Background and Objectives: Despite the importance of pap smear in reducing the incidence of cervical cancer and its death, this cancer is still one of the leading causes of death among women around the world. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to determine the effect of an educational program based on the protection motivation theory on Pap smear screening behavior. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 200 women referring to Fasa health centers, Fasa, Iran. The participants were randomized into experimental and control groups (n=100 per group). The data collection tool, which consisted of demographic data and protection motivation theory constructs, was completed by both groups before and 2 months after the intervention. For the experimental group, the educational program was implemented during 4 sessions using group discussions and educational pamphlets. To analyze the data, chi-square test, independent t-test, and paired t-test were run in SPSS, version 22. Results: After the intervention, the mean scores of protection motivation theory constructs significantly increased in the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.001). However, no significant difference was noted between the two groups regarding the response efficacy construct at the post-intervention stage (P=0.552). In addition, after the intervention, the rate of conducting Pap smear test significantly incremented in the experimental group (58%).
Conclusions:The study results revealed the effectiveness of the educational intervention based on protection motivation theory in promoting Pap smear screening behavior. Therefore, we recommend designing educational interventions based on this theory to promote public health, especially in women.
The individual's perception of health, when health is understood to include many dimensions of life, is considered the basis for any improvement in health status. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the Perceived Wellness Scale (PWS) by applying it to employees of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 180 staff members of the university selected by convenience sampling. The study instrument was a Persian version of the PWS prepared through a translation and back-translation process. The reliability and validity of the instrument were assessed by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. A total of 180 employees participated in the study. The mean age of the participants was 32.29 years (SD = 7.39) and 78.1% of the participants were women. The results showed that the Persian version of the PWS is acceptable. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.87 for the whole scale, ranging from 0.68 to 0.85 on different dimensions of the scale. The results of split-half reliability and CFA indicated that the reliability and validity of the PWS are acceptable. The PWS is therefore an effective tool for evaluating the different dimensions of perceived wellness in the Iranian population.
Maintaining a health-promoting lifestyle is defined as controlling certain behaviors and selecting appropriate behaviors in the daily life for one's own health (1). Healthpromotion behavior is a multifaceted model of perception, self-initiated action or practice (2). It is a response to World Health Organization's (WHO's) goal of "health for all" (3). According to Pender, health promoting lifestyle behaviors include nutrition, exercise, stress management, health responsibility, spiritual improvement, and interpersonal relations (4). During pregnancy, health-promoting lifestyle leads to a reduction in risk factors and an improvement of infant's health (3). Nowadays, the mortality of pregnant women is one of the key indices of health in all countries. This has both direct and indirect impacts on pregnancy outcomes. The health of pregnant women-as a vulnerable groupis of particular importance in the healthcare systems (5). In fact, a large number of physiological, psychological, and social changes occur during pregnancy. The mother's adjustment to these changes is highly important (6). Rubin stated that it is necessary for pregnant women to acquire 4 maternal duties, the most important of which is seeking for safety. Therefore, the following health-promoting behaviors are essential for giving birth to a healthy infant (2). Although a great body of evidence exists in respect of the benefits of health promoting behaviors, getting people to adopt a healthy lifestyle is challenging (7). Unfortunately, many women are against the application of healthy behaviors during pregnancy. For example there is a decrease in the level of physical activity as pregnancy progresses (8). Physical activity on pregnancy has many positive effects on the health of the mother and foetus (9). These include better health-related quality of life (10), reduction of stress and depressive symptoms (11), less delivery pain, lower rate of cesarean delivery, lower risk of obesity, selfefficacy, and better body image (12). Overall, pregnant women faced the challenge of continuing physical activity during pregnancy (13). Self-efficacy has been defined as an individual's perceived belief in having the ability to benefit from one's personal sources of motivation and organization and acts to reach a specific goal (14). Self-efficacy is a strong predictor of health behaviors, and also initiation and maintenance of exercise during pregnancy (13). Bandura indicated that theory of self-efficacy provides a convincing explanation
Objective: Self-awareness is the ability to accurately perceive the aspects of our personality, behavior, emotions, and motivations. It is the foundation of all kinds of emotional restraints. Moreover, the feeling of having control over everything is associated with improved mental health. Self-awareness skills are characterized as a set of coping and self-management skills that increase self-efficacy.
Methods:This semi-experimental randomized controlled study was conducted on 80 individuals divided into an intervention and a control group. All 80 subjects were selected from 150 eligible orphaned adolescents under the coverage of Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation. The educational intervention was conducted through five 120-minute sessions. simple random sampling and were divided into two groups using balanced block randomization The data were collected using selfawareness and self-efficacy questionnaires and then were analyzed by SPSS version 19.
Results:The results showed a significant difference between the 2 groups regarding self-efficacy and self-awareness scores before and then 1 and 6 weeks after the intervention (P<0.001). The intervention group's mean(SD) scores of self-awareness were 27.00(2.97), 34.1(2.09), and 34.55(2.04) in the pretest, first posttest (1 week after the intervention), and second posttest (6 weeks after the intervention), respectively. Also, the intervention group's mean(SD) scores of self-efficacy were 126. 00(19.56), 164.55(19.56), and 173.66(15.84) in the pretest, first posttest, and second posttest, respectively.
Conclusion:The findings of this study showed that self-awareness training directly increased selfawareness skills and self-efficacy. Thus, self-awareness skills training with painting approach is effective in promoting self-awareness and self-efficacy among adolescents.
Background and objective: Physical activity is an important behavior to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases. Providing the context for physical activity in the workplace in addition to promoting the employees' physical and mental health has significant economic benefits for organizations. We conducted the present study using a social marketing model to explain the determinants of a Workplace Health Promotion in promoting physical activity among employees of government organizations in Yasuj, Iran.Materials and methods: The present study was qualitative research with directed content analysis based on the social marketing model. Thirty-three employees of government organizations in Yasuj were included in the study using the purposive sampling method. The data collection method included semi-structured interviews and observation. Data analysis was performed manually and by the qualitative content analysis method. The implementation data were systematically sorted and analyzed and classified into five steps.Results: Organizational structure, organizational policies, and a supportive interpersonal climate were extracted and categorized as characteristics of workplace health promotion programs from participant interviews. In addition to participants' emphasis on receiving information from reputable sources, virtual communication networks such as WhatsApp and real communication networks such as physicians and specialists were their preferred media for education and information.Conclusion: Due to the complexity of workplace, diversity, and multiplicity of factors and determinants of physical activity, the findings of the present study will be a basis for designing an appropriate and effective intervention and organizational changes to promote physical activities among employees in the future.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.