Background Psychoeducation has turned into an effective tool in taking care of cancer patients and improving their psychophysical symptoms and quality of life. Despite the growing use of mobile phone apps in medical settings for improving health, evidence supporting their effectiveness in the psychoeducation of patients with breast cancer is rarely available. Objective This study was conducted to investigate the effect of psychoeducational interventions on anxiety and self-esteem in women with breast cancer using a mobile app and an online support group. Methods An unblinded randomized controlled trial based on mobile phones was conducted in Shiraz, Iran. A research assistant recruited 82 women with nonmetastatic breast cancer aged 20 to 60 years were from clinics during a face-to-face visit at the point of care and randomly assigned to an intervention group (n=41) and a wait-list control group (n=41) through blocked randomization. The intervention group received psychoeducational interventions through a mobile phone app and participated in nurse-assisted online mobile support sessions for a total four weeks, whereas the control group was put on a waiting list. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used to measure the levels of anxiety and self-esteem as the main outcomes at baseline and one week after the intervention. Results A total of 82 patients with a mean age of 46.45 (SD 9.29) years recruited in Winter 2016 were randomly assigned to a wait-list control group (n=41) and intervention group (n=41). Five patients dropped out for different reasons. Comparing the postintervention mean scores of anxiety and its subscales using the independent t test showed statistically significant differences between the mobile psychoeducation group and controls (P<.001). The paired t test used to compare the postintervention mean scores of anxiety with its preintervention scores in the intervention group showed significant reductions in the scores of anxiety (95% CI –17.44 to –8.90, P<.001, d=1.02) and its two subscales (state anxiety: 95% CI –9.20 to –4.21, P<.001, d=0.88 and trait anxiety: 95% CI –8.50 to –4.12, P<.001, d=0.94). Comparing the postintervention mean scores of self-esteem showed statistically insignificant differences between the control and intervention groups (16.87 vs 17.97, P=.24). In contrast with the controls, using the paired t test showed that the increase in the postintervention mean scores of self-esteem were statistically significant in the intervention group compared with the preintervention scores (mean difference 2.05, 95% CI 1.28 to 2.82, P<.001). Conclusions This study demonstrated the key role of mobile apps in decreasing anxiety and improving self-esteem in women with breast cancer through psychoeducational interventions. Similar studies with longer follow-ups are recommended that be conducted in this context. Trial Registration Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT2015072123279N2; https://en.irct.ir/trial/19882

Background In the present age, e-learning has been playing a good role in educational and clinical settings along with face-to-face training. This study aimed to determine the effect of distance class using micro-learning contents on learning outcomes and self-efficacy in the clinical education of nursing students in 2021. Methods This research is a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test study conducted at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The study population consisted of 46 nursing students who were recruited by the full census method. Students were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. Before and after educational interventions in both groups, students' learning and self-efficacy were evaluated using a questionnaire. Data Analysis was done using descriptive and analytical statistical methods and with SPSS software version 23. Results The results revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean score of clinical learning level of nursing students between the control and experimental groups after the intervention (p = 0.041). Also, the difference between the mean score of self-efficacy in the intervention group before and after the training was statistically significant (p = 0.001). Conclusion Micro-learning is an effective training method for raising learning outcomes and self-efficacy among nursing students, especially in internship units. This method is recommended since multimedia pays attention to all learning styles of learners and affects the learning outcomes and self-efficacy of learners.

BackgroundPain can adversely affect every aspect of a patient’s daily activity, and consequently, it has a great influence on the quality of life. Studies have shown that health care professionals have little knowledge of and inadequate attitudes toward the assessment of pain and its treatment with analgesics.ObjectivesThis cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of health care professionals regarding chronic pain management. It was carried out in six different educational hospitals affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Shiraz, Iran.Patients and MethodsParticipants were given a questionnaire containing 46 questions and demographic characteristics to fill out independently. In total, 213 health care professionals (114 nurses and 99 medical residents) volunteered to take part in this study. In order to ease further analysis, the questions were grouped into three categories: narcotic drugs, non-narcotic drugs, and non-drug-related questions.ResultsThe mean correct response rate was 43.13% ± 11.10. Medical residents scored 51.23% ± 9.02% and nurses 36.10% ± 7.31% (P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant relation between field of specialty and the mean scores of medical residents. Narcotic drug questions received the lowest (39.02%) and non-narcotic drug questions received the highest (57.32%) percentages of correct responses. Only 9.3% of participants believed that they had received adequate education about pain and its management.ConclusionsThe findings of this study support concern about inadequate knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding chronic pain management. We believe that further education and practical training will be needed for adequate pain management.

Background Breast Self-Examination (BSE) is a simple and inexpensive method for early diagnosis of breast cancer. This study aimed to determine the effect of a smartphone application on women’s performance and health beliefs regarding BSE. Methods In this quasi-experimental study, 150 women referring to therapeutic clinics in Jahrom, Iran from December 2019 to May 2020 were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group. The intervention group participants had access to a smartphone application including BSE reminder, training, alarm, and feedback to the therapist. The application also contained educational movies and self-assessment. The study data were collected using Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale and BSE information record form before and six months after the intervention. Then, the data were entered into the SPSS 21 software and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, independent t-test, Chi-square, ANCOVA, Mann–Whitney, and Wilcoxon tests. Results After the intervention, the largest number of BSEs was four times among 60% of the participants in the intervention group and once among 24% of the participants in the control group during four months (p = 0.001). After the intervention, the mean differences of the scores of perceived susceptibility (1.03 ± 2.65 vs. 0.01 ± 0.42, p = 0.001), BSE barriers (2.80 ± 5.32 vs.  0.04 ± 1.43, p = 0.001), self-efficacy (10.75 ± 7.63 vs. − 2.75 ± 2.44, p = 0.001), and health motivation (2.77 ± 3.70 vs. − 0.29 ± 0.63, p = 0.001) were significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group. However, no significant difference was observed between the two groups with regard to perceived severity and BSE benefits after the intervention. Conclusions Access to the smartphone application enhanced the participants’ performance and health beliefs regarding BSE in the areas of perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, and health motivation. Therefore, we recommend using the same smartphone application to improve women’s performance and health beliefs regarding BSE.

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on education. e-Learning has been becoming most popular. Satisfaction of the student is one of important goal of e-Learning, therefore factors affecting this satisfaction should be considered extensively. This study aims to evaluate the effect of learning style and General Self-Efficacy (GSE) on satisfaction of e-Learning in dental student. Method Electronic questionnaires were sent to 85 fifth and sixth-year students who had passed the face-to-face orthodontics course in the previous semester and were studying online orthodontics at the time of this study. Three questionnaires were used including Soloman and Felder learning styles index, General self-efficacy questionnaire and Satisfaction questionnaire for online education. Results The results of the reliability test showed that Cronbach’s alpha index for the self-efficacy and satisfaction questionnaire was 0.836 and 0.96, respectively. The correlation between satisfaction and the dimensions of learning style showed that the active dimension of processing information had a significant relationship with the level of satisfaction. In the understanding dimension, a relatively strong correlation was observed in the Global dimension. Moderate significant relationship between the total score of self-efficacy and the level of satisfaction has been found. Conclusion The results of the present study highlight the necessity of more studies regarding defining effective on student satisfaction during e-Learning. GSES and active learning style in the processing dimension and global learning style in the understanding dimension affect students' satisfaction.