IntroductionThough Nutrition plays a key role in the control of hypertension, it is often forgotten in Iranian patients’ diet. In fact, dietary behavior can be regarded as unsatisfactory among Iranian patients. This study was aimed to assess the effectiveness of theory based educational intervention on fat intake, weight, and blood lipids among rural hypertensive patients.MethodsThis quasi experimental study was conducted on 138 hypertensive patients who had referred to Ardabil rural health centers during 2014. The nutritional education based on DASH and Health Promotion Model (HPM) was treated for six sessions. The pre-test and post-test had intervals of two and six months. Data were analyzed using SPSS-18 and Chi-square, independent-samples t-test, paired-samples t-test and repeated measure ANOVA.ResultsAfter treating intervention, weight, dietary fat, LDL_C and Total cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased significantly in the intervention group compared with the control group (p < 0.001). In contrast, HDL_C increased significantly in the intervention group.ConclusionEducational intervention, provided based on Pender’s health promotion model, affecting fat intake, blood lipids, and blood pressure, led to their decrease

BackgroundHand washing is the best strategy to prevent known nosocomial infections but the nurses’ hand hygiene is estimated to be poor in Iran.ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine the effectiveness of BASNEF (Behavior, Attitude, Subjective Norms, and Enabling Factors) model on hand hygiene adherence education.MethodsThis controlled quasi-experimental study was conducted on 70 hemodialysis unit nurses (35 case and 35 control) in the health and educational centers of the University of Medical Sciences of Urmia, Iran. To collect the data, a six-part validated and reliable questionnaire was used. The data were analyzed using SPSS version18, using Wilcoxon, Mann–Whitney, chi-square, and Fisher’s exact tests. The significance level was considered P<0.05.ResultsThe mean age was 38.4±8.1 years for the intervention group and 40.2±8.0 years for the control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups for any demographic variables. Also, before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups for any components of the BASNEF model. Post-intervention, the attitude, subjective norms, enabling factors, and intention improved significantly in the intervention group (P<0.001), but hand hygiene behavior did not show any significant change in the intervention group (P=0.16).ConclusionDespite the improving attitudes and intention, the intervention had no significant effect on hand hygiene behavior among the studied nurses.

Nutrition is a dominant peripheral factor in increasing blood pressure; however, little information is available about the nutritional status of hypertensive patients in Iran. This study aimed to compare nutritional behaviors of the rural controlled and uncontrolled hypertensive patients and to determine the predictive power of nutritional behaviors from blood pressure. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 671 rural hypertensive patients, using multistage random sampling method in Ardabil city in 2013. Data were collected by a 3-day food record questionnaire. Nutritional data were extracted by Nutritionist 4 software and analyzed by the SPSS 18 software using Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, ANOVA, and independent t-test. A significant difference was observed in the means of fat intake, cholesterol, saturated fat, sodium, energy, calcium, vitamin C, fiber, and nutritional knowledge between controlled and uncontrolled groups. In the controlled group, sodium, saturated fats, vitamin C, calcium, and energy intake explained 30.6% of the variations in blood pressure and, in the uncontrolled group, sodium, carbohydrate, fiber intake, and nutritional knowledge explained 83% of the variations in blood pressure. There was a significant difference in the nutritional behavior between the two groups and changes in blood pressure could be explained significantly by nutritional behaviors.

Background: Evaluation of status of iodine during pregnancy is crucial. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate it in pregnant women and to evaluate their knowledge, attitude, and practice toward consuming iodized salt. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 150 pregnant women were selected by census method based on the inclusion criteria. The participants' status of iodine was measured by measuring their urinary iodine concentration. Furthermore, the women's knowledge, attitude, and practice were investigated regarding iodized salt intake by a valid questionnaire. Results: Median concentrations of the urinary iodine in total population and Esfarayen people 139.05 (92.0-216.5) and 131.19 (211.43-86.43) μg/l, respectively which were lower than the World Health Organization recommendations (150-249 μg/l), while it was within the recommended range in Jajrom people 176.12 (101.76-248.62) μg/l. Although most people in the total population and Esfarayen people had moderate level of knowledge, attitude, and practice, most mothers in Jajrom had good knowledge and attitude scores along with moderate scores of practices. A significant direct correlation was found between attitude level and urinary iodine concentration (P = 0.043, r = 0.17). Conclusions: In total population, the median urinary iodine concentration was lower than the recommended level. Furthermore, knowledge, attitude, and practice of most people were at the moderate level.