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Introduction: Lice are widespread at a global scale and afflict all socioeconomic classes. Despite advanced healthcare, head lice are particularly prevalent among elementary school female students. Thus, the present research aims to explore pediculosis infection and its cofactors among 8-10-year-old female students in Jam County, Bushehr province, Iran, in 2019. Methodology: The present descriptive research was analytical in type. The research population comprised female elementary school students in Jam County, selected through multi-stage randomization. The final sample selected consisted of 854 participants. The data collection instruments were a questionnaire and an optic test of all students at school. SPSS 22 was used to statistically analyze the data via Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The significance level was set at <0.05. Findings: The mean age of the participating students was 9.5 years. The prevalence of head lice among this sample was 15.4% and was higher in urban areas than the rural. Statistically significant correlations were found between lice infection and variables including father’s occupation and education, mother’s occupation and education and having a bathroom at home (p<0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of lice in the present research showed to be higher that a body of related literature. Thus, it is essential to make preventive interventions to diagnose, treat and control pediculosis and consider the infection-related cofactors of lice infection in healthcare centers.

Background: Health literacy is defined as the ability of individuals to read, understand, and act on health-related concepts in order to make healthy decisions. This study was conducted to determine the level of health literacy of teachers in Asaluyeh city, Iran. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 200 teachers who were selected using stratified random sampling method in Asaluyeh in the academic year 2015 - 2016. Health Literacy for Iranian Adults questionnaire (HELIA) was used to measure their health literacy. Data were analyzed by SPSS20 and by using descriptive statistics, one way ANOVA, independent- samples T test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The mean age of participants was 30.56 years (SD = 4.5(, 59% of them were male (n = 118) and 41% were female (n = 82). Teachers' health literacy status was in moderate level for 9.6% of participants (n = 99) regarding access to information, for 44.6% of participants (n = 89) regarding information comprehension in, for 68.4% of participants (n = 136) regarding judgment and assessment, and for 68.4% of participants (n = 136) regarding information use. We found that health literacy had a significant relationship with gender and age. Conclusion: In this study, teachers' health literacy was at moderate level. So, it is necessary to provide effective internet resources and useful sites. We should also conduct health education programs in media such as radio and television to improve health literacy in teachers, especially in more experienced teachers.   Keywords: Health Literacy, Teachers, Asaluyeh city

BACKGROUND: Implementing a cervical cancer prevention program requires an exploration of certain behaviors concerning this disease. This study is aimed to evaluate the psychometrics of a questionnaire that enquired about the factors involved in Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM) for cervical cancer among suburban women in Bandar Abbas, south of Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The primary draft of the questionnaire was developed with a review of the related literature on cervical cancer and the constructs affecting PAPM, with 68 items. The face validity, content validity ratio (CVR), and content validity index (CVI) of the questionnaire were approved by a panel of 10 experts. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the questionnaire were estimated too. Field testing sample included 300 women recruited from a women's healthcare center in suburban areas of Bandar Abbas in the south of Iran. Exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate validity, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was estimated for reliability. RESULTS: After the face validation, 11 items were eliminated. Once CVR was estimated, two items were discarded. The remaining items had a CVR >0.79. All had a CVI >0.79. Six items were eliminated in the factor analysis. The final questionnaire included 49 items organized in 8 factors including awareness, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, social norms, fear, and self-efficacy. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation indicated eight main components that explained 56.25% of the variance. Reliability assessment showed a good internal consistency for all subscales and the Cronbach's alpha score ranged between 0.82 and 0.90. The test-retest reliability showed that the correlation coefficients (between 0.81 and 0.89) were significant at the 0.01 level for all sub-scales. CONCLUSIONS: The final questionnaire was a new instrument comprised the effective constructs of PAPM and had a high reliability and validity. Thus, this questionnaire is recommended to be used to explore and enhance preventive behaviors of cervical cancer.