Background:Primary dysmenorrhea seems to be one the most common gynecologic condition in women of childbearing age.Objectives:The aim of this research was to evaluate psychologic and nonpsychologic risk factors of primary dysmenorrhea.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted on medical sciences students of Babol University of Medical Sciences. In this study, 180 females with dysmenorrhea and 180 females without dysmenorrhea were enrolled. Psychological risk factors were evaluated in four domains including affect, social support, personality, and alexithymia. Four questionnaires were used to assessed aforementioned domains, namely, Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), depression, anxiety, stress (DAS-21), 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and NEO-Five Factor Inventory of Personality (NEO-FFI). In addition, nonpsychologic factors were evaluated in three domains including demographic characteristics, habits, and gynecologic factors. Data were analyzed using the χ2 test and multiple logistic regression analysis.Results:The strongest predictor of primary dysmenorrhea was low social support (OR = 4.25; 95% CI, 2.43-7.41). Risk of dysmenorrhea was approximately 3.3 times higher in women with alexithymia (OR = 3.26; 95% CI, 1.88-5.62), 3.1 times higher in women with menstrual bleeding duration ≥ 7 days (OR = 3.06; 95% CI, 1.73-5.41), 2.5 times higher in women with a neurotic character (OR = 2.53; 95% CI, 1.42-4.50), 2.4 times higher in women with a family history of dysmenorrhea (OR = 2.43; 95% CI, 1.42-4.50), and twice higher in women with high caffeine intake (OR = 1.97; 95% CI, 1.09-3.59).Conclusions:Low social support, alexithymia, neuroticism trait, long menstrual bleeding, family history of dysmenorrhea, and high-caffeine diet are important risk factors for women with primary dysmenorrhea. This study recommended considering psychologic factors as an adjuvant to medical risks in evaluation and treatment of primary dysmenorrhea.

Lack of sufficient knowledge about the unknowns of pregnancy increases stress and requires more medical interventions. This study was conducted to assess the effects of prenatal education on mothers’ stress and labor. This clinical trial was conducted to study 195 women (132 in the control group and 63 in the experimental group) who had attended healthcare centers in the city of Amol after their 16th gestational week. The experimental group participated in educational classes to learn how to experience a safe childbirth for 6-8 sessions of 1.5 hours almost every three weeks. The control group received only a routine care, pain assessment scales like Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and McGill questionnaire, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were employed to collect data. The data were analyzed using SPSS software through t-test and Chi Square test to compare the groups. The results of the t-test showed a meaningful difference in levels of stress felt by the experimental group compared to control group (p=0.002). The Visual Analogue Scale suggested that in the transitional stages (8-10 cm cervical dilation), the level of pain felt by the experimental group was meaningfully lower than that felt by the control group (p=0.03). However, this was not significantly different between the two groups at 3-4 cm cervical dilation and the second stage of childbirth. The McGill scale’s results for measuring pain levels, proved a meaningful difference between the experimental group and the control group (p=0.018). Educational and supportive interventions increased mothers’ knowledge during pregnancy and reduced their fear of unknown environment and people. These trained women learned how to effectively overcome their problems and labor pain.

BackgroundAlthough there are various methods for painless delivery such as using entonox gas, most of the people are unfamiliar or concerned about it yet.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to assess maternal expectations and experience of labor analgesia with nitrous oxide.Patients and MethodsIn a clinical trial study, 98 pregnant women in active phase of delivery were studied randomly in two groups (intervention group = 49, control group = 49) after obtaining written consent. Efficacy, experience satisfaction, and also expectation of pregnant women about entonox gas in two groups were compared, likewise in intervention group before and after using entonox gas.ResultsMost of the pregnant women receiving entonox gas had less labor pain (91.8%), and were satisfied with it (98%). The severity of pain in the most of entonox user was moderate level (46.94%), while for the control group it was severe (55.10%) which was significant, 40.82% of the mother in entonox group had a severe pain and 10.20% had a very severe pain, whereas in the control group (55.10%) of the mother had a severe pain and 26.53% of the had very severe pain (P = 0.004). efficacy of labor pain was in moderate level in most cases. 49% of pregnant women receiving gas described their experience as a good and excellent. 80.9% indicated that they will request the mentioned painless method in the future. The amount of suffering from gas side effects was mild in most patients of intervention group (63%). Expectations of the majority of pregnant women in intervention group (before receiving gas) and control group for painless delivery were weak (65.3%, 40.9%). The percentage of positive expectations had increased after receiving entonox gas (P = 0.01). There was a difference between the expectations of intervention group receiving entonox gas and control group (P = 0.001). Positive expectations were more in intervention group than the control group. Most differences of expectations in intervention group before and after receiving the gas were about higher efficacy (P = 0.001), more satisfaction (P = 0.001), fewer complications (P = 0.001), information about gas as painless delivery method (P = 0.02), and also previous experience of intolerable labor pain (P = 0.04).ConclusionsThis study has shown that using entonox gas caused less labor pain, favorable expectations and experiences and also more maternal satisfaction.

Context: Since menopause age is constant, an increase in life expectancy has resulted in an increase of the menopause period in women. Aims: This study was done to assess women's awareness level about symptoms and complications of menopause and methods of their prevention. Settings and design: This cross-sectional research was conducted on 220 women, 40 years of age or older referrals in selected health care centers. Methods and material: The research was conducted using a questionnaire with regular random sampling method. Statistical analysis used: The analysis of obtained findings was done by SPSS statistical software and statistical tests. Results: Based on their total score, 48.6% of women had good awareness, 24.1% of them had average awareness, and 27.3% of them had low awareness. Eighty-five percent of the participants had read or heard some topics about menopause from their relatives (26.8%), friends (25.5%), health care staffs (20%), books and journals (10.5%), and television or radio (8.6%). Women's awareness level had significant correlation with child number, job, education, income, hearing or reading text about menopause and their informational source, but awareness did not have significant correlation with age and being menopausal. Conclusions: Based on the findings of this study, the rate of participants' correct answers was lower than 50%. Key message: It is suggested to enhance women's awareness level through all sources including television, radio, journals, newspaper and medical staffs, since education is the most important tool in any prevention programs.

Background: Infertility is a unique medical challenge that can have health behavioral consequence on infertile women including lack of self-esteem, depression, anxiety, fertility problem in infertile couples. The aim of this study was to evaluate correlation between self-efficacy and health behaviors scales in infertile women. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 89 infertile women with mild to moderate depression (Beck scores 10-47) who were recruited from Fatemeh Zahra Infertility and Reproductive Health Research Center. All participants completed Self-efficacy Inventory (ISE) and other health behavioral scales (e.g., the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Cattle Anxiety Scale (CAS), Fertility Problem Infertility (FPI), and GHQ). Pearson correlation coefficient and Spearman rho correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Variables were included in the study if they had a p-value of <0.05. Statistical analysis was performed SPSS 17. Results: The most of participants had totally high confident 53.9%, 41.6% moderately confident, and 4.5% low confident. Mean ISE score (±SD) for the overall infertile women was in the moderate range (6.18 ± 1.39). The lowest mean score in subscales of self-efficacy that infertile women reported was item "Accept that my best efforts may not change my/our infertility" (4.90 ± 3.41). There was the significant relationship between ISE with job (p = 0.016) and residency (p = 0.016) of infertile women. The employed infertile women have twice higher self-efficacy than unemployed women (62.7% vs 37.9%) and those who lived in the city had a higher level of confidence (75% vs. 53%). The infertile women with older age, higher education, and the more duration of * Corresponding author. infertility have the lower self-efficacy. There is the significantly negative correlation between the mean of ISE score with BDI (p = 0.018), overt anxiety (p = 0.11), CAI (p = 0.018), social concern of FPI (p = 0.003), and marital concern of FPI (0.025). Also a significant tendency was found between ISE and occult anxiety among infertile groups (p = 0.1). There is the significantly positive correlation between the mean of ISE score with GHQ (p = 0.004). Conclusions: Self-efficacy related to health behaviors scales, suggesting that having a psychological intervention can also facilitate the process of promoting self-efficacy.