Fatemeh Pashazadeh Kan; Zahra Hoseinipalangi; Samira Raoofi; Sima Rafiei; Hossein Hosseinifard; Maryam Masoumi; Hooman Koohestan; Afsaneh Dehnad; Sepideh Aghalou; Faranak Rokhtabnak; Azadeh Laali; Saba Ahmadi; Niloofar Ahmadi; Ahmad Ghashghaee
Abstract
Background: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is known as one of the most chronic conditions, having significant effects on physical and mental health status in infected individuals, and thus reducing their quality of life (QoL).Methods: I n t ...
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Background: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is known as one of the most chronic conditions, having significant effects on physical and mental health status in infected individuals, and thus reducing their quality of life (QoL).Methods: I n t his s ystematic r eview, t he d ata w ere i nitially collected from the databases of Scopus, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar from January 2000 to September 2020 based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study. The data were then analyzed by using the R software.Results: A total number of 25 research articles addressing the QoL in 5,952 HIV/AIDS patients were evaluated using three valid questionnaires, including the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey (MOS-HIV), the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life in HIV-Infected Persons (WHOQoL-HIV). Based on the MOS-HIV, the SF-36, and the WHOQoL-HIV questionnaires, the QoL mean scores in HIV/AIDS patients were 51.80 (49.4- 54.57), 54.81 (52.68-56.93), and 13.62 (11.97-15.26), respectively. In addition, the physical items gained a higher mean score than the mental ones in all the questionnaires. The QoL showed higher mean scores in the SF-36 and the WHOQoL-HIV questionnaires in Africa, except for the MOS-HIV questionnaire, which had the highest mean score in North America.Conclusion: Overall, the QoL in HIV/AIDS patients in this study was acceptable, even though further changes and studies are still required to support the findings.
Fatemeh Pashazadeh Kan; Niloofar Ahmadi; Sima Rafiei; Maryam Masoumi; Omid Elahifar; Maryam Doustmehraban; Hajar Eshtod; Zahra Hosseinipalangi; Mobina Navidriahy; Zahra Nejatifar; Negin Gholamali; Farnaz Zarabi; Fatemeh Seyghalani Talab; Shayeste MohamadRahimi; Rana Soheylirad; Batool Sadat Hoseini; Mona Rajabi; Ahmad Ghashghaee
Abstract
Background: Strict adherence to safety precautions and, most importantly, social distancing and isolation of people infected with the Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) virus have considerably affected the daily life activities of individuals and overshadowed their routine lifestyle. We conducted a systematic ...
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Background: Strict adherence to safety precautions and, most importantly, social distancing and isolation of people infected with the Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) virus have considerably affected the daily life activities of individuals and overshadowed their routine lifestyle. We conducted a systematic review to provide evidence-based information for clinicians, health policymakers, and social workers in developing useful interventions to effectively mitigate the adverse impacts of the pandemic on people’s life and health condition.Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, studies assessing quality of life (QOL) among the population during the COVID-19 pandemic were searched in four main databases and Google Scholar from the onset of the epidemic to May 2021 with Mesh terms of quality of life and Covid-19.Results: We included 23058 people who participated in 33 studies; the total quality of life score was estimated at 59.45 (95% CI, 56.33-62.58). Based on the analysis, for each year added to participants’ age, their quality of life score was reduced by -0.3%. Furthermore, a significant association between gender and QOL was affirmed, indicating a more favorable condition among men. The highest score of QOL was reported in AMRO at 66.77 (95% CI, 60.55-73) and WPRO at 64.79 (95% CI, 59.30-70.28), respectively, while SEARO with 47.95 (95% CI, 47.67-48.23) got the lowest score.Conclusion: Our review robustly recommends the necessity for community health promotion programs to be implemented in vulnerable community segments and adds corresponding knowledge to the existing literature about the status of quality of life in people with different socio-demographic characteristics living in different regions worldwide.
Sanaz Dastmanesh; Leila Ghahremani; Mohammad Hossein Kaveh; Mohammad Fararouei
Abstract
Background: Increased proportion of the retired population and the occurrence of retirement syndrome may significantly affect the Quality of life (QoL) and the well-being of older people. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the effect of training intervention on retirement syndrome ...
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Background: Increased proportion of the retired population and the occurrence of retirement syndrome may significantly affect the Quality of life (QoL) and the well-being of older people. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the effect of training intervention on retirement syndrome and QoL among retired older men in Safashahr, Iran, in 2019.
Methods: Using a randomized block design, the quasi-experimental study was conducted on 140 retired men with retirement syndrome. The subjects’ average age was 61.24±1.36 years. The older people were selected by purposive sampling and then randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=70) and a control group (n=70). The intervention comprised five 90-minute sessions of the practical training course of exercises for over 45 days in the experimental group. The study outcomes, such as retirement syndrome and QoL, were measured before, immediately after, and two months after the intervention. The study data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 25, independent sample t-tests, Chi-square tests, and repeated measure ANOVA. The significance level was set at 0.05.
Results: Based on the average score of retirement syndrome (< 0.001) and its subscales, such as helplessness and failure (HF) (p< 0.001), feeling of old and idle (FOI) (<0.001), feeling of confusion and conflict (FCC) (p<0.001), and feeling of effort and a new direction (FED) (p=0.025); an average score of QoL (p<0.001) and all its subscales, including physical activities (p<0.001), physical health (p<0.001), emotional problems (p<0.001), vitality (p< 0.001), mental health (p<0.001), general health perceptions (<0.001), except for physical pain (0.347) and social performance (0.41), there is a significant difference between the two experimental and control groups, before and after the intervention.
Conclusion: The findings may provide valuable implications for the development of exercises among the elderly and further studies to evaluate the long-term effects of such interventions among the elderly.
Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi; Ikeola A. Adeoye; Olufunmilayo I. Fawole
Abstract
Background: In Nigeria, over 600,000 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) as of 2020. Defaulters after commencing ART range between 10-36%. This study identified the factors associated with default from ART and quality of life among PLWHA. Methods: An unmatched case-control ...
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Background: In Nigeria, over 600,000 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) as of 2020. Defaulters after commencing ART range between 10-36%. This study identified the factors associated with default from ART and quality of life among PLWHA. Methods: An unmatched case-control study was conducted among 102 cases and 204 controls at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. Cases were adults on ART who had defaulted from care and missed at least two consecutive appointments in the last year, while controls were adults on ART who had been consistent with clinic attendance for at least one year. Chi-square test, t-test, and binary logistic regressions were used to identify the predictors of default at a 95% confidence interval. Results:Respondent’s mean age was 41.4±10.3 years while 61.4% of the respondents were females. ART role in reducing viral load was described correctly by 66 (64.7%) cases and 155 (76.0%) controls (p=0.04). The quality of life in the physical domain was 15.3± 3.4 among cases and 16.6±3.0 among controls (p=0.001). Defaulting from treatment was associated with non-disclosure of status to a partner (AOR: 2.8; CI 95%: 1.6-4.9), receiving fewer counseling sessions (AOR: 2.3; CI 95%: 1.3-4.2), poor perception of the quality of health care services (AOR: 2.6; CI 95%: 1.4-4.7), suboptimal quality of life (AOR: 2.7; CI 95%: 1.5- 4.8) and the richer wealth index (AOR: 1.8; CI 95%: 1.01-3.18). Conclusion: Inclusion of discussions on disclosure during counseling sessions was recommended to reduce default.
Seyyed Mansour Kashfi; Tayebeh Rakhshani; Shahla Farhoodi; Zahra Motlagh; Raziyeh Bagherzadeh; Noushin Kohan
Abstract
Background: As a physiological event, menopause is an important milestone in women's lives. Numerous studies have shown the negative impact of this stage of women's lives on their quality of life.The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of education about physical activity via social networks ...
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Background: As a physiological event, menopause is an important milestone in women's lives. Numerous studies have shown the negative impact of this stage of women's lives on their quality of life.The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of education about physical activity via social networks on the quality of life of menopausal women. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted at Khormoj, Southwest of Iran, in 2018 on 54 menopausal women (27 experimental group (EG) and 27 control group (CG)). For the EG, a WhatsApp group was created and, every week, three educational written messages, clips, or pamphlets about physical activity and its importance during menopause were sent for 10 weeks. The study outcome (quality of life) was measured via Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL) at the onset and one month after the intervention. Data were analyzed through SPSS 19, using independent and paired T-tests. Results: One month post-intervention, there was a significant difference between the EG and CG groups in the total quality of life, and vasomotor, physical and sexual dimensions compared to the CG group (p <0.05). Between the baseline and one month post-intervention, a greater increase in quality of life was observed in the EG than in the CG, giving a mean difference of -10.52 (p <0.0001). Conclusion: The present study showed that holding an educational program using the WhatsApp social network enhanced quality of life of menopausal women. Introduction Throughout their lives, women experience several stages including puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. Reaching any of these stages and passing through them will encounter women with situations and sometimes crises that may affect different aspects of their lives (1). Meanwhile, as a physiological event, menopause is an important milestone in women's lives; according to the definition by the World Health Organization, it refers to the cessation of menstruation for 12 months, following the loss of ovarian follicular activity (2). Various studies carried out in Iran and in the world have shown that the age of menopause could potentially depend on a variety of factors including race, genetic characteristics, socioeconomic status, fertility status, physical activity, nutrition, sexual behaviors, and diseases (3). The mean age of menopause has been estimated 50-52 years. In Iran, the mean age of menopause is 51 years (4-6). Following the incidence of menopause, changes in the hormonal, physical and metabolic processes of the woman’s body would lead to many physical, psychological, and social disorders including hot flash, sweating, palpitation, sleep disorder, irritability, lethargy, depression, amnesia, decreased eroticism, painful intercourse, and urinary symptoms (7-10). Numerous studies have shown the negative impact of this stage of women's lives on their quality of life. The results of previous studies indicated that menopause women were 3.5 times more likely to be at risk of mental disorders. They were also 5.7 and 3.2 times more likely to be at risk of physical impairment and sexual dysfunction, respectively. According to these studies, menopause could reduce the quality of a person's life regardless of the factors such as age and other demographic variables (11-14). Therefore, it seems important and inevitable to find some ways to prevent the minimization of the quality of life and to lower the symptoms and complications in menopause women to the possible extent. It seems that using non-medical methods, such as changing and improving lifestyle, can be useful for minimization of the symptoms and complications of this critical period. One of the appropriate health behaviors is to have mobility and do regular physical activities. Regular physical activity might increase the individual's ability to do his/her tasks and to feel healthy, empowered, and self-confident (15, 16). Doing regular physical activity would reduce blood glucose and blood pressure, stimulate the increase of catecholamins as well as adrenaline and noradrenaline, increase muscle strength, increase aerobic and cardiovascular endurance, and increase balance and coordination (17,18). Social networking is built on the idea of the way should people know and interact with each other. It gives people the power to share making the world more open and connected [19]. Nowadays, social networking has a vital influence on our live as it helps a lot in every aspect of life such as political,, Economic, and educational field s. Flexibility, convenience and accessibility have a vital influence on the use of social networking in education (20). The phenomenon of social media has become part of Internet culture, and published literature describing social media interventions for chronic disease management are becoming more prevalent (21). In recent years, instant messaging applications, which can be identified as mobile-based social networks, have started to become popular. Though there are a lot of instant messaging applications that can operate on mobile devices, it is seen that WhatsApp application is one of the most favored mobile-based applications (22). Ebrahimi et al. in 2017 indicated a positive role for using WhatsApp software to promote lifestyle, thus improving the level of health of women under study (23). Also, Estaji et al. conducted a study in 2016 using cellular text messaging that led to self-care promotion in hemodialysis patients under study(24). Mirghafurvand et al. conducted a study entitled “the influence of aerobic exercise program on the quality of life of pre-menopause and menopause women: a randomized, controlled clinical trial” and found that moderate aerobic exercise was effective in improving the quality of life of pre-menopause and menopause women (25). Given the influence of menopause on women's quality of life and the fact that itis considered as an indicator for assessment of health status, the present research was conducted to examine the effectiveness of education about physical activity via WhatsApp on the quality of life of menopausal women.
Mohammad Hossein Kaveh; Somayeh Zare; Leila Ghahremani; Mahin Nazari
Abstract
Background: Diabetes control is highly self-care and emotional complications and mental stress play an important role in controlling blood sugar in diabetes, and these factors affect the quality of life of people with diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine the predicting role of personal resources ...
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Background: Diabetes control is highly self-care and emotional complications and mental stress play an important role in controlling blood sugar in diabetes, and these factors affect the quality of life of people with diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine the predicting role of personal resources for quality of life in diabetic patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done in 2017. The population of this study was all diabetic patients referred to Shahid Motahari, Imam Reza (AS) and Nader Kazemi clinics in Shiraz in 1396. A total of 198 patients were selected by simple random sampling method. Quality of life, optimism, self-efficacy of diabetic and resiliency questionnaires were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 19 using Pearson correlation and multivariate regression. Results: Findings showed that resiliency, self-efficacy and optimism had a positive and significant relationship with the quality of life of patients with diabetes. In a prediction model, self-efficacy and resiliency could predict 19% of the quality of life changes in patients with type 2 diabetes (p <0.05). The findings of this study showed that self-efficacy and resilience variables predicted the quality of life of patients, but optimism had no predictive power. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that increased self-efficacy and resiliency lead to increased quality of life in diabetic patients. This may help the patients to cope with problems and excitement and is effective in planning interventions for diabetics.
Haleh Ghaem; Atousa Fakherpour; Mahmoud Hajipour; Mohsen Shafiee
Volume 4, Issue 3 , July 2016, , Pages 129-136
Abstract
Background: Today, the quality of life (QoL) studies have an important role in public health care, especially among the old adults suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes. Diabetes and its complications can widely affect various aspects of QoL. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess diabetic ...
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Background: Today, the quality of life (QoL) studies have an important role in public health care, especially among the old adults suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes. Diabetes and its complications can widely affect various aspects of QoL. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess diabetic patients’ QoL and identify the factors that affect it. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 593 randomly selected diabetic patients aged 60 years and above who were admitted in 13 diabetes clinics in Shiraz, Iran, in 2014. Diabetes Quality of Life-Brief Clinical Inventory (DQOL-BCI) questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life in these patients. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed, using Stata software, version 12, to identify the predictors of DQoL. Results: The participants’ mean DQoL score was 41.8±6.2 with a mean age of 66.2±6.0 years. Multivariate linear regression analyses revealed that FBS level (115-180 mg/dL: P=0.05; above 180 mg/dL: P=0.02) and duration of diabetes (4-9 years: P=0.06; above 9 years: P=0.002) were two important clinical predictors of DQoL. Conclusion: This study demonstrated a relationship between clinical and socio-demographic factors and diabetic patients’ QoL. Considering these related variables could lead to effective control of diabetes complications and improvement of the patients’ QoL.
Ali Kamkar; Mahmoud Golzary; Noor Ali Farrokhi; Shapur Aghaee; Mohammad Fararouei
Volume 3, Issue 2 , April 2015, , Pages 76-82
Abstract
Backgrounds: Anxiety and depression are found to be the major contributors to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The present study aimed to measure the effect of a specifically designed cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) program on the severity of the symptoms and quality of life of patients with chronic ...
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Backgrounds: Anxiety and depression are found to be the major contributors to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The present study aimed to measure the effect of a specifically designed cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) program on the severity of the symptoms and quality of life of patients with chronic IBS, and also define whether anxiety and depression in patients with IBS at baseline affect their response to CBT. Methods: The participants were randomly allocated to conventional treatment only (n=25, control) or CBT plus conventional treatment (n=25, intervention) group. The intervention group attended an eight session group stress management training course conducted by a psychologist in a meeting room at a gastrointestinal clinic at Yasuj University of Medical Sciences. Pre- and post-interventions and 3-month follow-up visits were scheduled and conducted by an experienced healthcare worker to measure the primary outcomes and levels of depression and anxiety in the patients. The study was conducted on 2011. Results: The Raw Group Difference (RGD) and Standardised Mean Differences (SMD) for the post-treatment scores of the intervention group, when compared with those of the control group, indicated a considerable improvement in the severity of IBS symptoms (RGD=−10.48, SMD=−1.23), anxiety (RGD=−9.90, SMD=−0.725), d epression ( RGD=−9.57, SMD=−0.785) a nd patient’s quality of life (MD=−16.81, SMD=−0.469). No association (and interaction with CBT) was found between anxiety/depression at baseline and post-treatment or follow-up scores of the outcomes. Conclusion: Although CBT improved anxiety, depression, severity of IBS and quality of life of patients with IBS, its effect was independent of the initial level of anxiety and depression of the patients. Trial registration number: IRCT201102195868N1
