Aim: People with schizophrenia tend to experience difficulties in social and cognitive function, self-care, residual negative symptoms, high rates of unemployment, and social exclusion. Occupational therapy has contributed to the treatment and rehabilitation of people with severe mental health problems. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of occupational therapy on symptoms of patients with schizophrenia. Methods: This survey was an experimental study in which positive and negative symptoms of patients with schizophrenia were assessed with a scale for the assessment of positive and negative symptoms (SANS, SAPS, respectively). The study was conducted in Sina Hospital, Shahrekord, Iran. The samples consisted of patients with schizophrenia who were divided randomly into intervention and usual treatment groups (30 patients in each group). The occupational therapy was performed in the intervention group for 18 h/week for 6 months. SANS and SAPS were assessed at the beginning and after 6 months of treatment. Results: The groups were homogeneous in demographic variables, SANS and SAPS scores at baseline. The occupational therapy group showed significant improvement in the total score for the SANS and SAPS at 6 months (P < 0.001), but the control group did not show any significant improvement. Conclusion:The results of this study indicated that occupational therapy combined with medications can improve the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Background & objectives: Stress during pregnancy can be associated with serious and long-term adverse outcomes for mothers, fetuses, newborns, children, and even adolescents. One of the coping mechanisms with stress during pregnancy is paying attention to women's spiritual beliefs and values. The aim of the current study was to determine the role of spiritual well-being in the prediction of pregnancy-specific stress in women referred to health centers in Hafshjan. Methods: The current study was a descriptive-correlational study. The study population consisted of all pregnant women referred to health centers in Hafshejan, 2015. Two hundred pregnant women were selected using convenience sampling method. Spiritual well-being (Paloutzian and Ellison) and pregnancy-specific stress questionnaires (Sallary) were used for data collection. Data analyses were performed by Pearson correlation and multivariate linear regression tests using SPSS version 20. Results: The mean age of the study sample was 27.68±4.75. The results showed a significant negative correlation between spirituality and pregnancy stress (r=-0.29, p<0.001). Multiple regression analysis indicated that spiritual well-being is capable to predict the stress during pregnancy (β =-0.444, R2=0.139, p<0.001). Conclusion: Taking into consideration the predictive role of spiritual well-being in pregnancy stress, women's health care professionals should pay particular attention to implement effective strategies for promoting of spiritual well-being level during pregnancy.

Introduction: Nowadays, students of medical universities need to be familiar with computer and information technology (IT) to become successful. The aim of this study was to investigate the information literacy and the use of IT by students in Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. Methods:This survey is a descriptive-correlational study. The study population consisted of all students of the Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences and the sample size included 235 students. The instrument was a researcher-developed questionnaire with a validity confirmed by faculty members and a 0.83 reliability according to Cronbach's alpha. For data analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient and Chi-square in SPSS 16 were used. Results:The results revealed the frequency use of IT domains; Internet obtained the most frequently used domain (67.2%) followed by Windows (54.1%), word processing software (43.8%), search engines (41.1%), and e-mail (30.5%). The highest mastery was obtained over Internet use (58.6%) followed by Windows and word processing software (48.3%), search engines (34.4%), and software installation (31.4%). The use of IT was significantly associated with previous research activities such as having PC, the skill to use computers and Internet, the mean duration of computer use per week, and English language competency (P < 0.05). Conclusions:The students' mastery over the use of IT is weak in the Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, and certain plans are needed to educate these students by holding workshops, empowering them to do research, and revisiting the curricula to increase the credits of IT course.