Local cold therapy could be included in labour pain management.

Objectives: Women’s reproductive empowerment is an essential issue for good reproductive health which is affected by various socioeconomic and cultural factors. This study was designed to compare women’s reproductive empowerment in urban and rural areas. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical and correlational-type study, 810 women referring to health care centers in Sari were recruited through proportional cluster sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire on women’s reproductive empowerment including cultural, individual-family, social, and family planning domains. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests. Results: The mean (standard deviation) of women’s reproductive empowerment score was 91.46±13.14 (a 95% CIof 90.55-92.36) and no statistical difference was observed between the urban and rural women in this respect (P = 0.59). In addition, cultural and family planning domains obtained the highest 29.12 (5.80) and the lowest 17.55 (4.25) scores concerning reproductive empowerment, respectively. Therefore, women’s reproductive empowerment score was significantly correlated with the females’ employment status (P = 0.006) and their husbands’ levels of education (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Overall, the finding contributes to the discourse on women’s reproductive empowerment based on their residential area and thus adds to the limited literature on this issue in developing countries and Iran, in particular. Therefore, appropriate planning is required for women with various employment statuses and their spouses with different educational levels in order to improve their empowerment in terms of reproductive issues.

Background Over the past year, the occurrence of COVID-19 pandemic has challenged clinical education for health care students, due to the possibility of exposure to the virus and increased spread of the disease. Clinical training of midwifery students in gynecologic problems, based on the X (country) midwifery education curriculum, was also disrupted during this pandemic. Objectives This study was aimed at designing, implementing and evaluating a virtual clinical training protocol for midwifery internship in a Gynecology course. Design A semi-experimental study. Settings Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, X University of Medical Sciences, city, country. Participants Forty-seven midwifery interns in Gynecology course were recruited during two semesters in 2020. Methods Five steps based on the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) model were taken, which included 1) educational and skills needs assessment, 2) design, 3) development via focused group interviews and brainstorming with the presence of the midwifery department members in three sessions, 4) implementation including pretest and posttest, webinar, uploading the information of virtual patients, questions and correct answers, and 5) evaluation including knowledge assessment by a designed questionnaire and skills evaluation by the modified-Mini-CEX checklist. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and paired t -test. Results After training, a significant increase ( p < 0.001) was observed in scores of knowledge and interview skills, clinical judgment, consultation, efficiency, professionalism, clinical competence and total score of clinical skills. Conclusions Training for gynecological diseases through virtual clinic promoted knowledge and clinical skills of midwifery interns. To enhance education, a virtual clinic may be used in crisis situations and in combination with teaching under normal circumstances by strengthening the infrastructure and removing barriers.

No abstract

Objectives: Childhood obesity has reached alarming and concerning levels in many countries and poses an urgent and serious challenge to public health. In addition, gestational hypertension contributes to an elevated risk of obesity in children. The present study aimed at determining the relationship between exposure to preeclampsia and overweight/obesity occurrence in children aged 2-7 years old. Materials and Methods: This observational case-control study was designed to assess the relationship between exposure to preeclampsia and overweight/obesity in children aged 2-7 years old. The study population included 205 children within the age range of 2-7 years old referring to Sari Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic as the case group and 209 healthy children who were selected from health centers as the control group and were homogenous in terms of demographic variables. Finally, data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 24), and P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The present study was conducted on a total number of 414 children aged 2-7 years old with a mean and standard deviation of 4.41±1.76 years, including 226 females (54.6%) and 188 males (45.4%). The obtained results revealed that gestational hypertension increased the risk of obesity in children significantly (OR=1.88, 95% CI=1.46-2.68). Conclusions: Based on the results of the present research and similar studies, gestational hypertension is associated with overweight and obesity in children.