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This study compared students with specific learning disorders (SLDs) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS). Thirty students with SLDs, 30 students with ADHD, and 30 students without SLDs/ADHD in Babol (Iran) completed the Person Picking an Apple from a Tree (PPAT) assessment. Findings revealed: (1) a significant difference between the SLD and non-SLD/ADHD groups in all elements, except for logic and rotation, (2) a significant difference between the ADHD and non-SLD/ADHD groups in all 14 elements of the scale. The inter-rater scoring correlation was significant and high in 14 elements of the scale, except for realism and person. Accordingly, the PPAT shows potential for application in preliminary identification and on-going evaluation.

Introduction: Malnutrition is one of the most important public health problems worldwide and has adverse effects on the physical as well as mental capacities of individuals, especially school-age children. This descriptive-analytical study aimed to investigate the nutritional status of primary-school students in urban and rural areas of Abadan. Methods: Multi-stage stratified-cluster and simple random sampling was performed on urban and rural primary school students in Abadan with the demographic information, height, and weight of 1133 students measured. Furthermore, the indices of short stature for age (stunting), low weight for age (underweight), and low weight for height (wasting) in children were calculated and compared with the National Center for Health Statistics standard. Results: The results revealed that the average age of malnourished children was 9.56 years and the average age of normal children was 8.97 years. The malnutrition prevalence among primary school children of Abadan was 8%, and there was a poor correlation between factors such as sex (P = 0/8), place of residence (P = 0/4), plus school place (P = 0/9), and malnutrition, while there was a positive relationship between with the parents' level of education and malnutrition (P = 0/02). Thus, the most influential factor seems to be the parents' level of education and awareness. Conclusion: Steps can be taken to promote the social and cultural level of families and prevent malnutrition as well as improve the nutritional status of society through collaboration among various institutions, holding educational classes with the presence of education departments, and encouraging families. The household economic status is also one of the important factors in the implementation of these educational classes that must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Iran is exposed to several kinds of hazards throughout the country. Disasters cause mental health distress among survivors and disaster rescuers. Most psychological symptoms may decrease in time, but they could persist for months or even years in some individuals. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the consequences of exposure to traumatic events with its components, which are derived from rescuers' life experiences. Materials and Methods: A qualitative study based on content analysis was conducted according to Landman and Graneheim approach. Through the purposive sampling method, 17 semi-structured interviews were applied until reaching data saturation. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. In the next steps, data condensing, labeling, coding, and defining categories were conducted. Results: Based on the experience of the study participants, two main concepts with four categories and 12 subcategories were developed. Two main concepts included regression and resilience consequences. Conclusion: Emergency departments should be aware of work-related mental health and behavioral problems and provide appropriate support programs to prevent ineffective consequences of incidence scene psychological distress and empower the rescuer's resiliency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Pre-hospital personnels (PHPs) who work in disasters under extreme pressure, uncertainty, and complex situations are victims of disasters themselves, and there is a link between experiencing such incidents and mental health problems. Because most studies focus on the injured and less on the psychological issues of PHPs, the present study aimed to develop a model to provide relief for PHPs in disasters from a psychological perspective. Methods: A grounded theory methodology recommended by Corbin and Strauss (2015) was employed. PHPs (n = 24) participated in a semi-structured interview between July 2018 to May 2020. Results: In the analysis of the pre-hospital staff interviews, three main themes were extracted, namely, providing relief with struggle (complexity of incident scenes, command-organizational and occupational challenges), psychological distress (psychological regression and psychological empowerment), and consequences (resilience and job burnout). Seven categories and 22 subcategories were explored from our data via the grounded theory approach Conclusions: The PHPs managed psychological distress with two approaches: psychological self-empowerment and regression, which resulted in resilience and burnout, respectively. Due to the lack of enough support, the resilience of the PHPs was short-term, turned into burnout over time, and affected the structural factors again as a cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Novel corona virus, named COVID-19, has spread rapidly to other countries like Italy, Iran and South Korea and affected all people, especially health-care providers. Therefore, due to the rapid spread of the disease in Iran, the aim of the present study was to explore psychological distress experienced by Iranian health-care providers in the first few weeks of the corona virus outbreak. Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted on 18 Iranian health-care providers exposed to COVID − 19 using a content analysis method. Purposeful sampling was used to select the participants and continued until data saturation was reached. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and then the qualitative data were analyzed through direct content analysis. Results: By analyzing 236 primary codes, two main categories were extracted from the experiences of health-care providers during corona virus outbreak. The first category included Occupational demands with three sub-categories: nature of illness, Organizational demands and social demands. The second category was Supportive resources included personal support and social support. Conclusions: The results of this study found that there were some barriers and challenges to medical personnel exposed to COVID-19 that caused psychological distress. Some of these problems related to the nature of illness, others related to social and organizational demands and some of supportive resources buffer the relationship between occupational demands and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disasters have affected the physical and mental health of people around the world. Since nurses are frontlines in disasters, it seems necessary to prepare for this responsibility. This study investigates the effect of psychological first-aid virtual education on the communication skills of nurses in disasters such as COVID pandemic., Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 55 nurses were selected by purposive sampling method from two hospitals in Isfahan and Tehran, Iran in December-November 2022 and randomly replaced in the intervention group who participated in psychological first aid virtual training and control group. The data were collected through the personal information form and Communication Skills -Test-Revised (CSTR)., Results: Two groups were homogeneous in terms of communication skills (p = 0.177), the total score of communication skills was significant between the two groups after the intervention (p < 0.0001). Regarding communication skills, in the pre-intervention phase, the subscale of "the ability to receive and send messages" and "insight into the communication process" the difference before the intervention was not significant between the two groups (p > 0.05). However, it was significant between the two groups after the intervention (p < 0.05), and regarding "emotional control", "listening skills", and "communication along with assertiveness" the difference before and after the intervention was not significant between the two groups (p > 0.05)., Conclusion: Pre-disaster training and virtual education can increase nurses' communication skills in their ability to handle a disaster such as COVID pandemic. Virtual education of post-disaster psychological interventions is suggested., Trial Registration: IRCT20220923056023N1; date: 2023-01-31., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Parents of children with phenylketonuria are at risk of reduced quality of life., Aims: This study determined the quality of life of parents of children with phenylketonuria in Tehran Province., Methods: The study was conducted in 2015 and included parents of children with phenylketonuria referred to three government children's hospitals in Tehran Province that provide phenylketonuria services. Data were collected using the Farsi version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref questionnaire. Analysis of variance, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression were used to assess the relationship between quality of life domains and sociodemographic characteristics of the parent and child., Results: The study included 240 parents; 55% were mothers. Quality of life of parents in psychological, social relationships and environment domains was low. Significant relationships were found between: physical domain and age of child at phenylketonuria diagnosis (P = 0.044); psychological domain and parent's age (P = 0.019), child's age (P = 0.007) and parent's education (P = 0.015); social relationships domain and parent's age (P = 0.003), and education (P = 0.002), household income (P = 0.025) and child's age (P = 0.004; and environmental domain and residence (P = 0.034), parent's education (P = 0.007), household income (P = 0.002) and child's age (P = 0.049). In the multivariable analysis, parent's age and education, child's age, and household income were significantly associated with parent's quality of life., Conclusion: Given the low levels of quality of life in the parents, education and more financial support are recommended., (Copyright © World Health Organization (WHO) 2020. Some rights reserved. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo).)