' knowledge was assessed using a questionnaire completed by 52 ICU nurses chosen through availability sampling. The questionnaire was adopted from similar studies and included 9 questions. Validity of the questionnaire was already verified by the experts. Test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was 0.92. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics by SPSS software version 16. Results: Regarding the assessment of nurses' knowledge, 34.6% of them answered correctly about oral route for endotracheal intubation; 78.8% answered correctly about the type of humidifier; and 80.8% chose the closed suction system as the correct answer. Using kinetic beds, endotracheal tubes with extra lumens for the drainage of subglottic secretions and semi-recumbent positioning were the correct options chosen by 90.4%, 65.4% and 82.2% of the participants. Respondents had the least knowledge about the frequency of ventilator circuit changes (17.3%), the frequency of humidifier changes (3.8%) and the frequency of changes in the suction system (13.5%). Conclusion: The average level of the nurses' knowledge about non-pharmacological preventive measures was 51.92% which was lower compared with the surveys in the other countries, highlighting the need for more educational programs in this field. It is important to ensure that nurses receive continuous training and are involved in updating guidelines for care and behavior.

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Background and Purpose: Physical activity may be classified as intense, moderate, and low. Despite their health-related benefits, Iranian women have a low rate of physical activity. Women face numerous obstacles and challenges for participating in physical activity programs, most notably are household chores and taking caring of children, long distance between home and workplace and the other places, lack of access to appropriate facilities, lack of support by others to play their social roles. The present study aims to assess attitudes women have about the obstacles of physical activity among the female population of Sari. Methods: In this study, 680 women referring to healthcare centers of Sari were evaluated. A 16-item questionnaire was designed to determine the personal, social and facility access obstacles. Data was codified and analyzed on SPSS software version 16. We used descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and Chi-square test to summarize the data and study the relationship between the variables. P-values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: In this study, most women were 18-29 years old and housewives. The body mass index was 25-29 for 31.9% of the cases and 30 or higher for 32.9%. The most frequently reported obstacles for physical activity were long distance between house and the other places such as workplace and marketplace (55.6%), menses (52.1%), fatigue caused by routine activities (49%), having several responsibilities at home (45.1%), and shortage of sport facilities nearby their residency as well as shortage of an appropriate space for physical activity (38.8%). We observed significant relationships between the obstacles of physical activity and its different types. Conclusion: Numerous obstacles prevent women from prioritizing and participating in physical activity. Interventional measures aim to improve physical activity in women that should address the obstacles.

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Background and Purpose: Epilepsy is a disease frequently seen among school children. Teachers may be distressed by children having seizures as they do not receive specific training about this condition during their education. Moreover, teachers can feel overwhelmed if they do not know how to handle the situation. After cerebral apoplexy, epilepsy is the second most common central nervous system disorder and the death rate is two to three times higher in children who have epilepsy than in those who do not. This research was conducted to determine teacher's knowledge level about epilepsy. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, elementary schools in 10 urban areas of Birjand City, Iran, were included and a cluster of 20 schools was selected. In order to evaluate the teachers' knowledge of epilepsy, we used a survey consisting of five demographic information questions, five questions concerning familiarity with the disease, and 22 questions about their knowledge of the condition. The survey was prepared by the researcher and its content validity was confirmed by 10 experts, in addition test-retest validity was verified. Then the responses were gathered and analyzed using SPSS software. Results: According to this research findings, the average level of teachers' knowledge was 13.9 out of 22. Overall, 70.9% of the teachers obtained an average level of 17.7% as a good level and 11.4% as a weak level of knowledge. Conclusion: This research showed that the majority of teachers had an average level of understanding of epilepsy. Therefore, according to the above results, teachers would benefit from having further education about this condition during their service as this would assist them to develop their level of knowledge and help them to support such children more effectively.

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Background and Purpose: The problematic reduction of civic engagement in local communities of Khuzestan province in the southwest of Iran has became a serious issue for research in social planning and policy making. Efforts have been made to study the risk factors as the deterrents to engaging in the society. Methods: this study aims to investigate the factors influencing civic engagement among elderly citizens, focusing on the role of the background variables and individual characteristics as the reducing or active factor. The community of study is 201 elderly citizens from the selected urban areas of Ahwaz city selected through cluster sampling method. The independent variables are gender, socioeconomic status, membership in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the duration of living in the city, the sense of satisfaction of urban services, traditionalism, and fatalism. Results: It was observed that some independent variables have no significant relationship with civic engagement of the elderly, though elders have fewer participating interactions in this study. Conclusion: Some proposals within the research itself were recognized as potential improvement and reinforcement energies to participation-based planning in the population, especially among women and the elderly. The growth of social networks and societal links, along with social trust revival seemed helpful.

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Background and Purpose: Preoperative fast is the essential part of preoperative care for those patients who are candidates for elective surgery. Fast prolongation results in side effects such as: sweating, irritability, decrease in blood sugar and restlessness. Despite the noticeable changes in fasting guidelines and their application in many countries, it seems that in Iran, these rules are not applicable very much. This research aim to detect the fasting time in patients as the candidates for elective surgery. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 124 patients as the candidates for elective surgery in teaching hospitals in Mashhad. Data have been gathered by a researchers-made questionnaire after confirming its validity and reliability by being presented in the operation rooms. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: The research findings indicate that 53.6 percent of the patients were female. The patients ranged 2-69 years old. Minimum fasting time was 3 hours and the maximum 96 h with the average of 12h. The maximum waiting time after being transferred to the operating rooms till the operation starting time was 4 h. Conclusion: The results denote the patients of different age groups endure long fasting period considerably affecting the illness process and surgery outcome. Some of the reasons could be attributed to the staff's lack of knowledge about the guidelines, not having the scheduled transfer for the operation rooms and the patients being afraid of anesthesia side effects like vomiting and nausea.

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Background and Purpose: One landmark of adolescence is the increasing value young people place on friendship and relationship with peers.The aim of this study was to determine adolescents and key informants' perceptions and experiences regarding to importance of peer groups. Methods: Sixty-seven female adolescents (12-19 years) and 11 key informants, recruited from urban and rural areas from Sari in the North of Iran using non-probability sampling, participated in eight focus group discussions and semi structured interviews. All tape-recorded data was fully transcribed and thematic analysis was done to identify key themes. Results: Qualitative content analysis demonstrated five original categories related to importance of peer group in adolescents health including:Acceptance in peer group, Support from friends, Providing the appropriate conditions for healthy relationships with the opposite sex, Positive patterns of friendship and Avoiding from unfavorablefriends. Conclusion: Peers can have either positive or negative effects on adolescent's health. To have the most positive impact on adolescent health, parents and community organizations must work together in a comprehensive approach.

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Background and Purpose: Ischemic Heart Diseases (IHD) is getting as the most common and the main causes of heart diseases and mortalities worldwide affecting the quality of life (QOL) of the patients. This study was conducted to determine the QOL for the patients with IHD referring to medical centers of Kashan in 2007. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on all patients (n =500) referring to the medical centers with definitive diagnosis of Myocardial Infarction (MI), having coronary artery disease, who have undergone percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries. QOL of the clients were measured respectively by short form-36 (SF-36) and Seattle angina questionnaire (SAQ) instruments and then scored as bad, medium, good, and very good based on the test scores. Demographic data and the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases were also collected using the questionnaire. The data was analyzed by Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests along with Pearson's correlation coefficient and Kendall's rho. Results: QOL based on the SF-36 and SAQ criteria were viewed with a mean of 112.5±24 and 59.8±9.14, respectively. Gender, older age, educational level, marital status, the number of children, residency location and having risk factor had influenced their life quality. Conclusions: Correlation of the results between the two tests of SAQ and SF-36 and correlation between QOL levels have been positive and meaningful. The study offers more attention and education to the patients undergoing PTCA surgeries, the aged ones, patients with other diseases, singles, villagers, illiterate and female ones.

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