Mahsa Yarelahi; Nasim Pirzadeh; Mahin Nazari; Abdolrahim Asadollahi
Abstract
Background: Widowhood is an unwonted stage after married life accompanied by emotional and physical stress. Resilience plays an important role in coping with widowhood, but there is no appropriate instrument to help measure resilience among the Iranian population. Hence, the objective of the present ...
Read More
Background: Widowhood is an unwonted stage after married life accompanied by emotional and physical stress. Resilience plays an important role in coping with widowhood, but there is no appropriate instrument to help measure resilience among the Iranian population. Hence, the objective of the present study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the widowhood resilience scale (WRS, 25-Items).Methods: In a psychometric study, 352 Iranian widows were randomly selected; then, the WRS, Loneliness, general resilience, and demographic questionnaire were used to gather data. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was used to extract the factors using IBM-SPSS version 24 and AMOS version 24.Results: The mean ages of 352 participants were 65.7±9.8, and the highest frequency of education level was no formal schooling (42.6%). The construct validity of WRS based on Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the six subscales explained a total of 85.35 % of the variance. The convergent validity of the WRS 25-items was compared to Iranian versions of UCLA-Loneliness (0.71) and CD‐RISC (0.78) as well (P<0.01). The WRS scale demonstrated excellent reliability and Cronbach’s alpha obtained 0.94 for the entire scale (P<0.001). The optimal cut-off point that best differentiates between resilient and non-resilient widows was 55, with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 74.4%.Conclusion: Based on the results, the Persian version of the WRS is a valid and reliable tool that can be utilized to measure widows’ resilience. However, further investigations are suggested.
Leila Ghahremani; Fatemeh Maghsoudi; Abdolrahim Asadollahi
Abstract
Background: Aging and retirement are a passage to a new course of life for veterans. The role of army grandparents in relation with their adult children is important; therefore, it is necessary to study grandparent-adult children interactions during retirement. Unfortunately, there was no Iranian ...
Read More
Background: Aging and retirement are a passage to a new course of life for veterans. The role of army grandparents in relation with their adult children is important; therefore, it is necessary to study grandparent-adult children interactions during retirement. Unfortunately, there was no Iranian version of an instrument to measure this interaction. Hence, the study aimed to evaluate the Persian version of the Perceived Parenting Roles Inventory (PPRI-2019). The translation process was conducted based on WHO’s guidance of instruments translation and adaptation.
Methods: The research method was descriptive and had a psychometric type. A total of 251 grandparents were randomly selected from the Iranian Veterans Association. The PPRI and demographic questionnaire were used to gather data at the end of 2019. The scale structure was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Cronbach’s alpha assessed internal consistency and the optimal cut-off points were obtained by calculating the area under the curve (ROC). Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 26 and AMOS version 24. Results: The construct validity of PPRI based on CFA showed that the two subscales explained a total of 73.017 % of the variance. The PPRI scale demonstrated excellent reliability, and Cronbach’s alpha obtained 0.792 for the entire scale (p< 0.000). The optimal cut-off point of PPRI was 19.50, with a sensitivity of 100%, a 1-specificity of 0.127.
Conclusions: Based on the results, the Persian version of PPRI is a valid and reliable tool that other researchers can use to measure perceived parenting roles among other retirees. But further investigations are suggested.
Mahsa Yarelahi; Masoud Karimi; Ebrahim Nazarifar; Elham Rezaian; Maryam Ghaedi; Abdolrahim Asadollahi
Abstract
Background: The lack of knowledge about menopausal care in couples and inappropriate coping with menopause symptoms can reduce the couples' quality of the marital relationship. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the knowledge and ability of men to prevent menopause destructive effects on marital ...
Read More
Background: The lack of knowledge about menopausal care in couples and inappropriate coping with menopause symptoms can reduce the couples' quality of the marital relationship. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the knowledge and ability of men to prevent menopause destructive effects on marital relations and the well-being of the couples. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of men's menopausal care education on their marital satisfaction. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2019 among 80 men in Shiraz, Iran. The samples were randomly selected using cluster random sampling method; they were equally divided into control and intervention groups. Four training sessions were held for the intervention group. The data were collected using a questionnaire on the menopausal knowledge and the ENRICH-10 questionnaire at the beginning and two months after the intervention and analyzed using SPSS v. 25 and Amos v. 21. Results: Based on the results, at the beginning of the study, there was no significant difference in the mean score of the menopausal knowledge and marital satisfaction between the intervention and control groups (p <0.0001). However, men's menopausal knowledge and their marital satisfaction in the intervention group significantly increased. No significant increase was found in men's menopausal knowledge or their marital satisfaction in the control group. Conclusion: Education can increase the men's ability to cope with menopausal symptoms. Therefore, providing family health counseling services in health centers and family counseling is recommended.
Foruzan Tavan; Abdolrahim Asadollahi
Abstract
Background: Frailty syndrome involves a complex combination of the natural process of getting old with different medical problems. Different indexes have been designed for each physical, mental, and social dimensions of frailty. Fried’s five-item index of frailty syndrome checklist is one of the ...
Read More
Background: Frailty syndrome involves a complex combination of the natural process of getting old with different medical problems. Different indexes have been designed for each physical, mental, and social dimensions of frailty. Fried’s five-item index of frailty syndrome checklist is one of the most applicable scales to screen frailty. This study aimed to determine a psychometric index of frailty and the cut-off points for the Iranian elderly population. Methods: In a cross-sectional and psychpmetric study, 249 frail elderly people were selected among members of two Iranian Army Retirees Clubs in 2019. This was a cross-sectional-psychometric study which aimed at determining the psychometric index and cut-off points of a brief checklist of 5-item FSC among Iranian adults older than 60 years old and comparing this to prior results in different countries. Results: The data were analyzed by ANOVA, multi-variable regression, confirmatory, and exploratory factor analysis, and ROC analysis via SPSS 25 and AMOS 24. The validity of the study findings was determined by internal validity, high correlation of 5 questions, confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis of 3 subdomains with a clarity value of 0.87, and high goodness of fit index (GFI). Conclusion: The determined cut-off points were compatible with those of Fried’s prior study. The designed tools used in this study evaluated frailty syndrome of the Iranian elderly in elderly rehabilitation studies with high confidence. The application of the tool would provide caregivers and policymakers with additional information as to caring for this population.
Introduction
The world population has become older due to the decreasing mortality rate, increasing life expectancy, and enhanced healthcare technologies.(1) Worldwide, the elderly population is expected to increase from 9% to 16% during 35 years from 1995 to 2030. Regionally, the elderly population is expected to increase in Asia and Iran from 9.3% to 18.6% and from 5.17 to 6.5 % over the same period, respectively.(2) Increased chronic diseases and multi-morbidity in the elderly and the associated increased prevalence of inabilities are the main concern in the growth of the elderly population . Senescence syndromes are groups of prevalent characteristics among the elderly and, as such, are not considered a disease. These syndromes are a group of prevalent characteristics among the elderly, which are not considered a disease. Frailty syndrome involves a complex combination of the natural processes of getting old with different medical problems,(3)such as weakness, dullness, decreased energy, decreased physical activity, and unintentional weight loss (in more intense cases).(3)Frailty syndrome consists of physiological disorders in six different systems (hematic, inflammatory, hormonal, obesity, neuromuscular, and nutritional).(4) The brain, endocrine, musculoskeletal, and immune systems are mostly associated with frailty syndrome, which have been studied considerably.(4) The prevalence of frailty due to its wide definition and variety of measurement tools is estimated 19.6% in Latin America and the Caribbean (5), from 3.9 per cent in China to 26% and 51.4% in India and Cuba, respectively (6), 35.7% in Brazil (7), 10% in Japan (8), and in European countries from 7.7 per cent of the Swedish elderly to 15.6% Portuguese older adults (9). There are no national frailty data in the elderly population of Iran, bBut it can be assumed to be similar to developing countries like India and Brazil. Most of the tools developed to evaluate frailty have a frailty pre-diagnosis, enabling the authorities to identify people at high risk of frailty.(10, 11)
Frailty can be examined in both clinical and social contexts. The clinical view argues that frailty increases the risks of side effects, such as fall, hospitalization, inability, and death.(12) The social view identifies the groups in need of additional medical care services and at high risk of dependency.(12) Policymakers and providers of health services have realized that frailty could significantly affect people, caregivers, healthcare systems, and society.(11, 12) Furthermore, concerns have been raised regarding prevention and health management plans due to the effect of frailty on the healthcare of patients.(13) If frailty can be diagnosed, prevented, and treated by identifying its different reasons and factors, this can lead to the prevention or at least delay in the onset of frailty syndrome. As some recent studies have suggested, frailty sequences could be reversed by implementing specific practical plans and nutritional supplements (3, 14, 15). Therefore, identification of consequences relevant to frailty is highly vital, indicating the need for a tool to predict frailty challenges in Iran. These challenges can be screened, and definite cut-off points can be determined for Iranian frail patients. These actions help the healthcare policymakers in the country to systemize and optimize their decisions, just as many developed countries have done in recent years.(16) Fried’s five-item index of frailty syndrome checklist (5-Item FSC) is one of the most applicable scales to screen frailty.(16)
Psychometric properties and cut-off points of FSC differ from one country to another regarding their cultural, social, nutritional, and even phenotypical differences (17) compared to other indices. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the validity, reliability, and cut-off points of 5-item FSC for Iranian elderly.
Ebrahim Nazari Far; Mohammad Hossein Kaveh; Elham Rezaian; Mahsa Yarelahi; Abdolrahim Asadollahi
Abstract
Objective: Caregiving burden is defined as a specific level of pressure and problems expressed by caregiver or family, which involves a range of psychological, emotional, social and economic problems. Further, satisfaction is described as the level of the mental happiness, self-confidence and usefulness ...
Read More
Objective: Caregiving burden is defined as a specific level of pressure and problems expressed by caregiver or family, which involves a range of psychological, emotional, social and economic problems. Further, satisfaction is described as the level of the mental happiness, self-confidence and usefulness sensed by caregiver about his/her own caregiving behaviour. The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of caregiving satisfaction (SCR) and caregiving burden of grandchildren scales (BCR) among grandparent population by considering the lack of a Persian tool for their measurement. Method: This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 70 grandparents who were selected through convenience sampling among the individuals referred to the healthcare centres of five southern cities in Iran Shiraz, Sepidan, Fasa, Jahrom, and Borazjan from April to August, 2019. The questionnaires were filled out by individual interview with participants and the data were analysed through explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses and ROC curve, using SPSS 25 and Amos 21. Results: Two factors were extracted in each questionnaire (Regarding each questionnaire, happiness and responsibility in individual and social satisfaction in caregiving burden were extracted through explanatory factor analysis), representing 78.1 and 75.1% of total variance, respectively. The Cronbach's coefficients alpha related to these subscales were obtained as 0.709-0.859 by indicating an acceptable internal consistency. Conclusion: The Persian version of these questionnaires had appropriate validity and reliability required for measuring satisfaction and caregiving burden of grandchildren among Iranian grandparents and can be used in day care and healthcare centres.
Ogholgol Ghajari; Farzaneh Kasraie; Abdolrahim Asadollahi
Abstract
Background: COVID-19[1] is a new infectious disease that has been declared by WHO[2] as a public health emergency worldwide due to its rapid spread to China and then to other parts of the world. The present study was designed to evaluate the clinical manifestations of this disease in the elderly. ...
Read More
Background: COVID-19[1] is a new infectious disease that has been declared by WHO[2] as a public health emergency worldwide due to its rapid spread to China and then to other parts of the world. The present study was designed to evaluate the clinical manifestations of this disease in the elderly. Methods: We performed a systematic review on the database of the World Health Organization, CDC[3], PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and lancet. All of the articles published until March 15, 2020, have been extracted from the above articles in English on coronavirus infection, disease, virology, epidemiology, clinical features, treatment, and prevention of the disease. Of the 1376 articles, 5 were selected out of recently published articles focusing on the epidemiological information of the virus, pneumonia caused by new corona virus, and the effects of the disease on different age groups, especially the elderly, and the rest were excluded from the review. The mean age of the patients, the mean age of mortality and the underlying diseases were chosen as the criteria of data extraction. Findings: Based on the researchers' perceptions of the text of the articles, 342 cases were included in these 5 studies. The mean age of the patients was 58.4 and that of the diceased patients was 66.5. More than 50% of the total cases had one or more underlying diseases. Conclusion: Despite the involvement of various age groups in this infection, the virus is most likely to cause severe complications and fatalities in older people with underlying diseases.
Jeyran Ostovarfar; Maral Ostovarfar; Somayeh Zare; Leila Moradi; Elham Makiabadi; Abdolrahim Asadollahi
Abstract
Background: Continuous educational programs are one of the essential ways to promote human resources; inconsistency of the courses with individual and organizational needs may lead to organizational dissatisfaction, job performance reduction, and time and capital waste. The study aimed to evaluate the ...
Read More
Background: Continuous educational programs are one of the essential ways to promote human resources; inconsistency of the courses with individual and organizational needs may lead to organizational dissatisfaction, job performance reduction, and time and capital waste. The study aimed to evaluate the attitudes of the employees about in-service continuous educational programs; they participated in the above-mentioned programs in the continuous educational units from 2006 to 2017 in Ahwaz city, Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all the treatment and administrative employees in the hospital participated in the educational plans. Out of 548 employees, 225 were selected using the ratio-random sampling method in the late 2017. The study instrument was a validated questionnaire with 66 items and 5 scales of adaptation, efficient management, individual development, growth of attitudes, employees’ knowledge and skills, and managers’ support for implementing operational programs; its validity was measured using Cronbach’s Alpha (α=0.93). The collected data were analysed in SPSS V.23 using descriptive statistics, mean scores, SD, χ2 test, ANOVA, and t-test. Results: Based on the study findings, the participants maintained that management of continuing education courses was useful and beneficial, and there was a statistically significant difference between the main variables and the total score (ρ<0.001). The Eta square showed that literacy (ɳ2=0.224, R2=0.462) and gender (ɳ2=0.205, R2=0.345) had less efficiency, and occupation (ɳ2=.581, R2=.219) significantly affected continuous education programs (ρ<0.01). Conclusion: It is suggested that cognitive dimension and occupation should be considered in implementing continuous education programs. Additionally, educational content should be updated
