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Volume 1, Issue 1 (2-2016)
Abstract

Background: Various studies have reported the prevalence of low back pain in specific populations very differently. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of low back pain and related factors among the referees to health centers in Dehloran, Iran. Material and methods: In this cross sectional study, two hundred and seventy three referees to health centers in Dehloran, who aged between 20 to 45 years old and were satisfied to be studied, were entered to the study after providing signed written consent form. The data were collected using the valid/reliable researcher -made questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire has been obtained by inserting the experts' views in the questionnaire and the reliability was measured through cronbach's alpha which was calculated as 78%. The data has been analyzed using SPSS16. Results: The lifetime prevalence of low back pain among the studied participants was 52.38%. There were significant relationship between low back pain and education level, residency location, hours per day working with computer and sedentary life style. (All p value was < 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed low back pain was prevalent among referees to health centers aged between 20 to 45 years old. Sedentary life style and much working with computer were related significant factors. Designing proper intervention to prevent low back pain among this target group is recommended.  

Volume 2, Issue 2 (Special for Virtual Conference of Health Education & Promotion - 2014)
Abstract

Aim: Injury from needle is one of the main ways of transmitting blood diseases in the medical staff. Prevention and reduction of such diseases' side effects have been emphasized by the Health Ministry. This study aimed to investigate factors influencing the behavior of the Elam city medical staff when working with sharps instruments. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, using a census method, all healthcare staff working in the health centers of Abdanan Dehloran city (total n=66) after providing written informed consent were enrolled. Data were gathered by a questionnaire. After verifying the validity and reliability, the data were collected, and analyzed using SPSS19 and descriptive statistics, Chi-square and t-test. Findings: 59% of the participants were male; 80% were married; 62% had academic educations, and 47% worked in the nursing and injection sections. The mean scores of knowledge and attitude of the participants were 3.1±1.38 and 1.7±4.1, respectively, and just 13.4% of the subjects had not reported control tests and injury events. Conclusion: Knowledge, attitudes and practices of the medical staff of injuries from sharp objects are not desirable. it seems that empowering the staff through theoretical and practical training is proper solution in this regard.
Hossein Kazemian, Hamid Heidari, Jalil Kardan Yamchi, Aref Shavalipour, Sobhan Ghafourian, Reza Mohebi, Hamidreza Houri, Nourkhoda Sadeghifard,
Volume 2, Issue 2 (4-2016)
Abstract

Background: Helicobacter pylori is the most common cause of chronic infection in the human stomach. The infection has universe prevalence in all age groups. Probably, this bacterium is the cause of most common chronic bacterial infection in human beings and infects approximately half of the world population. H. pylori produces urease, an enzyme that degrades the urea in the stomach’s mucous to ammonia resulting in biochemical reaction that leads to increase in pH of the stomach lumen. This allows pathogenic intestinal protozoa to take the opportunity to cross through stomach’s increased pH and cause disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between H. pylori infection and prevalence of parasitic infection in patients in Ilam. Materials and Methods: Following stool samples collection during 2013 in patients with abdominal pain in Ilam, Iran. H. pylori infection was investigated based on stool antigen analysis (HPSA) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method in patients who had recurrent abdominal pain. Stool specimens were examined using the direct examination and the spontaneous sedimentation method for detecting the trophozoite and cyst of parasites. Results: In this study, we found 65 patients with H. pylori infection. Out of these 65 patients, the percentage of patients with positive results for Giardia lamblia was 30.7% and for Entamoebahistolytica/dispar was 12.3%. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that H. pylori infection may provide favorable conditions for giardiasis infection; however, this presumption needs further studies with larger sample size.

Volume 2, Issue 4 (12-2017)
Abstract

Background:Knee osteoarthritis is a common disease that causes pain and impairment of normal performance. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of the three combined training methods on pain and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Methods and Materials:This study is a semi-experimental research, and it makes use of pretest and posttest methods in which 30 male patients were selected and randomly assigned into three groups, namely the experimental group 1, the experimental group 2 and the experimental group 3. The groups underwent an 8-week period of training. Pain severity and functions were measured via Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and function through Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) questionnaires before and after exercise. Data were analyzed using variance analysis (ANOVA) (P < 0.05).
Results: The ANOVA demonstrated a significant difference between groups about pain (F(2, 27) = 35.12, (P < 0.01) and function (F(2, 27) = 32.7, (P < 0.01)). Post hoc analysis revealed significant differences between experimental groups 1 and 2 (P < 0.05) and experimental groups 1 and 3 (P < 0.01) regarding pain and function, but there was no significant difference between experimental group 2 and 3 for pain and function (P > 0.05).
Conclusion:Following the intervention, three groups showed a reduction in pain and improvement in function. The rate of recovery in the first experimental group was higher than other groups, and that a new approach in the treatment of patients suffering from severe pains was introduced in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

Volume 4, Issue 2 (4-2016)
Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of healthy nutrition education on the body mass index (BMI) of health volunteers in Ilam Province, Iran.
Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, two cities of Ilam Province were randomly selected and their active health volunteers (n = 70) were randomly placed in two groups of experimental and control after providing written informed consent. Data were collected by using the valid (by a panel of experts) and reliable (by Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.92) questionnaire (developed by the researcher) and standard equipment and methods at two stages: before and six months after the intervention. The experimental group participated in a one-day training workshop with an emphasis on increasing the knowledge of participants in the field of obesity and its problems. Data were analyzed using SPSS19 and the statistical tests, Chi-square test and T-test.
Findings: The mean of BMI in the experimental group decreased significantly by 2.4 after intervention and reached to 25.1 ± 1.8, but there was no decrease in BMI mean in the control group. In the experimental group, the relationship between age and education level and weight loss was not significant, but the relationship between weight loss and having a BMI above 25 was significant.
Conclusion: Weight loss in the experimental group compared to the control group suggests the impact of the intervention of the education; however, its difference between the existed weight loss standards imply that the education for nutrition just for modifying BMI was not enough.

Volume 4, Issue 2 (4-2016)
Abstract

Aim: Oral health is among the important components of individual general health that affects the health of entire body. This study aims at investigating the effect of educational intervention on the primary school students' oral health.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 175 primary school students recruited randomly from different regions of Dehloran City during the school year of 2014-15. The testimonial was obtained after holding briefings for the parents. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire, which was administrated at baseline and 3 months after the intervention. The content validity was approved by the expert panel and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed by SPSS software 18, inferential statistical tests, and paired t-test. This study was supported by the HSR Council and the Ethics Committee of Ilam University of Medical Sciences.
Findings: The results indicated significant changes in the samples' knowledge (from 3.6±1.37 to 4.98± 1.57), attitude (from 28.17±5.7 to 30.98±6.35) and behavior (15.03 ±2.98 to 17.08 ±2.60) after the intervention.
Conclusion: The positive results of educational intervention indicate that the education through appropriate methods can improve students' behavior in the field of oral health. Therefore, it is suggested more emphasis on oral health education at school age.

Volume 6, Issue 4 (Fall 2018)
Abstract

Aims: Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are the main causes of death and have the first place among other diseases throughout the world. Studying the situation of risk factors for CVDs seems necessary in Iran at various periods. The aim of this study was to determine risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among the employees of Ilam University of Medical Sciences in order to design appropriate educational interventions.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, which was conducted in 2017, 294 employees of Ilam University of Medical Sciences participated after presenting written consent forms. To collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire was designed and applied after verifying the validity and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.8). Eventually, the data were analyzed, using SPSS 16 and appropriate statistical methods.
Findings: Generally, 46.3% of the participants had a history of CVDs, 21.8% had a history of death caused by these diseases in their family, and 69.4% had a history of death caused by CVD among their relatives; 72.4% of the participants did not exercise daily and the mean daily exercise of participants was 8.08±1.51 minutes. Totally, 41.5% of the participants were taking solid oil, 78.6% were high-fat dairy consumers, and 41.2% consumed red meat more than twice a week.
Conclusion: Performance of the participants in terms of physical activity and consuming fruits and vegetables, fish, red meat, and fatty foods is undesirable, indicating the unhealthy lifestyle of people and their exposure to CVDs.


Volume 7, Issue 1 (Winter 2022)
Abstract

Aim: Patient safety is one of the most important parameters of quality health care. The role of health care workers in providing safe care is essential, and their positive attitudes towards this issue will positively affect patient safety. This review aimed to investigate the attitudes of health care workers towards patient safety in Iran.
Method and Materials: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) guideline was used to conduct the present review. Data resources including SID, Magiran, Scopus, PubMed, ISC, Web of science, and Google Scholar were chosen to conduct the literature search both in Persian and English without any time limit until the end of January 2021. Inclusion criteria included all English or Persian language studies in which the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) was used to assess the attitude of Iranian health care workers towards patient safety.
Findings: In the primary search, 342 studies were obtained, finally 11 of which were reviewed. Among these, 10 studies had cross-sectional designs, and one study was a quasi-experimental research. Overall, 2162 health care workers were analyzed. The results of the present study showed that most health care workers in Iran had unfavorable attitudes towards patient safety. 
Conclusion: As upgrading health care workers’ attitudes seems necessary to improve patients’ safety, it is recommended that health organizations provide regular patients’ safety training, both at employment time and during service to the health care workers who are in direct and indirect contact with patients.


Volume 7, Issue 2 (Spring 2019)
Abstract

Aims: Shift work is an unusual work pattern compared to day work. It can have adverse effects on human life from various aspects. Effects of shift work on people depend on their job, organizational and social environment, personal traits, and shift work schedule characteristics. The present study aimed at determining the job burnout and problems of shift workers of a water & wastewater contracting company in Tehran.
Instruments & Methods: This is a cross sectional study conducted in a water and wastewater contracting company in Tehran in 2015. The subjects of the study were 89 males (51 shift workers and 38 daytime workers). The Survey of Shift workers (SOS) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questionnaires were used to assess the shift work-related problems and job burnout, respectively. Finally, the data were analyzed by R software and statistical tests.
Findings: The findings of this study did not show significant difference in the values of job burnout dimensions in both groups (shift workers and daytime workers). Job burnout scores for shift workers group showed that 27.3% in depersonalization and 19.5% in personal accomplishment dimensions were in severe problems category. According to the independent samples t-test, there was a significant difference in sleep hours in both groups (p<0.05). Also, 5.8% of the shift workers and 23.6% of the daytime workers had cardiovascular disorders.
Conclusion: In this study, most of the shift workers were satisfied with their shift work system. It seems that more surveys in this area for the future studies is necessary.
 

Zeinab Tabanejad, Sorena Darvish, Zeinab Borjian Boroujeni, Seyed Saeed Asadi, Morteza Mesri, Omid Raiesi, Muhammad Ebrahim Getso, Mahdi Zareei,
Volume 7, Issue 2 (Spring 2021)
Abstract

Backgrounds: A novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now spread to all countries of the world, including Iran. Although anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may be identified in patients using immunological methods with sufficient sensitivity and specificity, the conclusive diagnosis of the disease is made using the molecular RT-PCR method. A population-based seroepidemiological survey was conducted to quantify the proportion of the exposed population with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and evaluate whether the antibodies are a marker of total or partial immunity compared to the population that remains susceptible to the virus.
Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the seroprevalence of COVID-19 in Valiasr, Sajad, and Ghaem hospitals in Tehran, the capital of Iran, from April to the end of October 2020. Clotted and heparinized blood specimens (2mL) were collected from the patients. The serum and plasma were separated and stored at −80 °C until use. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies were examined in the serum samples of 1375 in-patients admitted to the hospitals using ELISA kits. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software Ver.22.0 by employing statistical tests such as Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests. A p-value <.05 was considered as significant.
Findings: In total, 1375 participants were enrolled in this study, and SARS‐CoV‐2 antibodies were detected in 291 patients using IgM‐IgG antibody assay. Among the seropositive patients studied, 187 were male (64.3%), and 104 were female (35.7%) (p<.05). The mean age of the patients was 49±8.4 years; the majority of whom (27%) were in the age group of 31-40 years. Also, the lowest frequency of infected cases was related to the age group of 1-10 years (p <.05). The seroprevalence of SARS‐CoV‐2 IgM or IgG antibodies was determined to be 21.2%. Diabetes mellitus was the most common underlying disease among SARS‐CoV‐2 patients [p=.05; Odd Ratio=1.61(0.90-2.91)].
Conclusion: The use of conventional serological assays, such as the enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA), for detecting specific IgM and IgG antibodies in SARS‐CoV‐2 patients has a high-throughput advantage while minimizing false-negative results obtained using the RT-PCR method. In this study, the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was determined to be 21%. Control of diabetes, among other influential factors, plays an important role in the management and control of COVID-19.
Sanaz Mami, Saeedeh Khaleghnezhad, Masoud Mami, Masoud Dadashi, Mehdi Goudarzi, Hossein Ghahremanpour, Bahareh Hajikhani,
Volume 8, Issue 4 (fall 2022)
Abstract

Backgrounds: Helicobacter pylori infections vary in severity and virulence in different populations for various reasons. There are different H. pylori strains with varying degrees of virulence. The genetic diversity of H. pylori strains in gastritis patients in different areas has not been well understood. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence rate and different genotypes of H. pylori strains in clinical specimens of patients with gastritis in Ilam, Iran.
Materials & Methods: Saliva and gastric biopsy samples were collected from 81 patients (55 males and 26 females in the age range of 20 to 90 years) referring to Ilam medical centers. After DNA extraction, the prevalence of H. pylori as well as vacA, cagA, and ureC genes was evaluated using PCR, and then each vacA-positive sample was further evaluated for m1m2 and s1s2 variants.
Findings: The cagA and vacA genes were found in 27 (71%) and 36 (94.7%) H. pylori-positive samples, respectively. The cagA gene was detected in patients with gastric pain (44.4%) and anorexia (18.51%). Also, the results showed that the vacA s2m2 genotype and m2 allele were present in 32.9% of H. pylori isolates. Moreover, s2m2 and s1m2 genotypes were detected in 42.1 and 26.3% of vacA-positive samples, respectively. The lowest frequency was related to the m1 allele (17.18%).
Conclusion: This study results indicate a plausible relationship between the presence of some genotypes of H. pylori and the progression of gastritis, suggesting these markers as promising biomarkers to predict the disease severity.

Volume 9, Issue 1 (Winter 2021)
Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM) and doing daily exercise to prevent cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) among the employees of Ilam University of medical sciences in Iran.
Instrument & Methods: About 294 employees of Ilam University of medical sciences participated in this cross-sectional study after providing a written consent form in 2017. The tool to collect data was an HBM-ISCS questionnaire, which was applied. Eventually, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 16 and logistic regression.
Findings: The results showed that 72.4% of participants did not exercise daily, and the Mean±SD of their daily exercise was 8.08±1.51min. Logistic regression showed that the possibility of daily exercise per unit of increase in perceived barriers decreased by about 10%, while every unit of increase in the self-efficacy score resulted in the possibility of 1.12 times more doing daily exercise. The possibility of doing daily exercise among men was 2 times more than in women, and among the personnel of financial/administrative department, it was about 2.5 times more than in the employees of health care department. Accordingly, the possibility of doing exercise decreased by about 8% per unit of increase in work experience.
Conclusion: The amount of doing daily exercise among the participants of this study was low, and implementing interventions commensurate with the results of this study and based on HBM can be effective in improving the amount of doing daily exercise in them.


Volume 9, Issue 1 (Winter 2021)
Abstract

Aims: The high prevalence of Cesarean section (CS) is a global health concern globally, especially in Iran. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of a Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) based educational intervention on preventing elective cesareans.
Materials & Methods: An interventional study (NCT02929875) was conducted on a sample of 100 nulliparous pregnant women attending health care centers in Kermanshah, Iran, 2016. Women were randomly selected and assigned into either intervention or control groups on a 1:1 basis. The intervention group received a theory-based (Theory of Planned Behavior) health education intervention, while the control group received only standard care. A questionnaire containing items on TPB constructs, including attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention, was used to collect baseline and 1-month follow-up assessments. Each woman also received a phone call after childbirth to record their delivery method. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 15 at a significance level of p<0.05. The paired t-test, the independent t-test, the chi-square, and ANCOVA were used for data analysis.
Findings: The results revealed significant differences in scores of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention in the intervention group before and after the intervention (p<0.05). Additionally, the intervention group chose elective cesarean less than the control group (p<0.05). The risk of having an elective cesarean section in the intervention group was about one-fifth of the control group (RR= 0.21; CI=0.4197 to 0.0018).
Conclusion: According to this randomized control trial results, the TPB-based education improved the TPB constructs and NVD rates by providing education to women and their close friends or relatives during pregnancy.


Volume 9, Issue 2 (Spring 2021)
Abstract

Aims: Dental caries in preschool children continues to be an important health problem in most countries. This study aimed to determine the effect of education to mothers based on the health belief model on decreasing the dental plaque index of 3–6 years old children.
Materials & Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 88 mothers and their 3–6-years old children (NTotal=176) referred to the Health Care Center No. 1 in Ilam in 2015. Participants were randomly selected using a random number and randomly assigned to either intervention or control groups on a 1:1 ratio basis. A three-part questionnaire was used. Three training sessions were given to the intervention group; each lasted for one hour once a week. At one-month follow-up, the post-test questionnaires were administered to both groups. A trained dentist assessed the oral health status of children using O’Leary plaque index with a dental mirror and a probe in broad daylight. SPSS 26 was used for data analysis, and the chi-square and T-test were applied to compare the data.
Findings: The mean ages of mothers and their children were 31.28±5.63 years and 4.5±1.56 years, respectively. Despite the similarity of groups at the beginning of the study (p>0.05), significant differences were found between groups in follow-up (p≤0.001) and between before intervention and follow-up in the intervention group (p≤0.001) in all health belief model constructs, oral health practice, and the plaque index.
Conclusion: Providing mothers with oral health education for their children can promote their beliefs and behavior relating to brushing their children’s teeth, and decreasing the plaque index.


Volume 9, Issue 3 (Summer 2021)
Abstract

Aims: The world hospital systems are presently facing many unprecedented challenges from COVID‐19 disease. Prediction the deteriorating or critical cases can help triage patients and assist in effective medical resource allocation. This study aimed to develop and validate a prediction model based on Machine Learning algorithms to predict hospitalized COVID-19 patients for transfer to ICU based on clinical parameters.
Materials & Methods: This retrospective, single-center study was conducted based on cumulative data of COVID-19 patients (N=1225) who were admitted from March 9, 2020, to December 20, 2020, to Mostafa Khomeini Hospital, affiliated to Ilam University of Medical Sciences (ILUMS), focal point center for COVID-19 care and treatment in Ilam, West of Iran. 13 ML techniques from six different groups applied to predict ICU admission. To evaluate the performances of models, the metrics derived from the confusion matrix were calculated. The algorithms were implemented using WEKA 3.8 software.
Findings: This retrospective study's median age was 50.9 years, and 664 (54.2%) were male. The experimental results indicate that Meta algorithms have the best performance in ICU admission risk prediction with an accuracy of 90.37%, a sensitivity of 90.35%, precision of 88.25%, F-measure of 88.35%, and ROC of 91%.
Conclusion: Machine Learning algorithms are helpful predictive tools for real-time and accurate ICU risk prediction in patients with COVID-19 at hospital admission. This model enables and potentially facilitates more responsive health systems that are beneficial to high-risk COVID-19 patients.


Volume 10, Issue 1 (Winter 2022)
Abstract

Aims: Breast cancer represents one of the most prevalent cancers and is also the main cause of cancer-related deaths in women globally. Thus, this study was aimed to construct and compare the performance of several rule-based machine learning algorithms in predicting breast cancer.
Instrument & Methods: The data were collected from the Breast Cancer Registry database in the Ayatollah Taleghani Hospital, Abadan, Iran, from December 2017 to January 2021 and had information from 949 non-breast cancer and 554 breast cancer cases. Then the mean values and K-nearest neighborhood algorithm were used for replacing the lost quantitative and qualitative data fields, respectively. In the next step, the Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used for feature selection. Finally, the best rule-based machine learning algorithm was obtained based on comparing different evaluation criteria. The Rapid Miner Studio 7.1.1 and Weka 3.9 software were utilized.
Findings: As a result of feature selection the nine variables were considered as the most important variables for data mining. Generally, the results of comparing rule-based machine learning demonstrated that the J-48 algorithm with an accuracy of 0.991, F-measure of 0.987, and also AUC of 0.9997 had a better performance than others.
Conclusion: It’s found that J-48 facilitates a reasonable level of accuracy for correct BC risk prediction. We believe it would be beneficial for designing intelligent decision support systems for the early detection of high-risk patients that will be used to inform proper interventions by the clinicians.


Volume 11, Issue 3 (Summer 2023)
Abstract

Aims: Since important organs of brain-dead patients can be transplanted to patients in need, this study aimed to determine the effect of educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on the youth of Ivan to receive an organ donation card.
Materials & Methods: This randomized clinical trial was performed on 80 people (40 people in each of the intervention and control groups). Samples were selected by two-stage random cluster sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection and data were analyzed by SPSS version 26 at a significance level of 0.05.
Findings: The mean age in the intervention and control groups was respectively 24.90±2.56 and 24.03±2.55 years. In both groups, 50% of the people were women. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of education level. The mean scores of the structures of the planned behavior theory (attitude, mental norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention) before the educational intervention in the intervention and control groups were not significantly different. After the educational intervention, the mean score of the structures of the planned behavior theory, including attitude (47.02±2.18 vs. 38.05±6.28), mental norm (17.47±2.03 vs. 13.42±2.38), perceived behavioral control (19.20±1.45 vs. 15.17±3.78), and behavioral intention (9.62±0.74 vs. 6.97±2.05) increased significantly in the intervention group (p<0.001) but in the control group, none of the structures had a significant improvement (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Training based on the theory of planned behavior led to a significant increase in its structures to receive an organ donation card in young people.
 

Volume 11, Issue 4 (September, October & November (Articles in Persian) 2020)
Abstract

Different languages make use of various linguistic tools to encode grammatical roles (GRs). ‘Case- marking’ and ‘word-order’ are among the main tools to be used to code GRs. Furthermore, ‘agreement’ is another prominent tool to be used more or less in world languages to represent GRs. Based on their typologies and morpho-syntactic properties, world languages may select one or a combination of these tools to encode grammatical roles. In the languages with poor morphology, ‘word-order’ plays a more basic role and in those languages with enriched case system, ‘case-marking’ and ‘agreement’ are more frequently employed to encode grammatical roles. On the other hand, there are various factors which may have repercussions for grammar of languages including its agreement system. The factors which are assumed to affect object agreement in this study are transitivity, (in) definiteness, being (non)referential, (non)topicality, incorporation and semantic roles of object. These factors are adopted mainly from Givon (2004) and other related studies after careful examination of related literature in the world languages. Accordingly, the present study aims at investigating object agreement of Ilami Kurdish and the above-mentioned factors which may affect agreement between pronominal enclitics and objects. To achieve these goals, a descriptive- analytic approach was adopted to deal with the collected data. The data were taken from the native speakers via interviewing and using targeted questions. To collect authentic data, 10 native speakers of Ilami Kurdish with age range of 40-60 were frequently referred to in order to check the results. Furthermore, the researchers’ linguistic intuition as native speakers of Kurdish assists them as reliable source of data.
The results indicated that object pronominal enclitic can appear both at the presence and absence of direct object. In the presence of direct object, object pronominal enclitic is optional, while in the absence of direct object, object pronominal enclitics are obligatory. Accordingly, the use of object enclitics in Ilami Kurdish is an optional tool to refer (represent) to direct object. Therefore, it is concluded that object agreement to encode direct object is only used partially in Ilami Kurdish. The results, also, indicated that object enclitics are employed in Ilami Kurdish as a means to refer to object in terms of number and person. Furthermore, the results revealed that the agreement between object pronominal enclitics and direct object is affected by the above factors including '(in)definiteness', being (non)referential', '(non)topicality', 'incorporation'. Therefore, it can be concluded that felicitous object-marking in Ilami Kurdish is conditioned to these factors. For an object pronominal enclitic to be used appropriately, the referred direct object must be definite, referential, topical and non-incorporated.  It is recommended to carry out separate studies on (non)Iranian languages, especially the languages with split ergative morphology, to investigate the influence of the above-mentioned factors on their agreement systems.
 


Volume 11, Issue 4 (Fall 2023)
Abstract

Aims: Professionalism encompasses clinical competence, communication skills, and ethical and legal awareness. The assessment of professional ethics varies among different groups based on their characteristics. This study aimed to develop and validate an ethical behavior intention instrument for medical students, based on the theory of planned behavior.
Instrument & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, an item pool was generated based on an extensive literature review. Then, psychometric features, such as face validity (qualitative and quantitative), content validity (qualitative and quantitative), item analysis, and construct validity (exploratory factor analysis) were evaluated. Finally, the reliability was assessed using internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha).
Findings: A total of 200 medical students filled out the questionnaires, with a mean age of 21.84±4.47 years. In face validity, content validity ratio, and item analysis, six, nine, and three items were removed, respectively. In the exploratory factor analysis, six factors of gaining informed consent, accepting role limitations and collaborating with the treatment team, respect for colleagues and professors, abstract norms, perceived behavior control, and respect for patient values, needs, and culture together explained 51.128% of the total variance. Moreover, seven items were not included in any factor. The internal consistency of the entire questionnaire and its dimensions was acceptable.
Conclusion: The ethical behavior intention scale, which is designed based on the theory of planned behavior, is a valid and reliable scale that covers and measures the standards of professional ethics in medical students.

Volume 12, Issue 1 (Winter 2024)
Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a health education program on empowering mothers to prevent home accidents among rural children under five years old in Ilam County.
Materials & Methods: This research was a randomized controlled trial involving 88 mothers with children under five years old attending healthcare houses in Ilam County in 2022-2023 who were randomly assigned to the intervention and control groups. A one-month online educational intervention was implemented for the intervention group using the WhatsApp application, while the control group received no education. Data were collected using a questionnaire assessing the constructs of the health belief model regarding home accidents in children, completed online by the participants at baseline and three months later. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software, employing an independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test.
Findings: No significant difference was found between the two groups in the mean scores of the health belief model constructs regarding preventing home accidents in the pre-test phase (p>0.05). The results of the independent sample t-test showed a significant increase in the mean scores of health belief model constructs in the intervention group compared to the control group after a three-month follow-up (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Designing interventions based on the health belief model effectively empowers mothers to prevent accidents in rural children under five years old.
 

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